Really appreciated your time and review.. concider to buy as a “dare to take out guitar” and nice to be prepared; Where to spend to improve.. Looks as a honest, affordable and good sounding jam / Gig-guitar 😊
Thanks! Glad the review was helpful. I'm 2 years in with this guitar now and still play it daily. It's a very solid gig-guitar. Good sound mic'd or direct and I don't have to worry about it getting damaged (still careful though). I did replace the tuners with some with a higher gear ratio since I use alt tunings quite a bit. But otherwise this is stock and still working well. Cheers!
Hi Rob, thanks for the nice review. I always wanted to buy a nice D-28 or D-35 or D-45 Martin but unfortunatelly i dont have the money for these... 🙂 Harley Benton has quite some nice guitars, of course not in the same league as the Martins, but affortable. I have already bought some of them. a) A nice HBO-850 (129€) : Amazing guitar for money. I used to gig with an Ovation custom legend, but this HB is now my primary gig guitar. Nice sound and also nice pics. Of course the Ovation is better when it comes to pure sound but not as much as someone could think. And even if it gets broken in one gig who cares.. For the money you can buy a new one :). Not the same for the Ovation. b) a HBO-600 (89€): Also amazing guitar for money but i found the HBO-800 to have somehow better sound. So i use it now mostly to learn how to repair and change things on a guitar c) a CLG-650SM (399€). The best until now. It is a solid wood guitar and has a wonderfull sound! I don't use it in the gigs, because the HBO-850 has a sound more suitable to the kind of music that i play. But in terms of sound quality i found the CLG-650 to be even better. Really a very nice guitar! d) some electrics, but i will stay only to the acoustics. Now i want the next one 😄 I now sure which one to buy first, but i plan to buy all of them. a) The cld41: Although this guitar has a solid sprice top, the back is laminated and this takes my "wow" feeling somehow a little bit away. Camparing its sound to some D-35 and D-28s that i heard in youtube, i found that it lacks a bit on resonance, bass, clarity of the notes and nicelly overtones. Of course it can not be compared to the Martins, but i wanted a little bit more. Maybe i will wait a bit. Maybe HB comes with some newer dreadnaughts in the very near future. I am willing to pay also some more money for it. On the other side the sound is still very good for this price and the guitar looks wonderfull.. So i am not sure. b) The cld30: I like this guitar very much. Solid woods and the ceder-Top gives another sound feeling. Since all of my guitars have a spruce or laminated spruce top, a ceder top is a good alternative. On the other side, the sound is not the typical dreadnought sound that somebody could expect. d) The King CE: This guitar has a very nice sound. On the other side it only has a solid top but laminated back. e) a 12 String but not in the near future. For the moment i tend more to the cld30. What do you think? Anyway in my opinion a HB has a quality, in relation to other quitars, of at least twice (in not much more) the money that you payed. How is your cld41 today? Still so gut as in the beginning? Are you still giging with it? Do you still recommend it? Thanks again for the nice review and sorry for my bad english.
Hi - thanks for the message and sharing information about your guitars and musical journey - very cool! To answer your question - I still really like the HB CLD41SE. I've gigged with it several times (small showcases and recent open mics) and very satisfied with the electronics. And for home use I've been writing on it a lot - very easy to play and good sound even with broken-in strings. I did however replace the tuning machines - the stock ones are ok but the gear ratio wasn't precise enough. I picked up a replacement set on Amazon which are more fine tuned - great for quickly changing to an open tuning mid-set or minor adjustments. But other than that the guitar has been well worth the money and one I'd buy again. Thanks again for the comment and best!
Hi Rob, Thanks for this review. I'm looking at purchasing a Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-41S WN from Thomann. Their price for the guitar plus shipping via UPS from Berlin to my studio in San Francisco is incredibly reasonable, but Thomann has no idea what the VAT cost is. Your profile reads "based in PNW" so I'm wondering what additional VAT charges you paid for this guitar. Cheers!
Hi - thanks for the note. When I purchased this in 2023 VAT was excluded - so paid just the price of the item (which was $345.00 US) and shipping to my US address. Shipping was a bit more because I also ordered an electric guitar & bag but still very reasonable. Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot for your full of good advices review it helps me a lot to choose this guitar 🙏👍😉
Glad it was helpful and hope you enjoy the guitar!
Great review Rob! I have mine on the way, can't wait to try it out!
