Harley Benton MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series

This gets five stars overall because I don't know how they do it at the price and it works fine. I tuned it up right out of the box and it played nicely. I plugged it into my Trace Acoustic amp and it sounded nice, with good string balance. I particularly liked the sound with both pickups on. The pickup, selector switch felt positive and worked with no noise. The tuning machines felt smooth and positive. They hold the tuning. Cosmetically, you ether like the design or not, but it's well finished, with one small caveat which I mention later. With any new instrument, I like to set it up myself. The neck is straight and the purple heart wood fretboard looks good. I lowered the action to 2mm at the bass end and 1.5mm at the treble end (12th fret.) I then set the intonation so it will play in tune at the top end. No bother. The bridge assembly is sturdy and it works as it should.
I have a couple of small gripes. The 20th fret was (I fixed it) a little proud and, with the lowered action was causing the 19th fret note to choke. However, you often find this on much more expensive instruments. I'll give it a proper fret dress on its first sting change. Also, it would have been good if the pickups (which are the size of guitar pickups, and probably are - blade type) were reverse wound, reverse polarity so as to humbuck when both selected. That said, there is no noise except when you get too close to the amp. In any case, I bought it for late night silent unplugged practice. The frets, apart from no. 20, are even and fairly well finished. Another reviewer commented that the fret ends were rough. Well they are a little, but not too bad, and that is easily fixed with some wet or dry paper. I'll do this too during my first string change.
Finally, a brilliant piece of kit for the price. Needs a little set up as you might expect. I love it, but it's an absolute bargain.

I feel really bad knocking a star off this product for quality but it did disappoint at first, even at this price.
The strings were so bad they some snapped when tuning it up for the first time. The saddles were all over the place and the frets were uneven and sharp.
But then as an independent guitar tech with my own workshop, I know that much more expensive instruments need setting up before they are at their best and the strings supplied usually need replacing right away.
If you go for one of these, you should expect to either spend some time setting it up yourself or take it to a shop to have a full set-up to get the most out of it. But then that's actually true of most most guitars ...

I am an infrequent but experienced player of mandolins and what I was looking for was a reasonably priced instrument which I could use on the occasions (writing, playing, performing) when I needed to. What I got for the price of a good night out far exceeded my expectations.

Firstly, it looks stunning and the build quality is, without qualification, excellent.

The instrument was playable out of the box, a pleasure to play and, importantly to me, after a good half hour noodling my fingers were still good.

It looks stunning and the build quality is excellent.

Plugged in you have a good basic sound. I don't understand why reviewers say it doesn't sound like a mandolin. It's electric you can make it sound how you want.

Obviously it hasn't an acoustic sound but it is pleasant and quiet for practicing.

I did lower the action at the saddles after a while because it was easy to do (and lower is always better) and will set it up some more when I have the time. Having experience of acoustic mandolins I was particularly surprised at the scope and ease of adjustment. String length, saddle height, neck and pick ups are all easily adjusted and have loads of range.

A big thumbs up for this type of mandolin and for this particular model.

When I bought this I thought it would be a base for upgrading all the hardware to make a decent instrument. I couldn't have been more wrong. The finish is flawless. The bolt on neck joint is perfect as is its shape for my hands anyway. The tuners are silky smooth and have no play or stickiness which is often found on low cost instruments. The strings sound fine. Pickups work as they should and there is no hum that I've found through an amplifier. Mine arrived with the improved bridge allowing intonation to be set independently for each courts of strings as well as individual height adjustment. No complaints there. It has strap buttons fitted and even came with a guitar lead albeit a thin short one. It's more than other makers provide! Does it sound like a mandolin? Yes in the same way that an electric guitar sounds like an acoustic one. It's different but great fun and it depends what you want it for. I love it. The nut was cut about right. I may shave a tad of it but not yet. The bridge action needed lowering but that's a couple of minutes of a job using the supplied Allen key. If you fancy one don't hesitate. I really don't know how they can be made for this price. Only minor gripe is that it has a flat fingerboard. Radiused would be better but for this price no complaints.