Harley Benton HB-35Plus Black

Bought this after seeing so many good reviews and can honestly say that it's even better than I expected. It's not "good for the money" - it's good, full stop.

It looks amazing - went for the glossy black over the brighter, flame-topped versions as I liked the single colour all over. Glad I did - it looks classy with the ivory binding and gold hardware. I know it's not always easy with a new guitar and that honeymoon period but I haven't spotted any issues at all with construction or finish - it's very. very tidy all round. The nearest I'd come to a criticism of the cosmetics is that the internal wiring is visible through the f-hole but I knew to expect that and plan on tidying that up later myself. The frets definitely need polishing but again, that's something I expected from the many in-depth reviews and is just something I take as part of buying a new guitar anyway. Fret ends will benefit from a bit of rounding-off and polishing but there's no sprout or overhang.

The set-up is better than "adequate" - intonation is spot-on as is neck relief. Action is fine for me - pretty much the same as I have on my way-more expensive Gretsch equivalent. It was down-tuned about a semi-tone and tuning it up to pitch gave another pleasant surprise - the tuners are fast and accurate and the guitar has stayed in tune after about an hour of playing. Some reviewers had criticised the tuners - mine feel and work extremely well. There's absolutely no fret-buzz and no rattles or sympathetic resonance. Weight is around 7.8lbs - about 3.5kg - which is pretty much "perfect" for a 335-style guitar. Balance is not an issue - there's no neck-dive or whatever the opposite of that would be.

The pickups sound good without needing immediate adjustment (in fact, if I do tinker with the heights later, I'll want to note these positions as I suspect they may already be ideal). The bridge pickup is bright and the neck is dark without getting too muddy. The volume controls are superb - there's no tone-sucking as you lower the volume and the taper is perfect. Tone controls are equally well done. The individual pickup coil-splitting is brilliant and gives a huge range of tones - right up to a passable impression of an acoustic. Played unplugged, it's resonant enough that you could practice or strum away and still get a decent sound. Through a clean amp, it's chimey and rings out but it also sounds great with more crunch. Played through a Pod Go, the pickups really work well and sound good.

Overall - I think this is one of those rare occasions where I'd tell anyone - just buy it. There is simply no down-side here - it's a gorgeous-looking 335 clone and and an excellent guitar in its own right. The construction quality alone means you'll be getting a terrific base on which to play around with alternative hardware if so inclined but as a playable guitar - it's 100% ready to go without spending more. I've got guitars that cost many times as much and none of them feel that much better, if at all. This isn't some cheap and nasty "beginner's guitar" - it's an extremely good guitar that's incredibly good value.

After viewing so many positive reviews about this guitar on YouTube, I decided to take a chance on it. A friend of mine spent 10 times what this HB-35 cost me on a real Gibson ES335 and I don't think he got 10 times the quality. In fact there is not much difference except for the name, as far as I'm concerned. And unless you're super picky about guitars, you won't regret buying this one. The guitar arrived in almost perfect condition and ready to play only three days after I ordered it. And I'm in Canada! I heard reviews mention the tuning pegs should be changed but mine seem to be fine so far. Some of the frets are a bit rough and could use some fine adjustment but very playable nevertheless. The action was perfectly adjusted. The feel, the look... awesome. Great service, great guitar. Highly recommend.

This is my second HB guitar having recently bought and *heavily* modified a little TE20 which I've had a great experience with to date. Owing to that previous experience I felt I had a pretty good idea of what I could expect from this guitar.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first: One of the tuners feels a bit wonky. The binding is a little messy in places, particularly around the "F" holes. The frets needed a bit of a polish. All of this was expected. That's it?

I'm just blown away by this guitar. I haven't even set it up or put a decent set of strings on it yet. I just took it out of the box, started playing and didn't really want to put it down.

I've owned in the region of 100 different guitars over the years including Fender and Gibson custom shop models, high end Ibanez, ESPs, a PRS and a bunch of Standard Gibson models. Focusing entirely on playability and tone, this honestly more than holds it's own with virtually any of them.

As a bit of a play test I got a nice clean tone with a little reverb and chorus (Boss CS-2, Boss CE-5, Walrus Audio Slo through the effects loop on an Orange Dark Terror) and decided to compare this playing the same piece against the three guitars that were closest to me at the time (Fender Custom Shop David Gilmour Stratocaster, Fender MIM Player Series Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Studio): The verdict was unanimous in support of the HB-35Plus.

Alright, I did go for a tone that *suits* the HB35 more than the others, but it still had no business being the clear winner in my view.

I can't vouch for the other variants, but this guitar is just ridiculously, mind-blowingly good. It's just insane to me that it's available at this price point.

I've got a set of Grover "tulip" tuners which I'll be putting on it. I've also get a new Tusq nut and full set of electrics which I'd planned to upgrade it with, but honestly? I'm not going to bother.

If you can overlook the finishing issues (which are only really visible if you've got it in your hands and are actively looking at them) and are willing to stick on a nice set of tuners, you'll have an absolutely insane guitar for virtually no money.

Don't think, just buy it.