What is it?
The Harley Benton CLC-650SM-CE Solid Wood is a Grand Concert-sized electro-acoustic guitar. Sporting a cutaway for easy access to the highest notes on the fretboard and an armrest built into the body, this guitar puts comfort and ease at the top of the menu.
It also boasts some incredible specs that are almost unheard of at this price point. It’s got a Fishman Flex Plus-T acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system with built-in tuner, mother of pearl headstock inlay, abalone rosette but most impressively a solid African mahogany top and solid mahogany back and sides. All-solid wood body construction and premium electronics for under $350? You have my attention.
Specs
- Price: $339/£299/€349
- Made: China
- Body shape: Grand Concert
- Body top: Solid African mahogany
- Top bracing: Scalloped X-bracing
- Back & sides: Solid African mahogany
- Neck/shape: Okume, C
- Scale length: 25.7” (653mm)
- Nut/width: Bone, 1.69” (43mm)
- Fingerboard/Radius: Ebonol (composite), 400mm radius
- Finish: High Gloss Black, Ultra High-Gloss Vintage Sunburst
- Bridge/pins: Composite
- Tuning Machines: Closed WSC DLX machine heads
- Electronics: Fishman Flex Plus-T pickup system with built-in tuner
- Case: Not included
- Left-handed options: No
- Contact: Harley Benton
Build quality
Build quality rating: ★★★★★
First up, it’s worth saying that the build quality is in no way reflected by the guitar’s price tag. You could double its price and still think that the guitar is very well put together.
The neck is nice and smooth along the back and the frets have been finished perfectly. There isn’t one sharp edge on any of the frets – an issue that can plague some affordable instruments.
The binding on the top and back of the body, the rosette and headstock inlay are have also been executed nicely; no signs of a rushed job, scrapes or scuffs. The heel where the neck joins the body is super neat too, plus the gloss finish all over the body and neck is lovely and smooth with no blemishes. The armrest has also been done seamlessly.
All the hardware feels sturdy and reliable. The tuners do a fine job and give a reassuring amount of resistance when you turn them. The strap buttons are nice and tight, plus the jack input and preamp are sitting pretty where they need to be.
Again, sometimes on more budget-friendly instruments, you get a few things that might be a little loose out of the box, or one or two areas that look like a Friday afternoon job, but none of that is apparent here!
Playability
Playability rating: ★★★★½
The armrest adds an extra layer of comfort to the whole playing experience too
One of the main reasons you might look to a Grand Concert guitar to your collection is for its relatively compact size. The body is slightly bigger than a Concert sized guitar, but it’s smaller than a Grand Auditorium, Dreadnought or Jumbo guitar. As such, it’s really comfortable to play.
If you’re smaller of stature, or perhaps you’re looking for an acoustic guitar for a child, then its more compact dimensions make it easier to play. Your strumming arm doesn’t have to reach around quite as far to get to the strings and it sits very comfortably on your body when sat down.
The armrest adds an extra layer of comfort to the whole playing experience too. It essentially softens the edge of the guitar where your arm makes contact with it so instead of your arm resting on a right-angled edge, it sits nicely on a flat surface.
The neck profile feels fairly thin. Harley Benton calls it a C profile which doesn’t give too much away, but it is on the thinner side which again will aid those with smaller hands. It’s comfortable in all playing positions too, from right down at the nut all the way to the top – the cutaway on the body also makes for easy access to the very highest notes on the treble strings.
It’s worth noting how well the guitar plays too. The packaging the guitar came in looked like it had come straight from the factory so this is how a customer would receive it. Right out of the box, I wouldn’t make any adjustments to it; the action was fairly low with no frets buzzing at all.
The only potential downside to its playability is the gloss neck. If you’re playing live and you sweat a lot, gloss necks can start to feel a little slippery so some players prefer a more matte-finished neck. If that’s not an issue for you, then it’s a great playing instrument!
Sounds
Sounds rating: ★★★★☆
It’s a great sounding guitar, there’s no doubt. Like you might expect from an acoustic of this size, it has quite a focused sound with a fairly pronounced mid-range and top end. It’s quite bright for a mahogany guitar and has a quick response without too many overtones ringing out as you play it, but there’s also a mellowness to it. As such, it would make for a great recording instrument.
There isn’t a ton of bass with this guitar, again because of the size of the body but that’s not always a bad thing. If you’re playing acoustic guitar alongside a band, having less of a prominent bass response will mean you’re not getting muddled up in the bass player’s frequency range.
A tighter, more mid-focused tone from the acoustic can give a more defined sound in a band context; it’ll also mean that you can cut through more without having to increase the volume.
If you’re a big, bold strummer, you’ll get some great tones out of it, but you might find that you hit the volume ceiling fairly quickly
It’s undeniably versatile, and it reacts well to strumming, flatpicking and fingerpicking. If I was using it more for one style of playing, it would be the latter. The smaller body means there’s less surface area to drive with the strings, so if you’ve got either a softer touch, or you’re more of a fingerstyle player, then you can get the guitar to respond more easily.
When using fingers, the guitar really does produce a beautiful, sweet tone that’s super reactive to playing dynamics. With the guitar being made from all-solid wood, the sound will likely improve the more you play it over time too.
If you’re a big, bold strummer, you’ll get some great tones out of it, but you might find that you hit the volume ceiling fairly quickly. If you need lots of power and projection, then it might be worth looking at the grand auditorium version (CLG-650SM-CE) which also has a spruce top as opposed to mahogany.
When plugged in, the guitar delivers a fairly standard piezo style sound; it’s nothing special but it will get you by at live gigs or open mic nights. What is nice though is having a three-band EQ on board so you can at least dial particular frequencies in or out.
Verdict
This grand concert electro-acoustic guitar from Harley Benton offers outstanding value for money.
If you’re on the smaller side, or you just want something that’s easier to travel around with, then this is a fantastic choice
Comprising a solid mahogany top, back and sides, you get a mellow but lively tone that’s nice and responsive to your playing. You don’t get loads of volume out of it, so it makes for a great fingerpicking guitar, but that said – it’ll tackle a variety of musical styles in the hands of the right player.
The compact body size makes for a really comfortable playing experience too. If you’re on the smaller side, or you just want something that’s easier to travel around with, then this is a fantastic choice. The armrest makes it even more comfortable and helps give the guitar a more premium look.
Guitar World verdict: I can’t imagine there are many better grand concert guitars around this price. It’s well built and has a premium feel to it. It sounds great and will work for a range of different applications, but it excels as either a recording guitar, acoustic guitar in a band context or fingerpicking guitar.
|
Test |
Results |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Build quality |
Excellent factory setup, fine attention to detail for an affordable build. |
★★★★★ |
|
Playability |
It has a crowd-pleasing neck, an armrest and the action was easy straight out of the box. |
★★★★½ |
|
Sounds |
It might lack super-powered volume, but it’s an impressive voicing that can be used for many styles. |
★★★★☆ |
|
Overall |
Pretty much everything you could want from a sub-$500 electro and then some. |
★★★★½ |
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