Harley Benton has expanded its Custom Line range of acoustic guitars with two new models, with the CLO and CLG offering all-solid builds, an armrest for comfort, and Fishman electronics.
They look the bee’s knees. The CLG is a auditorium-style cutaway acoustic electric guitar that is available with solid spruce on top, solid rosewood on the back and sides, or with solid spruce and layered rosewood on the CLG-70SR CE NAT and CLG-70SR CE SBK.
The armrest is sapele mahogany. The CLO is your regular figure-of-eight OM shape, which again is offered with a choice of an all-solid spruce/rosewood build, or with layered rosewood on the CLO-70SR NAT and CLO-70SR SBK models for a more affordable alternative.
But truth be told, this being Harley Benton the pricing is typically on-point. You’ll pay £309/$390 for the CLG-70ASR CE with the solid-build and black top. That’s not bad at all.
Both models are offered with the choice of a natural top or black – the back comes with a natural finish as standard. It might be tough to choose; both finish options photograph well.
A lot of the specs are the same across the board. Rosewood is a recurring them. The fingerboards are rosewood. The bridges are rosewood (the pins are ebony and with mahogany inserts). The veneers on the headstocks are rosewood.
Harley Benton does shake things up for one of the series biggest selling points, that armrest. It is sapele mahogany. It, again, looks the part, but just as importantly it offers your forearm a comfortable pivot point as you rest it there when playing.
All models in the series come equipped with a Fishman PSY II preamp system so you’re ready for open-mic night. This crowd-pleasing spec continues with the nato neck, which is carved into a C profile. Another nice touch from a spec POV is the gold open-back tuners with black buttons. They look cool and have a 16:1 ratio.
These new Harley Benton guitars all have a 25.6” (649mm) scale length, 20 frets, bone nuts and bone saddles, and look like late contenders for the best acoustic guitars under $/£500 you’ll see this year.
The CLO and CLG series are available now, exclusively through Thomann. The CLG-70ASR CE in Natural is priced £292/$369. With its layered rosewood back and sides the CLG-70SR CE in Natural comes in a little cheaper at £208/$263, £225/$284 for the black-topped version.
Meanwhile, the black-topped CLO-70ASR with the all-solid build is priced £267/$337, and £250/$316 for the Natural model, while its layered rosewood siblings come in at £183/$231 and £166/$209 respectively.
For more details, head over to Harley Benton.
