Harley Benton HB Custom Line King-CE BK

The Gibson SJ-200 Standard, thats the guitar where I was looking for. So to be honest I am just a guy who likes guitars and try to do some musical things as a hobby. If you look at the price of a Gibson, then $4,499.00 I can't explain at home. So I looked at the Epiphone EJ-200SCE for $449.00 and that my friends I could explain to my family. However, on my search for this guitar another interesting guitar came on my way. The Harley Benton HB Custom Line King-CE BK for the price of $269.00.
If I judge my own guitar playing, then actually $269.00 is more than enough to spend haha. But, I dive into this model and listen to some reviews and then I became more and more enthusiastic about this German built in China ;-) beautiful crafted piece of wood.

When I ordered this Guitar I asked the team to take my new Guitar to the plek service because I wanted a good playability of the Guitar. I choose the PLEK NUT service. So I don't know the playability of the Guitar when it is standard out of the box. However I can tell you how it sound and plays after the PLEK service...

What an amazing Guitar for this price, String action & intonation adjustment where great it could have not been done better.

EXCELLENT JOB WELL DONE... Thank You Thomann for the great product and thank you Guitar Service Team,..

I already owned an Epiphone EJ200 in a natural finish but always fancied having one in black. I couldn't justify buying the same guitar again just to have a choice of colour but then I discovered The big King. It looked the same for less than half the price.
On opening the box I was impressed with the quality of the finish and could find no faults at all it's actually better than the Epiphone especially on the bindings.
It played ok but the action was too high for my taste. I had to take a bit of relief out of the neck and quite a lot off the saddle to get it right. Also I had to lower the nut slots on the high E and B strings to make them easier to fret at the 1st.
Comparing it to the Epiphone it looks just as good apart from the pickguard which looks a bit cheap. I replaced mine with an epiphone one and it looks loads better,
Sounds: you don't get as much bass from this the body is a bit narrower back to front but this makes it more comfortable to play and you do get a beautiful clarity from this that you don't with the epiphone.
I think the pick up system/tuner is adequate but not as good as the epiphone but this really doesn't bother me as I hardly ever plug in.
I've had this a couple of months now and I love it. I use it more than the epiphone and that says it all really

It came quickly and in perfect condition. It looks, plays and sounds very good. The action (as in previous reviews) and nut slots are a bit high, but still very playable. But taking into account that some may like the action where it is set. It's easy to lower the action. It would be much more difficult to raise it if it were too low for your preference. I haven't tried the electronics, except for the tuner and it works fine. I've heard some demo's on YouTube using the pickup and it seems to function like most piezo type pickups (which I really don't mind for live performance).

I have been looking for a jumbo guitar for quite a while and was really pleased to spot this one. It was its looks which first caught my eye and the glossy black finish has not disappointed once I had it in my hands. It is deep and lustrous and the detailing add greatly to the overall look. The action was better than I might have expected from a brand new instrument and the intonation is consistent at every fret. The sound is great and has the depth and quality I have been looking for. the onboard electronics allow a great range of tonal qualities and the tuner is easy to use and clear to read. I'm really pleased with this purchase. As with other things, the ordering and online payment are simple and the packaging was superb. I was taken aback just how quickly the goods were delivered. Superb all round

Maybe I got a lemon or something but this is far from a 5 star guitar.

Pros:
-Okay sounding
-Plays okay after extensive truss rod work

Cons:
-The laquer finish on this guitar is the worst I've ever seen, it was clearly just brushed on rather than sprayed and is only 1 layer thick. I've barely played it and it's chipping all over the place. Awful
-This guitar definitely was never set up by thomann. I had to do 2 full rotations of the truss rod just to make it remotely playable above the 5th fret
-The binding looks god awful, like it was installed by someone on their first day in the factory

Overall I'm very disappointed. Maybe the non black version is made with more care I don't know, but I don't recommend this unless your budget is super tight and you love the look (like I did before it arrived)

I'm a professional solo musician and I perform an average of 4-6 shows per week. I am not a guitar collector. I expect my guitars to be able to hold up under the constant amount of work and I only own 2 Martin's that play really well and that I rotate between shows. They stay in tune and can take the beating. I purchased this Harley Benton guitar because I always wanted a jumbo, didn't want to spend thousands and wanted to have something I could rehearse on at home. The reviews and the price was excellent and I have to say I am very pleased. Out of the box the guitar is beautiful and well made. The action was kind of high (way too high to play all the time) so I took it in for a setup. This guitar now has pretty low action (almost as good as my Martin's), the sound is VERY good with nice tones. It's deep and big sounding but also bright and plugged it sounds VERY good as well. I can't believe it but I've actually moved this guitar into my regular playing rotation and so far so good! It stays in tune, sounds great and every comments on how beautiful it is. Oh yeah, nice inlays too!! This was a good purchase...

Guitar timely received and in good condition. Tuners move well and stays in tune. Looks are great! Almost a near replica of another higher end of a different manufacturer.
Neck is straight, action is relatively ok.
Frets are well inserted and filed well.
Pickup is ok.
Sound range not as dynamic as the higher end guitars but definitely not tiny. Low end is a little weak but improves a notch or two after continuous two weeks use.
Is it a G****n SJ-200? No. Don't set that expectation otherwise you'll be disappointed.
However, for this price range, I'm surprised at the good build quality (or maybe I'm just lucky) and the above average to good sound makes this worth every dollar spent.

I own a Gibson J45 which I keep as my 'good' guitar but I play regularly in a busy pub. Being concerned for safety at times, decided to get a 'big' guitar, hopefully with a 'big' sound and a fair bit cheaper than the Gibson for playing in the pub. Compared the EPIPHONE EJ200 CE with the HB, concluded they were probably made in the same factory as they were almost identical and the HB a fair bit cheaper. I have NOT been disappointed. This guitar is well made, very good looking, has a great deep sound, great electrics with excellent built in tuner. In fact I may have to keep it 'good' as well.