Harley Benton D-120CE BK

I set up budget guitars in my spare time and bought this acoustic as something of an experiment. About a year ago I bought another Harley Benton (a Les Paul gold top copy) which was pretty well made but also pretty badly set up. However, after fret-levelling, re-profiling and polishing and sorting out the action (bridge and nut) it now plays better than any other Les Paul copy I've had. On that basis I wanted to try out a HB acoustic to see if, for almost no money, I could end up with a decent instrument.

The D-120 came pretty well packed (a conventional guitar shaped box inside a large rectangular box) and felt very light. The first thing that greeted me on unwrapping was a 2mm chip to the top edge of the headstock; disappointing but for £58 not worth initiating a return for since I can drop a bit of black lacquer in there to fill anyway.

First impressions when unpacked were how light and how thin the construction of this guitar is (even by comparison with my 2002 Fender CD60). It's very black and very shiny but in patches the lacquer is so thin you can see the wood grain through it. It wouldn't take much to wear through to the wood sadly. A quick all-over check revealed a decent-looking instrument; 20 frets on a nice shaped neck, basic sealed tuners, lousy Chinese strings, a little EQ unit (9v battery supplied!) and a jackplug input socket that was loose. That is a REAL hassle on a guitar like this. Getting a hand or tool inside there to hold the internal part of the jack socket still while tightening down on the outside is going to be a challenge. Enough now to send back and request another one? Mmmm. Still no. It's too much hassle and I'm sure I can sort it out - but both this and the chipped headstock are basic quality control issues that should have been sorted and which could really spoil this guitar for someone without the experience and confidence to fix it themselves.

To my surprise the action on this guitar is not too bad straight out of the box. The tuners are 'all or nothing' and sticky but kind of work. The frets are awfully finished and scratchy as hell meaning string bends leave you wincing (but I can take care of that). But here's the thing: despite its several little faults, this thing is playable straight out of the box. It sounds pretty good acoustically and even better when plugged into my amp (which I have to say ISN'T a dedicated acoustic guitar amp).

So for £58 plus £10 postage what you get is a lightweight electro-acoustic guitar that plays better than almost anything else you're likely to find for so little money (apart from getting lucky and finding a second hand Fender or Vintage acoustic locally via eBay or Gumtree). This Harley Benton confirms my previous HB experience: these are great guitars IF you are able to put right the small niggling problems AND do some thorough set up work (including fret levelling & dressing). Otherwise this is still not a bad first guitar for a learner for almost no money - certainly far better than the all-too-common first 'acoustic' guitar that turns out to be an unplayable and cheap classical :-)

Almost no diffrent then 1 of the big boys 2nd tier brands enter level aj's.

Again mine arived in 5 days here in canada with my TE-52 well packed in aug 2016 from thomann.

At this price point you cant expect perfection & as in other reviews on it its true. Mine arived with bad frets, dirty fingerboard & the strings where also VERY discustingly dirty/coroated o.O ... QC check on mine was not great sorry to say.

That said IF you have the tools/supplies & knowledge a light fret job, cleaning of strings & fingerboard brought the guitar into great playability !!

That said:

Pro:
- Sound system is great & worth the cost itself !! Sounds great through my vypyr vip 2's acoustic patches.
- body materials seem solid & true making for nice acoustic voicing/output when given some tlc.

Con:
- small crack in binding on bottom left corner of fret board
- paint starting to show some flaws after this long
- plastic bridge saddle or saddle slot cut incorrectly but again doesnt affect playability.
- dirty fret board, bad fret job, frets to small (jumbo's would be great on this)
- dirty strings (once cleaned with string cleaner sounded/felt good)

Despite the con's (not worth attempting to return for new unit) ... this guitar is easy to play, nice voicing.

IF you got one with these without the cons or knew how to fix it yourself or for cheap its a great deal take it from me whoms a home player/hobbiest player !!

I must say, I would consider a higher tiered one after my experiences with this one.

