Harley Benton Custom Line Manhattan-Standard

Great guitar, there's nothing to complain about here. Even the action is low with no buzzing, which I was pleasantly surprised with since the guitar doesn't cost much.

I bought the guitar to mostly play it as an acoustic guitar at home. I'm no longer a gigging guitarist (focused on entirely different instruments these days) but I still love playing guitar at home. The acoustic sound is loud and robust, just remove the soft cloth from under the bridge (it's there to protect the top from scratches during shipping I guess) and make sure the bridge and the arched top are in full contact. Playing with a pick gives a bit harsh and middly tone, which I guess is typical of guitars of this type, while playing with the fingers gives a nice full tone that is both warm and clear.

The headstock of my guitar is different than in the pictures: there is no "crown" inlay, and the truss rod cover is cream-colored plastic with no text. The crown inlay would have been nice to have since it's in the pictures, but its absence doen't make the guitar any worse. I actually prefer the cream truss rod cover to the one in the pictures.

A great guitar for a great price. Thanks Thomann!

(the electric sound through the mini-humbucker is good as well)

Tämä kitara ylitti odotukseni reippaasti. Olin varautunut vaihtamaan mikin parempaan, mutta tämähän kuulostaa kerrassaan hyvälle ja saa jäädä paikalleen. Virittimet tuntuvat erittäin hyviltä ja saavat ainakin toistaiseksi myös jäädä. Kitarassa on ohut body ja se tuntuu kevyeltä. Soitettavuus on hyvä ja kitara istuu litteytensä vuoksi hyvin syliin. Potikan nupeista tuntui olevan vaikea saada kunnolla otetta ja vaihdoin ne Telen kromisiin nuppeihin, jotka poistivat ongelman ja sopivat kitaran ulkonäköönkin loistavasti. Nauhat olivat halvoille kitaroille tyypilliset, eli kaipasivat hiomista/kiillottamista vaikka eivät olleetkaan sieltä pahimmasta päästä. Plektrasuoja on ruma ja joko filmi-vaneria, tai sen näköiseksi maalattua tavallista vaneria. Otin sen pois ja ehkä myöhemmin hion pinnan pois ja värjään mieleisekseni tai teen kokonaan uuden. Kaiken kaikkiaan tämä on mahtava kitara josta lähtee kaunis clean soundi ja sopivalla vahvistimen gain -säädöllä tanakka vintagemainen blues murina. Olen todella tyytyväinen hankintaani.

I bought this guitar 6 months ago and have played it multiple times a week since. It was my very first guitar a) which is an electric hollow body, b) I bought over Internet from abroad.

First, I was very nicely surprised by the natural resonance of the guitar. Although its unplugged tone is nothing to write home about (it's an electric guitar after all!) it's good enough for home practice. Very focused, mid-rangy and percussive. You don't have to plug it in at all and you get sound loud enough for practicing with metronome or a not very loud backing track. Its unplugged volume is just a bit lower than a parlour acoustic guitar. If you want to practice Freddy Green style comping in the middle of a night you definitely will annoy your neighbours :) .

Plugged-in sound for me is very sweet, warm and mellow (I have flat wound strings, 12 gauge). If you are into sounding like Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery or George Benson, this guitar will definitely help you. Although it has just one pickup, it can give you a lot of tone variety depending on your play style. I don't miss a bridge pickup at all. I had a lot of success playing jazz blues with a looper pedal and through a bass amp (Fender Bassman). The whole guitar is made of fairly thick laminated wood and the body is thin which reduces the susceptibility to feedback. However if you are used to play just solid body guitars it can catch you unprepared. It is easily manageable if you get used to it.

Speaking of its quality, it is really superb for the price. It holds tuning very well, is easy to setup and intonate, frets are level and were nicely crowned (although there were some tool marks on their edges, someone probably fixed the fret sprout hastily). Tuning machines are smooth. From the worse bits I found a bit of dust under lacquer in two places, frets were unpolished and the plastic nut was just a bit weird. The output jack hole keeps loosing itself. At first I thought I would have to replace the pickup and pots; I didn't have to - pots are fine and the pickup is nice sounding. I just replaced the nut and polished the frets. Overall, the build quality is on par with guitars at least twice the price. What I really appreciate is the satin finish. Although it does not look so "glamorous", satin finished necks feel much better to me than polished.

This guitar can be a nice addition to your collection, it definitely is the most affordable and useable jazz guitar/electric archtop on the European market. I really wish Harley Benton would add a cut-away model or a lighter colour but it's fine as it is.