Harley Benton Guitars

Harley Benton is a brand name created by German music instrument retailer Thomann to sell their own line of quality budget OEM-manufactured equipment.

= Products =

Guitars, Basses and Amplifiers

Guitars, basses and the instrument amplifiers make up the bulk of products produced under the Harley Benton name. The instruments offered are affordable replicas (with some obvious changes to body and headstock shapes) of famous guitars, such as:

*Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, P-Bass and Jazz Bass,
*Gibson Les Paul, SG, Flying V and ES-355,
*PRS McCarty,
*Jackson Randy Rhoads,
*Musicman Stingray,
*Höfner Viola Bass.

Some of the guitars in the catalog are for the beginner, with bodies made from plywood. Other more expensive models sport set necks, real flamed maple tops, attractive inlay designs and high grade components such as Grover, Gotoh and Wilkinson hardware.

Electric, acoustic and bass guitar amplifiers sold by the brand are mostly solid-state in construction. These include amp heads and combos, sometimes coupled with amp modeling technologies.

The company also sells low power tube amplifiers in the form of heads and combos.

Various cabinets for amplifiers are also available.

Other Instruments

Other instruments sold under the Harley Benton moniker are lap steel guitars, banjos, ukuleles, diatonic wind instruments, electric violins and violas and at one time, electric cellos.

Other Products

Harley Benton products also include spare parts for guitars, pickups, straps and picks, metronomes, cases, racks, bags, equipment for PA systems, and guitar and bass effects.

The effects sold under the Harley Benton name bear a striking resemblance to the ones that Digitech manufactures, technology wise.

= Manufacture =

There is little or close to no literature available on the products themselves.

Little is known where these products are produced, other than that they are made in different factories by different OEM manufacturers in China. Quality control differs from one factory to another affecting consistency. The prices paid are generally cheap, however the quality varies from product to product and even within the same line of production.

In the case of acoustic, electric and guitars, the more expensive models tend to have better wood and professional hardware used on much more expensive brands. With a few basic Do-It-Yourself set-up skills, after market pickup-fitting and some patience, one can reportedly achieve a good modified instrument at a low price.

= External links =
* [http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton.html Harley Benton catalog at Thomann.de]
* [http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Harley+Benton/ Reviews of Harley Benton products (on Harmony-Central)]