I’ve yet again come to a conclusion that I want to buy another guitar, i have a classical and a beginners electric guitar and i want to buy a better electric one. Therefore i started searching and stumbled upon the harley benton hb35plus guitar, now my question is does anyone in this community own a hb35+ ? Id like to know some cons of the guitar or just how is it as a guitar just to play for fun by yourself, how does it perform in gigs, ect.
I’ve already watched lots of reviews and they’re all positive even the non-sponsored ones, so im a bit confused how can a 250€ guitar be so flawless.
Hi Walter
I had the same dilemma last year and ended up buying this guitar in cherry red. The quality is as least as good as my Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster which cost me €150 more (That’s also an amazing guitar), I bought a B Stock for €200 and couldn’t find any fault with it. The only negative is that the frets were quite scratchy. However many reviewers also mentioned this so I also ordered a fretboard guard and rubbers to polish them which worked well. I also used the money I saved to have the guitar set up that by a luthier; for 60 Euro he lowered the action at the nut and set the intonation and truss rod. If you do decide to buy one it would be best to play it for a week or two and try to ascertain if it has any serious defects like uneven fretwork that would be expensive to fix. The great thing about Thomann is the 30 day money back guarantee. When I bought my Classic vibe Tele from them I sent the first one back because the colour was weird. So if yours has a defect, send it back and get another one. I find that these 2 quite different guitars have enough variety in sound for me at the moment. Hopefully I won’t have another GAS attack for a while.
As far as gigging is concerned I can’t imagine why not. At least it wouldn’t be a disaster if it was stolen.
As you probably know Harley Benton is the Thomann house brand which means that they don’t have to pay a middleman, hence the lower price.
Everything Will says is fine and valid.
Can I ask if you have tight budget restrictions?
Harley Bentons can serve well if given some after-sales tech treatment that will cost money in its own right.
They are still at the budget end and do not really tally with your desire to buy better and take a step up.
No experience of them but I’ve heard some are good some are not so, make sure you can look over the one you buy. I assume you’ll be getting cheaper parts than a higher price guitar?
I have a cort x100 at the moment, and yes my budget is rather tight. I really want a hollow body guitar so i started searching and after looking through some options i decided to stick with the hb35+
Im learning some luthier work myself so if there are some really minor problems i can fix them on my own but ofcourse i think itd be a bit more smart to have it checked up by a professional.
Do you have any other budget friendly hollow body options under 300€ maybe 350?
Well I don’t have experience with Harley Benton guitars, but if it’s one thing I noticed when getting a new guitar is the importance of getting your hands on the instrument before buying.
You can do all the research you want and read a bunch of reviews and really like the color, but if it doesn’t feel good to play, nothing will matter.
Of course, there’s a lot of people buying instruments online and very happy with them but I need to make sure it’s right for ME before spending my money.
Absolutely agree with this one i used to really like les pauls but then i got my hands on one in a guitar store and it felt awkward for me to play, as in it was still cool to play and everything but something felt a bit off, then i tried a couple of hollow bodys one of them was an epiphone es335 and i absolutely loved it, felt so much lighter and more comfortable. Anyways in conclusion i cant really get my hands on a hb35+ but i do know i really enjoy hollow body guitars
I have had several HB guitars and have friends who have them, none being this model but I wouldn’t see any reason why they shouldn’t satisfy your needs. The Vintage series (Lemon drop or Vintage cherry) would be the best choice as the more flashy coloured ones have hotter pickups. As already said, HB guitars have no middle man so the price reflects that, in essence you would pay roughly 30% more for an equivalent from a mainstream manufacturer. Yes it’s likely that you would need some work wanted to get the best out of it but if you can do some of it yourself it would not be expensive and would give you the experience on a less expensive instrument.
Hi, I wonder if you bought the HB-35Plus in the mean while? And if so, how do you like it?
I got mine a few weeks ago, and as a beginner guitarist, I’m really in love with it. I can’t compare to other brands or types of body, but I do love the versatility of that guitar, to play around with tones and sounds
I did in fact purchase this guitar and honestly im very satisfied with it! First of all it is so unbelievably beautiful, i got the metallic green one, love the shine, love the gold finish accents on the pickups, bridge, everywhere else, its done really well.
Upon sound i also was nicely impressed by the actual performance of this guitar, tones work great and coil splits also make a very noticeable difference! Since its in the budget price range i really didnt expect much from the coil split option, but it really can perform.
Only minus i had with mine is the freatboard is quite dry and scratchy, but i fixed it with some wood oils and freatboard conditioner. Otherwise its a really light comfortable instrument compared to the other guitar i own its much nicer!
Also important to mention that it stays in tune well, which, again, i didnt expect at all.
@Valt nice! I got the metallic green as well! I’m very impressed, but as I said, can’t compare to anything, as I never owned a guitar before.
For me it was love at first sight, and within my budget, so ticked all my boxes.
