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.

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