Harley Benton DC-580 CH Vintage Series

This is very good for the price. Here are some general observations. My opinions are subjective, they're simply what I've found with what I received.

Fretwork seems very good. No sharp fret ends or sprout. The binding is very neatly done

Body appearance- the painter is darker and a littlee duller than the web photos. The finis is slightly transparent. The Body is three piece and because of the transparent finish you can see a centre piece with very different wood grain. It looks ok but might bother some. It would be better imho to make the paint opaque unless the grain/matching is attractive. But again that's just an opinion.

Sounds- neck pickup is warm and pretty fat. Not as good as the Roswells in my other HB guitars, but this guitar is 139 euro!!

Tuners are ok. They work but are not very smooth or precise. They will be replaced eventually.

Comfort. It exhibits pronounced neck dive. I play sitting as I'm a hobby player. but you may not.

Nut:- well seated, will need a little filing as there are plastic burrs left in some of the slots. No biggy.

Overall:- I bought it to mess around with. I don't own any high end guitars, my most expensive is a Harley Benton Fusion T (299 euro) which is markedly better quality than this guitar, but that's ot be expected. I will use it for occasional use in my garden office, some blues noodling, rock power chords and won't worry too much if I damage it.

Good for:- a complete beginner- a great starter guitar. Maybe as a living room guitar. With better tuners and pickups you could probably use it on stage, but I can't comment specifically because I'm not in that world.

Overall a very nice guitar for the money. It costs 139 euro and has a set-in neck.

This is an acceptable guitar. I can’t picture anyone famous wanting to wear this as bling but it is good enough for me. I am a heavy effects user so I can't comment on the sound. Lately I been playing country so with a good eq you can get whatever sound you want. Without eq it sounds good, and to me, how a guitar should sound. I can't give this a true review which I feel should be based on visiting the store to use its resources to test the guitar (I don't have an amp just 2.1 computer speakers. I live on a different continent. Live knowledgeable staff to assist and inform as to what the differences are between it and high-end guitars that look similar). My first order from Thomann on April 1, 2023, which included this guitar, was the first time I bought a guitar new and oh what a different experience. I am of very low-income and wanted a good sounding, quality guitar. I never heard of Harley Benton and my research for a manufacturer who was providing exceptional quality for its price lead me to Thomann. I notice that the volume knobs roll nicely; not stiff at all. I watched many, many reviews of instruments by HB on Youtube prior to purchasing. The first thing I checked was for any blemishes or imperfections Youtubers showed on their videos; none. Only my experience of past used-guitar purchasing had put the fear-of-god into me; making me decide to make sure that the guitar was professionally setup by Thomann prior to its arrival to my remote area. The cost to have it professional setup by Thomann is about 1/5 the price to my area; around 40 euros. This was discovered after much correspondence. Mind you if things went smoother by Thomann I probably wouldn't be making mention of this because although I saved money on luthier skills I had to have more-than-average patience with the staff of Thomann to figure out how to have it setup prior to shipping (add in comments at checkout and the staff will change your order).

This guitar is special, as I am sure all of their budget guitars are, and it gets the job done which is why I had bought it. It is special in the way that it is not black, unlike the other guitars I had ordered in the same order that only came in black. I prefer budget guitars when they have no tremolo (because I am not pro and have no desire in my life atm) and at this price I really couldn't care less if I put a dent in it. You can use any guitar that works as it should for any purpose if it is put together well, which this item appears to be. This includes recording. Only problem I have with this guitar is that out of the box the jack needed to be replaced because it was making that noise when the cord shifts (crrrrrr, crrrrr); to me this is a minor flaw. The bent metal in the inside of the jack where the end of the cord is held in place was the cause. It is really loose. Hard to believe it was missed by the staff of Thomann. I still haven't opened the jack up to check it out but will once the replacement part Thomann sent me arrives (no charge). I offered to repair using my many years of experience of using a soldering iron; no big deal to me.

The cover for the electronics maybe stuck in place. Could be that it has glued itself to the curing paint of the guitar idk. Mine definitely won’t come out without the assistance of a tool. If I ever need to check the electronics it will be short-of-a-miracle to get that cover off without marking anything.

This guitar was setup by Thomann with nothing specific done to it other than to change out the strings to a set of my choosing (their HB valuestrings which are not like the cheap ones you find on ebay, Amazon or Aliexpress). Seriously though. I gotta make mention of the HB valuestrings. They sound as good as any reputable name brand you see advertised in guitar magazines and I am glad I ordered a near lifetime supply in my first order. When I do something I try to do it to the best of my ability with the expectation of the end result to be as near as perfect as planned, but I gotta say, I really lucked out on purchasing those HB valuestrings. I had asked the staff the comparison of their HB valustrings to other cheap strings prior to purchase but they couldn’t make comment of the other strings and that their HB valuestrings sounded great; which they do. They are heavier gauge and better quality than the cheap strings sold at those other sites mentioned.

Low price, good sound, yes please! My specific need was for a guitar to have a quick on/off switch (volume on neck pickup turned to 0) that I could throw around which this does and at an affordable price.

On the first day, as soon as I got the guitar, I was very happy, but over time, the longer I was with the guitar, I began to notice flaws.
First, let's talk about the pros:
1. Acceptable sound, not great, but quite acceptable.
2. The appearance is quite good, especially the color.
So the cons:
It may not be from everyone who buys this guitar.
1. a cracked guitar pad - most likely this is due to the fact that no one at the factory oiled it, also a cracked insert on some frets.
2. The tailpiece is not fully inserted, that is, the washer into which the tailpiece bolts are screwed.
3. wobbling tuning pegs, i.e. 6,5,4,2.
In principle, for your money, the guitar is not bad.Perfect for a beginner or as a guitar for the home. All the shoals are cosmetic and do not physically interfere with playing, but still not pleasant.