Harley Benton HBJ-45E SBK

I’m extremely satisfied with this guitar. It looks great, feels well-built, and sounds fantastic both unplugged and through an amp. What really stands out to me is the neck — it’s incredibly comfortable, with a smooth satin finish that makes it a joy to play. The action is low right out of the box, which makes chords and fingerpicking effortless. For the price, this guitar delivers far more than expected. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a great-sounding and easy-to-play acoustic-electric on a budget.

When you buy guitars, you get what you pay for (mostly) and nobody should buy this Gibson J-45 clone expecting it to actually sound like a J-45.

But, it's pretty damn unbeatable for the price - and looks fantastic.

The finish is pretty much flawless from what I can see and feel on my first play. No sharp frets, action playable out of the box, no cracks, no finish blemishes and no gaps in the binding.

The matte black top finish looks fantastic, the open pore back and sides complement it really well and the matte finish neck is so playable. It's quite slim, but very comfortable.

Looks-wise it really does look way more expensive than it is. The black top, off-white binding, the dark wood back and sides rather than having it all-black - very Johnny Cash. I may hunt for an off-white J-45 style pickguard to complete the look.

Sound-wise it's honestly nothing to write home about. It's very middy, a bit muddy, with a lack of string separation when strumming and you have to work a little to get a response from the low end.

When playing fingerstyle it sounds really great. The bigger size gives a good sound, despite it being made of all laminate woods.

It's a little boxy, which will be somewhat down to that all-laminate construction - the lack of solid top is the only thing that can be improved, especially as the lower-price (by £1) CLD-65SE NT is a dreadnought with electrics and a solid spruce top. Why not a solid top on this? Weird.

Although, the benefit of the laminate woods is that it is very stable with humidity and would probably work better as a travelling/campfire/busking companion.

Speaking of electrics, it has them! Obviously the pickup sound is not great - the standard cheap quacky piezo sound we all hate. But this can be improved with a decent EQ or acoustic IR medal to make it sound more woody and natural. It has a built-in tuner too, and it's actually very good!

Overall, this is perfect for my needs as a back-up guitar to play in outdoors scenarios, or any situation when I'd prefer to leave my all-solid main guitar all nice and snug back home.

I mainly play in our church band or solo, so a little EQ from the sound desk plus an IR or modeller pedal would make a big difference to the electric sound.

As far as it goes acoustically, it sounds great for the price. It compares nicely to a J-45 style Seagull I also have, which has a solid top and was made in Canada (if that makes a difference?).

I'm the kind of person who looks around when needing a new guitar, a lot. I see one I like, wait a few months, look around again, put off buying, have another look and maybe then if I'm convinced it's the best I can buy for my money, I'll pull the trigger.

I couldn't find another guitar online that had everything this guitar has, and also looks as good as this guitar does, for £175.

Plus, it was shipped from Germany to the UK within a week, with no damage whatsoever and for no additional charge.

Danke, Thomann!