After a lot of research I decided to go with this guitar as my first guitar. I am satisfied with this guitar and I enjoy playing it. Because of the pandemic and Christmas Rush the guitar came in 1 month. Overall it plays really well, but I have it is not perfect.

This is a very cheap guitar so for the price I am not expecting a very good sound but it is pretty good. I haven't tried to use it with an amp yet so I can't comment on that. The strings are pretty good but I would recommend changing them after 1-2 months, so when you buy the guitar buy it with 2 spare packs of strings.

The quality is not very good. From far away it looks perfect but if you look closely it has a lot of scratches that came from the factory. They are not very visible and they look like the guitar is dirty. The nut on the 3rd string is not cut properly but for a beginner it is all right. In the end I recommend this guitar for anybody who doesn't want to spend a lot of money because it is worth it.

I honestly didn’t expect this guitar to feel this good for the price. The neck is smooth and easy to play, the cutaway makes reaching the higher frets a lot more comfortable, and the sound is warm with just enough brightness to cut through when needed.

The built-in preamp is a nice bonus — I’ve used it a few times through an amp and it works great, with enough EQ control to tweak the tone quickly. Unplugged, it’s loud and resonant enough for home playing or a small gathering.

The neck is comfortable, frets are finished well enough, nothing sharp. The cutaway does make it easier to get up high, although I don’t go there often.

Unplugged, the sound is fine for the price – not super rich, but not boxy either. Through the preamp it actually opens up a bit more, and the EQ is handy if you want to shape it. Tuning stability is okay; I had to stretch the strings in the beginning, but now it stays in tune.

The black gloss finish looks good from a distance, though it picks up fingerprints easily. Overall – not a dream guitar, but perfectly playable and good value if you just want something reliable to practice or take to small gigs without worrying too much.

I bought a lot of Harley Benton D-120CE BK, for myself and also reselling it and everytime I received my orders I always look at the neck, there are always a very minor issue in the neck and the truss rod, all I received was either bowed or there is a bulge in the part where the neck meets the body of the guitar, I don't know if this happend during shipping (temperature, humidity etc.) or the guitar was not properly setup or did not undergone basic setup prior to shipping. Somehow I manage to adjust the truss rod and somehow make it barely noticeable that I can still sell the item without any complaints from my customers.

However, it would be great if Harley Benton (Inspection) Team would take a little more time to inspect the units carefully and make sure the guitars are properly setup at least to a playing condition. The guitar sounds good and the built-in preamp is loud too..the guitar is close to perfect except for that very minor issue in the neck/truss rod.

I bought this guitar for my 15-year-old daughter. We wanted something affordable but not a “toy,” and in the end we were both happy with the choice.
The guitar looks great — glossy black finish, neat build, nothing rattles or buzzes. It feels comfortable to hold, the neck isn’t too thick, and it’s easy to play, especially after a small adjustment to the string height. It keeps tuning well.
Unplugged, it sounds clean, bright, and a bit dry — but pleasantly so. When plugged into an amp, the tone is vivid, especially if you slightly reduce the high frequencies. The built-in EQ is a useful feature and works perfectly.
On the downside, the glossy finish collects fingerprints, and it’s better to replace the stock strings right away (I went with Elixir Nanoweb Custom Light Phosphor 11-52).
Overall, it’s an excellent guitar for the money — a perfect option for beginners or anyone who just likes to play for fun or with friends.

At first, upon receipt, I was not particularly pleased with this guitar. I didn't like the sound. There were some minor bugs in the assembly.
But after changing the strings (they are thick from the factory) it got better. And the sound has become more pleasant and more comfortable for fingers.
Also, having looked at similar guitars in a music store (about the same price and more expensive), I was surprised that instruments that are also more expensive, have similar jambs as an assembly (somewhere there are paint spots, the neck-to-deck joint is not made neatly ). And some are worse.
So for its price it is quite a good product.
In the combo, the sound is normal. All electronics are working properly. You can also cut metal.