Harley Benton RB-600BK Classic Series

FYI, the guitar cost me US $360 total, delivered to Arizona, w/gig bag. About the same as a high end Fender Squier from Guitar Center - so inexpensive, but not cheap.

For starters, the guitar arrived essentially unplayable. All of the frets had needle sharp sprouts, and the neck was significantly up-bowed. The strings were D'Addarios, but they felt sticky and grimy, and the action was set very high. The fretboard was also dirty. The tuners were very cheaply made. Nowhere close to the quality on most Squiers. Finally, one corner of the pickguard was popping up.

So why 5 stars? First off, because I know how to fix these things myself. I sanded down the fret sprouts, cleaned and oiled the fretboard, adjusted the truss rod, mounted a set of Wilkinson/Jin-Ho locking tuners, screwed down the pickguard and put on fresh D'Addario strings.

I now have a rather amazing and unique guitar. The fit, finish and overall look is great. The short scale neck is slim and fast. The bridge is a little tricky to adjust, but it works well enough, and I actually like the little cover over it. I suspected the neck would be unstable, but I was wrong. After the major adjustment the truss rod has only required minor tweaks.

I've saved the best for last . . . this freakin' thing sounds amazing! No, no, no it does not sound like a Ric, but it sounds like nothing else I've ever played, and I definitely will NOT need to swap out the pickups. Oh, and the controls also perform well, giving me access to a range of tones that I really like, and that I wasn't expecting. Fantastic fun!

In conclusion, an excellent purchase if you understand what you're getting. I expect you would pay at least US $100 for the set up work if you don't do it yourself. Add another $50 or so for the tuners and strings. Beginners with no experience of these things will likely be disappointed. Oh, and this will be my last Harley Benton unless and until Thomann sets up distribution and return facilities here in the US. I hope some of you find this helpful!

We All Know that Pickups, Strings Machine Heads Knobs ETC. Can be improved so Go And Spend 3 Grand Then. and there will be something you don't like on that one either. Trust me I know , That's the way Guitars are we are all different people with different Tastes in things. some people like low action others High, some people like a chunky neck, others don't, All im saying is for the money guys you cant beat it. If you have a few skills in setting a guitar up then theres no problem ive been playing guitar for 40 years I Bought this for Home use Only In My Studio and was very impressed. Straight out of the box the Action was very good, But I did tweak it a little as I like really Low Action. Id like to see a Smaller Neck some Day on these Guitars about a 40mm Nut with a Softer C Shape profile ( That's just my preference ) The Quality of the build of the guitar was Insanely Fantastic Overall for me Just Fantastic for the money

..Not better, but it is quite easily on par with it. Mine arrived from Germany to California within a week shipped UPS. No major issues with transport: though the RickOmatic was slightly askew, so a little adjustment there was required: There was some buzzing going on with the 6th string, and that cured the issue straightaway. No intonation issues at all to speak of. The neck is perfectly straight without any need of trussed adjustment. The frets are buttery smooth--unlike the sprout issues found in some other reviews. No major visual spots to be seen inside the f hole...it looks like there is some extra lacquer in there, though. Tuners are WAY better than I imagined!! Day one: I beat the crap out of it with a few early Beatles, and it stayed in tune 100% perfectly! The only thing that bugged me was some shrink-wrap under the filtertrons that I can't remove cleanly due to it being under the pickups support plate. That's just a minor visual issue anyway.

Straightaway, This guitar is a stunning value for the money...
For about 14% the cost of a 4K Ripoff-enbacker the Harley Benton RB 600BK is a major score. It looks stunning, The Lennon vibe is there. BTW: this guitar has no issues going through customs because it is not pretending to be an illegal. junky pirated copy.

I had watched a few review videos on YouTube and was expecting a few things: 1) paint in the f-hole, 2) finish imperfections and 3) general quality control issues. I opened the box and found absolutely none of these. It was playable out of the box: frets were great, action good, just a beautiful guitar.

I can't put it down. I've been playing early beatles songs for 3 hours now. I think I played Please Please Me about ten times.

The guitar sounds great and is easily playable. The only con I could think of is due to the nature of the guitar - it's a small scale and for a big guy like me it takes a bit of getting used to. I'm past that point and really digging this thing!

I ordered this guitar with minimal expectations. Usually, when you order something this inexpensive, you plan to do a little work to get it up to your own playing standards. In this case, however, I was pleasantly surprised. I read the other reviews and took note of some of the complaints early on, and it appears they’ve been address quite well. The neck is like a thin C-shape, the frets are dressed and rolled superbly, and the action is nice and low without any fret buzz. And the sound…these pickups are really nice!

All-in-all, a great little guitar for the price. If this is how they always come, I’ll be ordering more very soon!

I ordered this guitar for myself during the 2020 holiday season. After playing it every day since it arrived, I thought now would be a good time to give my comments. First of all, the quality of the finish was flawless. No random spray painting into the f-hole, no poorly glued bindings, the neck is straight, the frets feel good. I play a lot of blues, so bending is important and it feels great. String height was, and is, just the way I like it. The tuners are basic but they work well. the guitar stays in tune while playing and then the next day when I retune, it is practically spot on perfect. The guitar has a very nice tone and I like the performance of the Artec Filtertrons. It is a beautiful guitar, it is very playable. I hear some people say that it feels small, but I don't think so. I am 183cm and 100 kilos and it doesn't feel too small. Sure, is it smaller than my Wildcat? Yes. Is it smaller than my Les Paul? A little. But the pluses for me are amazing. The weight is good, not too heavy. All in all, I think that anyone who wants a Ricky inspired guitar should go for it and buy this guitar.

Today I received my Harley Benton RB-600BK. Last week I got a Rickenbacker 325C64, so I was able to compare the two side by side.
I am amazed and delighted with the RB-600; it sounds quite similar to the 325C64. The RB-600 is just a bit brighter, but rolling off some treble gives one a very close approximation of that classic Ricky sound. The action and intonation were very good right out of the box; impressive for a guitar that was shipped from Germany to California.
For a guitar that costs less than a tenth of the 325C64, to say that I am most impressed would be an understatement! I will be ordering the Harley Benton RB-612CS 12-string very soon.