I like how the title is 5 reasons not to buy a Harley Benton but the not so subtle undercurrent is just "get over yourself and consider buying one" haha. I approve of this sentiment 👍

I own 2 HBs and love them. I’m old enough to remember when the only affordable guitars for British kids with little money way back were unspeakable planks made by brands like Kay and Satellite that you’d order from your mum’s Freeman’s catalogue. We’ve come a long way for decent budget guitars since those dark days!

Whats immoral is Fender and Gibson charging what they do for guitars now!!!

It's a good brand to start on, or just stay with if you don't want to pay to play a big bucks guitar. The only bad guitar is the one that isn't played. Salud.

5 more reasons to buy Harley Benton Guitars

I’m cheap and poor. Dirty too.

I'm glad you touched on the "issue" of branding. I've been playing for over 35 years and  have a decent-sized collection (just over 20 electric guitars) of many styles and price points. I've never been one to worry that much about having the most expensive or newest thing out there but I can say, from personal experience, that your face is the best gauge of whether a guitar is quality or not. If playing it makes you smile uncontrollably then it's a quality instrument. I have an LTD EC-256P (Les Paul style) that I picked up for $200 and that guitar plays, sounds and makes me feel better than the "actual" Gibson Les Paul that cost me nearly $5,000. Trust your smile and you can't go wrong. Great post. Cheers.

Reason #6 Once you have one HB you'll buy another one, then another one ..

‘...or a Gibson!’ Well played sir, spat my coffee everywhere!

I kinda enjoy buying a dirt cheap guitar and making it Play and sound great, upgrading pickups over time, polishing and leveling frets, all that jazz. It makes that guitar more of a personal tool to me

Surely, if playing a Harley Benton will make me feel dirty ........... that's a bloody good reason for me to buy one, eh? Pass the whipped cream John!!!

The snobbery part was spot on. I have never played harly benton   But I have a lot of experience with cheap guitars and if a guitar is cheap it’s considered a knockoff but if a guitar is expensive it’s considered boutique.

I ordered a HB-35 vintage on a whim and am blown away. The body and finish were near perfect. The intonation was good. The neck set up not so much. The neck was straight but without enough relief, some sharp fret ends, a couple of high frets, and to high of action. I addressed all of the set up issues and now this guitar plays and sounds great.

Re-sale value is a concern for any brand and Harley Benton do not fare as badly as one might think, precisely because they are cheap to start with. Statistics taken from German ebay on over 100 sales last year showed that people would pay 74% of their new price on average for a Harley Benton, which is more than what they spend for a Squier or an Ibanez.

i was expecting you to say - "because you cant have just one, always buy anther model" - ha ha

Some people are snobby about guitars and gear. I have a PRS SE and some people don't consider that a 'proper' PRS as it isn't a fancy £5K wood library model! I might do some upgrades to it at some point to maximise my investment, but I'm pretty happy with it, and yes, it played perfectly out of the box. I like to play before I buy, but I bought the PRS when we were all in full on Covid lock down so it wasn't possible and the store had a very nice returns policy so I wasn't concerned.  

The quality of lower priced instruments these days is pretty amazing. Two of my newest students both bought Squires, one bought a strat and another a tele and they are brilliant guitars for the money. Cheap gear used to be expensive firewood a couple of decades ago, now you can have a brilliant entry level guitar and amp for well under £300! OK the resale value won't be much, but as long as you have the space to keep them you might as well hang onto them or give them to someone.

I like tube amps, but you can buy (and I own) a Roland Micro Cube that I actually use more than my Marshall + Blackstar + Vox fancy pants stuff. Blackstar, Roland, Yamaha, Harley Benton, Squire. New guitarists have never had it so good!

After seeing this I just ordered a Harley Benton Gold Top Les Paul with PAFs. I am having it shipped to India so will see how much import duty is charged & how they pack it. Am Vlogging the process for my show - Guitar Gear Gyan which is the the 1st English Guitar Gear Show in India. Love your videos and insight.

Legend tells of a legendary guitar brand who's low cost was the stuff of legend!

There's a HB Fusion II - HSH coming my way from Germany. It's a bit more expensive than that one, what I like about Thomann is they listen to criticism and implement the necessary modifications. The trip from Germany to Australia is long and perilous, I hope it arrives in one piece.

My son wanted a bass guitar for Christmas and he's been used to playing his music teacher's really nice older Fender P-bass. I know I couldn't afford one of those as well as an amp for him, so I found a Harley Benton JB-75 jazz bass and he absolutely loves that guitar, more so than one of the Yamaha bass guitars he's played before. Like I told him, work on learning, getting technique, etc. and he's had a blast with it since he got it.