Harley Benton Custom Line N-150CE Black

It's ok but it has something loose floating around inside it, that sometimes falls on to places that make the guitar buzz on the bass strings. I little shake to move whatever it is, does the trick. Eventually, I will get it out of there, but I don't want to change the strings yet, because I'm not sure how big I want to go (Dobro strings are usually YUGE). Plus, I will have to take the resonator apart to get in there, which is new territory for me, that I'm fearful of. To be fair, I'm not sure I could get much further from Germany, and still be on land, so the blame could be on UPS.

As for the actual instrument, I'm not blown away. The amount of "resonator tone" is a bit thin, but it could be my play, or the small strings. I don't regret buying it; I always wanted one, and the price is right.

What can we truthfully expect from a resonator for under £200. ? The answer….is not very much. I bought this as a project to see if I could improve it enough to make it a useable gigging instrument. I like the cutaway access for slide playing. In short, the fret ends were rough, as were the crowns of the frets. The nut was poorly cut, and the action was too low for any serious slide playing. The pickup was weedy, thin and weak, and the pots were scratchy and of very poor quality. The acoustic tone was thin and lacking any real body , warmth or sustain.
I cut a new nut, tweaked the truss Rod, refitted the bridge, and upgraded the pickup and pots. Overall cost was about £100, so for under £300, I now have a a guitar that is reasonably ok without being a world beater, though it obviously can’t compare to high quality resos. The physical construction is quite heavy, and I’m not convinced that buying any more new parts is going to make a cost effective improvement in tones.
It plays ok, without being outstanding, and would do for a couple of songs in a gig. I’m sure that at this price, quality control is going to vary immensely….. so it will be down to pure luck when your guitar arrives. Having said that, it is certainly the sort of instrument that can benefit from a small amount of work and investment.
Be realistic in your expectations, and this guitar will serve its purpose.

Well, so I thought I'd get me a resonator without paying too much. I have later bought the ResoElectric, and if your wallet allows it I recommend you go for that one straight away. This guitar is nice, neck is good, action fine, sound is ok, though not as loud as you might think when played acoustically. But all in all, it is what it is and if you are disappointed with a resonator at this price range you should stop whining and start saving up to buy a high end guitar in stead.

What did disappoint me though was revealed the moment I plugged it in. It was just noise and statics and buzzing and havoc coming out. Ok, so what to do. I could of course just send it back and get Thomann to fix the problem, or I could smash the instrument to pieces while screaming how I hated the world. Or I could try to fix the problem myself. I did the latter and found a broken wire inside it's belly. Fixed the wire and then everything was peachy creamy. Question is, did anybody really check this guitar before it was sent to the customer? Someone sleeping on the job, maybe?

Conclusion: It's a fine guitar when everything is like it should be. If you're looking for that metallic/banjo-like sound you should go for the ResoElectric, but if you'd like it to sound more like a normal acoustic guitar, but with a slight metallic resonator twist to it, this is totally fine. I don't do slide playing, so I can't help you valuing it as such. But, Thomann, please get your quality control guys to sharpen their game.