Harley Benton HBO-600TB

From the the quickness of order placement arriving at my front door to the quality of the product top to bottom. I have not seen any company that can come close in comparison. The action was set perfect, the tuners worked without issue, the sound was amazing, and the electronics functioned properly. The only thing that required attention from me was the fret ends were sharp in places. Ten minutes it was resolved tuned and unbeatable. The finish is amazing with one minor blemish that appears to be a sag in the gloss but you need to really inspect in very good lighting to notice it. I have bought a dozen more expensive and better known acoustic guitars over the last 35 years, this one beats them all. The last guitar I was this impressed with quality for price was a Washburn D10N back in the 90's. I wanted to see the type of quality on a less expensive Harley Benton before I went all in on the higher priced models. All I can say is "Thank you Thomann, and Harley Benton" I will definitely be shopping here from now on and Harley Benton will be the brand I purchase.

I needed an electro acoustic for a little folk/irish/pub singalong band I'm playing with. I was using an old Takamine but when I started getting hand cramping and difficulty fretting Bm cleanly (a cursory examination revealed the Taka in dire need of a refret) I decided to explore a few other options.
One of my colleagues turned up at rehearsal with a Harley Benton Banjo Ukelele thingy the quality of which impressed me, and as other members chimed in with praise for HBs in general I thought I'd have a look at the website upon which you are now reading this.
Browsed the guitars and decided on the HBO-600, as I've always fancied an Ovation (a chum has a lovely old example). I went for the blue guitar bundle, as the odds and ends included will all come in useful (you can't have enough straps, leads plectrums etc. when you're gigging!)
Couple of days later a large package turned up bang on time and in perfect condition - can't fault Thomann's delivery system. Good start.
The guitar was in perfect condition, nice blue colour, strings slightly detuned for shipping (presumably). My first observation was the fret ends where a wee bit sharp in places, but not enough to be a problem. I have an old Japanese made Tokai which has developed fret sprout in it's old age. My guitar tech will fix it in two ticks. The frets could also do with a polish but not an impediment. I'm not doing any string bending on this wee geetar.
My second observation was the round back. It takes a wee bit of getting used to if you are used to a conventional acoustic. One of my chums reckoned with his beer gut it would just pivot round him! No problems for me (must drink more beer). I usually practice sitting then standing up for a bit, so I just leave the strap on. I experimented with the guitar height, and came to the conclusion (for me) to either play it quite high up on your body or really low (us punk band low). Much as the idea of playing an acoustic really low down amused me I decided to adopt the higher option. Couple of weeks later I don't even think about it but I can see how the round back may put some players off. My aforementioned Ovation playing chum told me he plays his "sort of on my hip".
(The Ovation has a round back as all you guitar slingers will know). Actually looking at the headstock etc. the HBO -600 is pretty much an Ovation "tribute". No problem with that.
The neck is a fair bit chunkier than my C - shape neck electrics, more like the U - shape guitar on a 52'tele reissue I had a while ago. Not a problem for me, and I have medium/small hands (and lousy technique but that's my cross to bear).
So I tuned the thing up and played it for a bit - then I tuned it up again, and then again. Realised the strings hadn't been stretched in so did that.
No problems with tuning since - seems to hold tune pretty well so no need to replace the machine heads, standard ones doing the job well enough. Played it for a bit, then a bit more, then decided it was a keeper.
Good.
Out of the box the action and neck relief were perfectly set, the guitar comes with the allen key for the truss rod, a nice extra. The action might actually be on the low side for you acoustic players, but for us electric refugees it's bob on. No fret buzz, sitaring or dead spots I can find - mind you I haven't played higher than the 7th fret much.
Can't comment on Thomann's returns system therefore.
Rehearsal night beckons and off to the pub where we rehearse. Everyone was very complementary about the guitar's appearance, the other guitarists who played it were frankly amazed at the playability. Compared very favourably to the much more expensive guitars in the room.
Sound wise not as sweet as the old Takamine, but perfectly good. What's it sound like plugged in? asked my pal. Err haven't plugged it in yet I replied.
So back home plug it in - nothing. Pressed the wee battery check button - zero effect. Opened up the battery case and instantly diagnosed the fault. The supplied battery still had the protective plastic wrapper on! Sensible of Thomann to ship actually, just remember to take it off!
Plugged it in to an amp and sounds fine - again not your classic rich Ovation tone but nothing wrong with it.
Then the acid test - the gig!
Brilliant! Best gig we've played and the wee HB performed faultlessly. Having a guitar I didn't have to think about playing made the gig much more enjoyable for me. Sounded great through the PA, stayed in tune all night (well as much as any guitar stays in tune when you're thrashing away!)
So as you may have already surmised, I'm quite taken with this little blue baby. It's doing everything I want from a cheap biffabout guitar that isn't going to cause me any anxiety about dings or playing rough pub gigs.
So to sum up-
Stretch the strings in,
Take the battery plastic off,
If you're picky tidy up the fret ends and polish the frets (I haven't bothered and probably never will),
Play the daylights out of it.

PS I'll try to remember to update this review in a few months, when I've restrung and done a few gigs.
Keep music live !!!