Harley Benton Custom Line CLR-Chrome

This is my 5th Harley Benton guitar and it's fabulous.

Firstly, I must say I don't know much about resonators but I have had some experience with them and have been doing lots of research on types and the mechanics of the cones. This is my 3rd attempt and have finally found a gem. My first was a second hand / used solid body I bought on Ebay. It rattled really badly. I didn't know at the time but all it required was a 'spider' adjustment. I sold it within days. The second was a cheaper wooden body with a spider cone. It was really badly set up, not enough angle over the bridge to lower the action, the neck was horrible and the truss rod was fully tight and not adjustable.

HOWEVER, this single cone biscuit instrument arrived from Thomann within days of ordering, perfectly set up and a stunning looker. The neck is comfortable and a beautiful shade of transparent brown, showing off the wood grain and the clean, perfectly formed headstock joint. The pearloid veneer on the slotted headstock really sets off the guitar. Whilst the machine heads are beautiful and have a very smooth action, I did find it tricky to change the strings but that's just a slotted headstock issue. The way it looks is worth the slight inconvenience.

It's twice as loud as all my other acoustics and has that distinctive, almost 'banjo' percussiveness. Apart from the fact that it's around 200€ less expensive than any of the competition, it's a 'must buy' for anyone looking for a different character to add to their sound pallet.

Well done Harley Benton.

I was looking for my first ever resonator guitar. I could spend up to 1000 euro, but,

after a couple of weeks of reading and listening, I decided I probably would be best off with this one, even if it was not amplified. I Have two HB acoustics, and they are good value for the money.
It came perfectly packed (to Portugal) a day earlier than expected (3 days total) and for my taste perfectly set up.Action: It is easy to play fingerstyle, be it chords or single notes. For slide, it takes a bit getting used to, but I am not a natural born slide player. Does the job for me.
The right hand needs to learn a trick or two, as string dampening does not work as with a normal acoustic, due to the height of the bridge.

It looks stunning and sounds just great.
Cons:
It is a bit heavy, and tends to slide down from one´s lap. But after some manouvering,I found a comfortable way to use it while sitting.
It lacks a pin for a strap on the neckside. But, if you look at old photos of early bluesplayers, they just had a piece of rope as a strap, and tied it to the headstock.
Pro:looks plays and sounds great.

From a very happy first time resonator player.

A beautiful resonator guitar, I love it, but tin sound resonates from the cone and sound holes.
My expectation beforehand were not too high after reading some other reviews concerning finish, however my one that was delivered is beautifully finished to an exceptional high standard.

I am like a man in love ...with his first guitar.

The guitar is much smaller than you think from the images online, it approximately the size of a small travel guitar.

Slips about when playing as it's super slick.

Guitar sound better when tuned to open G or E as opposed to standard tuning.

My guitar arrived very poorly package and the box was in bits, however unbelievable as it may sound the guitar was undamaged. Thomann should package products better especially when shipping outside of Germany.

Now folks.... It's bluegrass time so got to go and sing some old time gospel songs. See ye all later

I've had this for a few years and thought I'd write a review that has a little more history, other than the usual taking the guitar out of the box, giving it a few strums and then commenting on whether it is good or not.

Even after two years I still pick up the guitar regularly and use it predominantly for slide. I haven't had to set up a thing on the guitar since the day I received it. The action is reasonable for playing chords and scales and just about high enough to get some great slide guitar tones. The neck is really nice and has an old school quality about it. The tuners are very good and don't cause any noticeable tuning problems. The metal work is bright and well chromed but I like to leave these guitars to tarnish/ become road worn as opposed to cleaning them with polish.

I did try modifying the guitar by replacing it with a cone that was spun in the National factory in the USA. Totally pointless as it did nothing to the tone! So buy the guitar, get a decent slide and tune it to Open D or G. That's it.

Fantastic value for the money.

I brought this to inspire me to properly learn old style bottleneck Blues. It arrived in standard tuning and from the first chord I could tell it has a really authentic sound. Tuned to open G the action is still low enough for fretting without worrying about pressure from the slide ( I use a variety of slides now, from heavy Porcelain to light Glass Bottles ) and its character changes noticeably according to the Slide used. It is also very loud, the cone really pushes the sound and it can easily hold its own against heavily strummed acoustic guitars, even when playing single lines. it has excellent projection and can be easily mic'd (you will not need a separate mic near to the neck to capture that authentic Delta blues rasp from the strings) . Overall really happy with my purchase.
Pros:
Excellent projection, authentic sound, great playability.
Cons:
Its HEAVY! Not really a "Con", but you will definitely know its there.
Highly Recommended

As the title suggests this is my third resonator guitar.
I previously has a Regal RC-51 Tri-cone and a Regal RC-2 single cone.
I never liked using them.

I again ventured into the realm of resonator guitars again with this HB.
The quality of the HB is every bit as good as the Regals. In fact, in certain respects it is better. Aesthetically, it looks the part with the slotted headstock and Art Deco tuners. The tuners are smooth and excellent as well as fine-looking.

I am now enjoying playing a resonator. That is due to my greater experience and using picks on all fingers. You really have to use picks to get the sound out of it. Bare fingers no good. Picks make it ring out bright and strong.

Having owned a resonator in the past, I knew what to expect from such an instrument. Upon opening the box, the guitar looked nice and the quality was acceptable. There was a little excess glue showing where the neck met the body, but that was easily removed.
The biggest disappointment was the sound. Initially it sounded very "banjo" like with little resonance from the higher strings. This was improved by an immediate string change to a branded make. The next problem was that the nut was low, so that when using a slide, there was a lot of string rattle from the first fret. Again, this was rectified by removing the nut and adding a thin strip of plastic card beneath the nut to raise it slightly. The guitar now sounds bright and loud, particularly when using a brass slide. The remaining criticism relates to the very sharp fret edges. This is something I will have to take to a luthier to be corrected. Despite all of the small problems I have experienced, I would still recommend this guitar, but there are some QC issues and maybe I was unlucky. Considering the price point of this guitar, I would summarise by saying it is worth the money but be prepared to possibly having to work on the setup.

I was not expecting the quality of this guitar. If it didn't have HB on the headstock, I would have expected to have to pay a lot more for it. It took me a while to get it set up as I like it, and if you can't do this yourself, you'll better get someone else to do it. I lowered the nut, lowered the saddle, changed the string for lighter ones, oiled the fretboard, changed the strap button and now it plays like my friends instrument costing 3 times as much. I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, but the sound is so interesting I may even use it as a backup to my regular acoustic guitar, when I play rough pubs and need a bullet-proof guitar! Joking aside, its well worth the money.