Harley Benton has expanded its acoustic guitar lineup with the CLF-50E, a parlour-sized model with a solid Canadian Sitka spruce top with a solid metallic colour finish that the budget gear brand describes as a “statement piece”.
And if you choose the Ocean, Purple or Jade finish options, we’d definitely agree – but even the more muted Anthracite and Black finishes will catch the light nicely. Those finishes and the slotted headstock, it’s quite the looker.
We often think of parlour acoustics – especially at this price point – as couch buddies, runaround six-strings for the home, and this, offering change from 200 bucks, would fit the bill.
But this being a Harley Benton guitar, we’ve got a bit more besides, with an HB-03 acoustic guitar pickup and onboard guitar tuner making it ready for open mic night, pub gigs or high-street busking.
A solid top at this price is no trifling detail. That top is complemented by what Harley Benton calls “sonokeling mahogany” on the back and sides, and we have sonokeling rosewood for the bridge, rosewood for the fingerboard.
“Sonokeling mahogany” is a head-scratcher – let’s call it an enigmatic descriptor for a tone wood that is most certainly grown in Indonesia, that has a nice tight grain, and has been left with a gloss natural finish to show it off here. The cream binding ties it all together nicely.
The neck is mahogany, joining the body at the 14th fret with a dovetail joint, and it is shaped into a D shape.
You can bet your bottom dollar that it will be an easy, crowd-pleasing profile. With a cheap acoustic guitar, manufacturers play the percentages; this will have a mainstream build, with crowd-pleasing dimensions.
We have a 15” fingerboard radius, 43mm wide bone nut, and a 24.8” scale length. Under the hood, the top is braced with scalloped X-pattern bracing. The tuners are open-gear, high-ratio 18:1 jobs.
Yeah, those are the essential details, but again, we are called back to the aesthetics – just look at those “elliptical” fingerboard inlays, marking out the CLF-50E’s 20 “premium” silver-nickel frets.
The saddle is bone, matching the nut. The cream bridge pins match the binding. It’s a tidy looking guitar, with a tidy looking price. Expect to pay £192/$256 from Thomann.
For more details and pics, head over to Harley Benton. To buy one? Well, Thomann is the place to go, or if you're in the US, the Harley Benton Official Shop at Reverb should sort you out..
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