Thanks! Hope you the like the guitar - I'm a couple of months in now and all good (just gigged with it last weekend and electronics were great live).
Really appreciated your time and review.. concider to buy as a “dare to take out guitar” and nice to be prepared; Where to spend to improve.. Looks as a honest, affordable and good sounding jam / Gig-guitar 😊
Thanks! Glad the review was helpful. I'm 2 years in with this guitar now and still play it daily. It's a very solid gig-guitar. Good sound mic'd or direct and I don't have to worry about it getting damaged (still careful though). I did replace the tuners with some with a higher gear ratio since I use alt tunings quite a bit. But otherwise this is stock and still working well. Cheers!
Hi Rob, thanks for the nice review. I always wanted to buy a nice D-28 or D-35 or D-45 Martin but unfortunatelly i dont have the money for these... 🙂
Harley Benton has quite some nice guitars, of course not in the same league as the Martins, but affortable.
I have already bought some of them.
a) A nice HBO-850 (129€) : Amazing guitar for money. I used to gig with an Ovation custom legend, but this HB is now my primary gig guitar. Nice sound and also nice pics. Of course the Ovation is better when it comes to pure sound but not as much as someone could think. And even if it gets broken in one gig who cares.. For the money you can buy a new one :). Not the same for the Ovation.
b) a HBO-600 (89€): Also amazing guitar for money but i found the HBO-800 to have somehow better sound. So i use it now mostly to learn how to repair and change things on a guitar
c) a CLG-650SM (399€). The best until now. It is a solid wood guitar and has a wonderfull sound! I don't use it in the gigs, because the HBO-850 has a sound more suitable to the kind of music that i play. But in terms of sound quality i found the CLG-650 to be even better. Really a very nice guitar!
d) some electrics, but i will stay only to the acoustics.
Now i want the next one 😄
I now sure which one to buy first, but i plan to buy all of them.
a) The cld41: Although this guitar has a solid sprice top, the back is laminated and this takes my "wow" feeling somehow a little bit away. Camparing its sound to some D-35 and D-28s that i heard in youtube, i found that it lacks a bit on resonance, bass, clarity of the notes and nicelly overtones. Of course it can not be compared to the Martins, but i wanted a little bit more. Maybe i will wait a bit. Maybe HB comes with some newer dreadnaughts in the very near future. I am willing to pay also some more money for it. On the other side the sound is still very good for this price and the guitar looks wonderfull.. So i am not sure.
b) The cld30: I like this guitar very much. Solid woods and the ceder-Top gives another sound feeling. Since all of my guitars have a spruce or laminated spruce top, a ceder top is a good alternative. On the other side, the sound is not the typical dreadnought sound that somebody could expect.
d) The King CE: This guitar has a very nice sound. On the other side it only has a solid top but laminated back.
e) a 12 String but not in the near future.
For the moment i tend more to the cld30.
What do you think?
Anyway in my opinion a HB has a quality, in relation to other quitars, of at least twice (in not much more) the money that you payed.
How is your cld41 today?
Still so gut as in the beginning?
Are you still giging with it?
Do you still recommend it?
Thanks again for the nice review and sorry for my bad english.
Hi - thanks for the message and sharing information about your guitars and musical journey - very cool! To answer your question - I still really like the HB CLD41SE. I've gigged with it several times (small showcases and recent open mics) and very satisfied with the electronics. And for home use I've been writing on it a lot - very easy to play and good sound even with broken-in strings.
I did however replace the tuning machines - the stock ones are ok but the gear ratio wasn't precise enough. I picked up a replacement set on Amazon which are more fine tuned - great for quickly changing to an open tuning mid-set or minor adjustments. But other than that the guitar has been well worth the money and one I'd buy again.
Thanks again for the comment and best!
Hi Rob, Thanks for this review. I'm looking at purchasing a Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-41S WN from Thomann. Their price for the guitar plus shipping via UPS from Berlin to my studio in San Francisco is incredibly reasonable, but Thomann has no idea what the VAT cost is. Your profile reads "based in PNW" so I'm wondering what additional VAT charges you paid for this guitar. Cheers!
Hi - thanks for the note. When I purchased this in 2023 VAT was excluded - so paid just the price of the item (which was $345.00 US) and shipping to my US address. Shipping was a bit more because I also ordered an electric guitar & bag but still very reasonable. Hope this helps!