Harley Benton CLA-15MCE SolidWood

The guitar arrived with a high action setup, nothing unbearable, but it had room for improvement. The truss rod was stuck on both directions and I was afraid to force it, but after some tries I've managed to get it loose and now it is working correctly. I've sanded and lowered a bit the bridge saddle. You should look for a professional setup if you are not comfortable doing it yourself.

I cannot find any flaws on construction or finish, tuning pegs are very good, fretboard is well finished ( I like the "snowflake" inlays ), the sound, resonance and harmonics are great. I've only tested the electronics with a small amp and the sound seems acceptable, but we all know that proper acoustic amplification will require some good microphones.

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A guitarra chegou com uma acção alta, nada insuportável, mas tinha espaço para melhorias. O "truss rod" estava preso em ambos os sentidos e tive medo de forçar, mas depois de algumas tentativas consegui soltá-lo e agora está a funcionar corretamente. Lixei e baixei um pouco a pestana da ponte. Você deve procurar um luthier se não estiver confortável a fazer este tipo de ajustes.

Não consigo encontrar falhas na construção ou no acabamento, as cravelhas são muito boas, a escala está bem acabada (gosto dos inlays "flocos de neve"), o som, a ressonância e as harmónicas são ótimas. Só testei a electrónica com um pequeno amplificador e o som parece aceitável, mas todos sabemos que a amplificação acústica adequada requer alguns bons microfones.

I am impressed how beautiful, versatile and well-built this guitar is!

It comes already set up. You just need to tune and it is ready to play. (Well done, Harley Benton!). It stays in tune for a very-very long time. The grip is very convenient and it is so easy to play that I was able to perform something I could only do on an electric guitar. And with a cutout it was just a lot of fun!

Sonically this guitar is super versatile, you can do many styles on it. Strumming sounds very balanced across all frequencies, it gives a meaty bass with a nice flavour of shimmering heights due to mahogany top. Rich midrange nicely pronounces notes when you want to accentuate some melody when strumming. Fingerpicking sounds full and crispy on a solid mahogany top. The guitar can be both very quiet and loud.

For those who feel the need to get more bass I can suggest to change strings for Martins. I’ve had flex core 11th at home so I put them on mine and there was a noticeable improvement in lower range over the stock strings. I just had to wait a couple of days for the strings to fully adjust to tension and sound right. I will try Martin Retro 11th next time, as they are often suggested for Martin 000-15M guitar.

Build quality is great, solid wood looks amazing. I also like the finish of the guitar. It is not too harsh, not too glossy. So neither dust nor fingerprints will be left on the body. The guitar shape is very nice, It feels not bulky while playing. I’ve compared it with my GS mini and it turns out to be just 1 cm wider and 7cm longer.

So all this together with a built in tuner and pickup gives a golden mean of an acoustic guitar. Thank you for this amazing product!

Wow. This is basically a Martin 000-15M with a different name on the headstock, which is kind of unreal at this price point.

It arrived perfectly set up: good action, no fret buzz, no fret sprout. Everything was spot on, which is honestly not something I expected at this price. The strings were brand new and just needed a bit of stretching to stay in tune. The only small note is that the fretboard was a bit dry out of the box, but a quick pass with some oil made it look and feel great.

Visually, the guitar looks far more premium than the price would suggest. The fretboard inlays are really well done and do not look cheap at all. The satin finish across the whole instrument gives it a classy, understated vibe, and the binding around the soundhole also looks genuinely high end.

The Fishman electronics work flawlessly. Just note that you will need to have a 9V battery handy, as one is not included with the guitar.

The neck feels closer to an electric guitar neck than a typical acoustic. That was exactly what I was looking for, but if you prefer a chunkier, more traditional acoustic neck, this might not be for you.

I mainly use this guitar to record demos in my home studio, and I am genuinely impressed with how it sounds, both mic’d and plugged in. It REALLY punches above its weight. One thing to keep in mind is that okoume naturally leans toward darker tones, but the Fishman EQ gives you enough control to dial in more treble if needed.

All in all, an absurdly good instrument for the money.
This is my 2nd Harley Benton and the quality is consistently superb. I don't know how you're doing it, but please keep up the good work