Harley Benton RB-600CS Classic Series

I don't pretend to know much about high end instruments, and I'm mostly an acoustic player but this RB600CS has given me more enjoyment than any electric guitar I've owned. The only issue I had with mine was a badly manufactured bridge saddle on the 2nd string. It was slightly wobbly and if I did a string bend it would move.

I fixed it myself by filing down the bottom side slightly until the wobble was gone and redid the intonation. After that, this guitar has been absolutely inspirational for my playing.

It features a volume for each pick up and you can blend them in the middle position of the 3-way switch. The tones are great through my Fender Champion 40 amp (In my home studio) on Blackface or British amp models, and there isn't a single blemish on that finish worth mentioning. I did a DIY mod to the pick guard because on real Rickenbackers the pick guard is elevated off the main white tear drop. Other than those two things I haven't touched a thing and I don't plan on it either.

Buy it. You'll like it A LOT.

* 6 Month Update*

Figured after 6 months with this beauty I'd give some long term impressions. 1.) I have not replaced anything electronic on the guitar. It just doesn't need anything else other than what Thomann gives you out of the box. 2.) You have to know what tone you want if you buy this guitar. If you want to sound like Tom Petty or the Beatles, you'll find those sounds. If you want to sound like Metallica, buy a metal guitar, this isn't designed to do that stuff. It's a classic rock/jazz/blues guitar, not a metal machine. 3.) I've read other reviews that try to explain what this guitar is. It's a tribute to the entire line of Rickenbacker. The body is actually more inspired by their bass guitars than the 660 small body like Tom Petty has on the cover of Damn the Torpedoes. And it works. The thing is GORGEOUS to just have a look at while it sits in one of my guitar stands.
4.) In the six months I've owned this guitar I haven't gone a full 7 days without being forced to pick it up and at least strum a Petty tune or Beatles tune just to get a few notes out of it... It's that much fun to play.

Indeed, a semi hollow, with a set neck, and styled just differently enough from a Rick to have it's own character all for the price of fifty pints of dubious ale.
It's a very fine guitar, and not just "fine for the money" but in and of itself. Really nice neck with very well dressed frets, and reasonably well set up too: a touch of relief giving you a nice low action with a TINY bit of fret buzz that was easily dealt with with just a little more relief dialled in.
The sound is pretty much what you'd expect when you clap eyes on it: a sort of econobacker sound - just jangly enough with plenty of poke too. Switchgear and pots are all fine and do the job they are tasked with perfectly adequately: they will of course break eventually, but you have no need to swap them put straight away unless you plan on some really heavy gigging a long way from home.
The big deal for me is the styling: there are any amount of guitars out there for this sort of money, and most are strat or tele or LP shaped. This one gives you a little bit of character to play with.
I use this guitar for Jam nights and it has so far stood up fine to being used by a bunch of players, some of whom might have had just a little too much...whatever it is that is making them walk like that.
So yes, it's sturdy, it sounds fine ( not brilliant, but nothing to be ashamed of by a long way) pleays great, and it looks like a grand and a half's worth from a few feet away. What's not to like?
well if I had to be picky, one of the machine heads is a little loose around the centre point, meaning you had to turn it a couple of degrees before it starts to move the string. This is something I have had on other 2-300 euro guitars and so far isn't anything to worry about: it holds it's tuning fine, it's just a bit of a pain, but it will be replaced and locking tuners wouldn't go amiss.
The interior finish ( in the F hole ) looks a bit like an impressionist painting, but in that you have to look hard to see anything I don't care.
If you want to upgrade, either over time as the existing hardware wears out, or as a project just for the fun of it, you'll be doing so on a guitar that will merit the extra work.
It's great.

Almost speechless when I opened the box - but maybe a "wow" could just about be heard. What a looker - front, back sides and top - just an all-round really nice guitar. Had to keep going back to the website to check the price again - £178 delivered UK - amazing ! Really nice quality and finish.

