17/11/2022
Us guitarists can be pretty snobby about our instruments can’t we? If we’ve been playing for a long time and have splashed some serious cash on Fenders, Gibsons and the like, we tend to look down our noses a little at the “lower end” of the scale. Which is why when I decided recently I needed some semi-hollow body Gibson 335 type action in my life, Harley Benton was not on my radar. A 335 style guitar for under £200? Must be a real P>O>S right? So I looked elsewhere.
I have owned some great Squier and Epiphone guitars in my time - some better than a few of the big guns offerings I’ve also owned. So, not looking to spend a fortune I looked at semi hollow bodies from the second division as it were. But the Harley Benton HB35 Plus kept coming up trumps ion Youtube where I was doing my due diligence. Some reviewers were Thomann (Who make these guitars) affiliates, others independent, but they all agreed: These are seriously good guitars.
All reviews agreed that they’d make excellent first electrics but they’d also be great back up guitars for experienced and pro players. Even if, like me you were just looking for a cheap intro to the semi hollow sound. The consensus from many reviews was as follows.
These are really decent guitars right out of the box. They might need a little bit of setting up - all guitars do - and you might at some stage want to upgrade the machine heads and maybe the pickups. At these prices you get a fantastic base for customisation. But there’s basically nothing wrong with them. In fact they are pretty incredible for the price.
I keep mentioning price so here it is.
Mine was £169. I notice that it has now gone up to £220 - still a bargain IMHO. This includes VAT and shipping from Germany where Thomann is based.
You get a nicely finished semi hollow bodied guitar with two humbucker pickups which are coil tapped so you can switch them to single coil. This gives you a load of possible combinations and sounds.
It also comes with a jack cable which does look a bit cheap, and an Allen key to adjust the truss rod if you ever have to.
Some reviewers mention that theirs arrived late - mine took a week and Thomann do advise that it takes 3-4 working days for their orders to reach the border and go through customs.
Slight flaws in the finish and less than perfectly polished frets also seemed common though mine has neither. If I was being very picky I could say that the frets could have been polished better but playing the guitar will take care of that.
I’ve spent the day playing the guitar through my Blackstar tube amp and have been impressed with both the clean and distorted sounds the HB35 produced. The various pickup combos give a great range of tones. The volume and tone controls are quite effective and the neck is just right for me. I’ll probably drop the action a little but that’ll be all for now. It’s great. It was even almost in tune when it arrived after a week of travelling in cold vans.
These come in a variety of finishes and I’d definitely say they are an absolute steal. As I say though, my Vintage Burst finished model has just gone up £50 in price so maybe Thomann have been watching the reviews too …… Grab one while they are cheap as chips!
