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!

Genuinely blown away by the quality of this guitar. I did need to lower the action a little. I also replaced the glued-in strap holder thingy with a locking one. I used a 7mm plasterboard plug for this and it worked a treat.

Truly outstanding value ... I do not know how they do it! Gotta love Harley-Bentons - this is my third and it is the first acoustic - if you are reading this and wondering then just buy it! It is as playable as my 335 and has been my go-to since it arrived!