After a few "plings" I just hung it on the wall and looked at it for a couple of days ( not all the time ) before checking set up. Never really had to do much to make it sing - fret levels were ideal and no sticky out bits to moan about. After the couple of days rest the relief was 0.010 so just left it at that. Fretboard was not especially dry after transit, but it did get a tiny drop of lemon oil just to cheer it up a bit. Some minor tuning and intonation tweaks and it was good to go. Tuners feel pretty good actually and do their job well.

Lovely and light to handle and quite compact which for me makes it a lot easier to play as am relatively new to guitar
( convert from percussion ) and a home player only. Very forgiving I would say and also maybe a "nicer" more symmetrical shape than the RB600 type on which it is loosely based - being a Tribute Series Guitar. I believe the pickups are Artec Classic Mini Humbuckers and have to say I really do like what they can provide - quite versatile.

A quick tip for anyone interested in the sound of a 12-String without the expense of buying or " inconvenience" of trying to master playing one - problem solved. The Digitech Mosaic 12 -String Emulator Pedal ( Thomann have them ) works a treat with the Harley Benton RB-600CS and sounds fantastic ( ref. Hotel California intro and many others )

I really have to give this guitar 5 stars for everything for two reasons mainly - Quality of construction, appearance, playability and sound. Secondly value for money - to get something this good for such a price is impressive indeed and difficult to imagine anything better. Highly recommended - if you are a fan of R-Types you will love this. If you cannot play at all - just buy one and hang it on the wall to admire. It's cheaper than a framed limited edition print !

First Impressions
This beautiful looking Mahogany guitar is very light so it is easy to carry around with you and play gigs. The Mahogany wood is shown off to it best advantage by the cherry sunburst finish. My guitar has a flaw in the wood, not the finish but since it gives it personality and I am happy with that.

Influences
Guitar based on Rickenbacker designs are nickname "Rickenfakers". This guitar is not based on any one model but rather combines style elements from different models to create something new. The body shape is similar to the Rickie 600 series.

Set Up
Most of the strings were off the bridges, I didn't notice this at first because of the covered Rickie style bridge cover. The guitar has a low action. There is some fret buzz on the 5th and 4th strings at the first fret. I need to adjust the intonation on my guitar but I don't have a small enough spanner.

The control plate is covered with a protective plastic covering. unfortunately the plastic covering the lower plate cannot be completely removed without unscrewing the top plate. When I unscrewed the plate, expecting to separate them, I found that they were stuck together, curious.

Sound
This guitar wants you to play arpeggios in a lead and rhythm style that sorts certain type of songs. I have such a song I wrote called "Long Long Road" from my album "Mistress Of the Moon". The Rb600 fits this style of song perfectly and this will be my live guitar for this song from now on.

Techniques
Apply a little pressure to the floating tailpiece for some vibrato. It is also possible to create "behind the nut bends".

I had been considering one of these for some time before i made the plunge and to be honest i wish i'd dived in earlier! On receipt which came nearly two hours before the allotted delivery slot which was a major result the packaging was more than ample ensuring a safe delivery. On un-boxing and actually seeing the bit of kit it was a bit of a shock..wow it was better than i could ever have expected, it really looks the part, certainly a nod to a Ric bass but certainly hints of a 425 courtesy of the upper horn. On inspection there appeared to be no issues with the gloss finish, all looked well, the frets were well dressed, possibly only issue was the sharp edges to the scratch plate, a bevelled edge would have been nice but hey this is a budget after all and a damn fine budget at that. The pickups look like Filteron and are very smart indeed. Bridge looked okay and the action being a bit high was easily adjusted even though it played well acoustically straight out of the box. If it plays amplified as well as it looks then we have a bit of a winner here and i wasn't disappointed in the least. Played clean through a Vox amplifier the sound was very nice indeed, chords ringing out clearly defined, the neck pickup was nicely rounded and the the bridge pickup bright but not overly, with the two blended together a certain richness could be heard, dd a bit of chorus and reverb and well the world of sound is your oyster, it took it to a whole new level, a run through of The Blowers Daughter with it A9 and B11 chords and i was hooked, the guitar of choice from now on. Bit of Rockabilly and some slap back echo proving that this is no one trick pony and once you get onto Beatles and Byrds the joy continues. This is a worthy well more than worthy purchase for 200 quid its a snip and even the strings (10's) were in good shape makes me wonder if i really should have a look at a 12 string version!

This guitar looked interesting (a Rickenbacker style guitar at a fraction of the price).

As usual the guitar arrived promptly and was well packed.

Out of the box this guitar probably wasn't as instantly to my liking (in terms of playability) as other Harley Benton guitars have been. I did have to spend a bit of time setting this guitar up. Having spent a bit of time working on the set up I can't honestly say that I am still happy wit things.

The guitar sounds ok, but not that special. So I'm a little disappointed I guess. However, this isn't a bad guitar. You have to consider the price. The guitar is a lovely size and feels very comfortable to hold. Nicely styled. I am just not that impressed with the tonal range and variation in pick ups. All things considered I will keep the guitar and maybe change the pick ups at some point.

Having bought a couple of other Harely Benton Guitars I had no hesitation in making another purchase. The Harley Benton guitars are excellent value for money, well made and very playable. The only fault I ever find with them is that they all (all the models I have purchased) have minor cosmetic flaws. The finish is never quite perfect.

It took me a little while to dial in the TP sound I was looking for in this Rickenbacker inspired semi hollow. First, I replaced the strings with Elixir Nanowebs. The I tuned her down to D which gives it that bottom on Running Down a Dream. I don't use pedals generally because I feel they take out the percussiveness of the instrument.

I'm running it through a Fender 40 watt Champion on the British setting which gives you punch and grit.

This was my first try with Harley Benton and the guitar arrived in great shape. I also like the smaller body style than if it were a Ricky. It's easy to play and looks the part. All in all, good deal.

The guitar I received was very good. The outer shipping box was trashed by the shipping companies. The inter shipping box was in good shape with no damage. There was a large amount of bubble / pillow wrap around the inter box.

The guitar was well packaged. When I took the guitar out of the box it looked great. So far, I have looked it over closely and I have played it. I can find no problems. The sound is good and finish is beautiful. I like the neck and the action. There's no static with the control knobs. They function as they should.

I own several guitars (Fender, Gretsch, Ibanez, Epies). This is my second Harley Benton, but it will not be my last one. I hope your experience will be as good as mine. I live in Texas, USA

It caught my eye because of its similarity to a very expensive American made guitar that starts with an R, but with a smaller, yet very comfortable body. Fine out of the box; I just put my favorite strings on it and lowered the action a bit, not that it was too high at first. I love the neck, which is about Fender 9.5 C shape and size, comfortable for my smaller hand and shorter fingers. Tuners are fine, as it all the rest of the hardware. The volume and tone knobs and perhaps the pots are not the most precise for fine tuning, but I can work with them. It is fun to play and I love the looks. I hope soon to pull the string on an acoustic that I've had my eyes on. I recommend it.

The guitar itself is beautiful, nice finish and everything is where it's supposed to be with no flaws that I can see. Sounds great, plays great. The only thing that might put some folks off is the short 22 fret neck. I guess the advantage to that is you can play it in confined spaces and bump the guitar into anything. As far as playing it does have a wonderful sound, I don't think it needs any upgrades unless you absolutely want to spend extra money on pots, pickups, or tuners. I wouldn't change a thing, plug her in, and go.

If I have one suggestion it would be to get rid of the plastic nut. Why not add a bone or graphite nut to all HB guitars, for an extra 4-5 dollars added to the cost, it would be a real value-added accessory to the entire lineup.