Harley Benton adds beautifully figured koa and Java ebony tops to its Custom Line acoustics

Harley Benton Exotic Custom Line
(Image credit: Harly Benton)

Harley Benton has added select A-grade flamed koa, koa and Java Ebony options to its Custom Line acoustic guitar series. These exotic tops will be available on parlour, grand auditorium and dreadnought builds, offering a luxurious look you do not often see at this price.

The Exotic Wood Custom Line acoustics share a laminate mahogany back and sides, scalloped X-pattern bracing, and mahogany C profile necks, and each comes equipped with Fishman Presys II preamp and Sonicore acoustic guitar pickup systems to ready them for the stage.

All nine guitars in the series feature pau ferro fretboards with acrylic pearl snowflake inlay, pau ferro bridges, dovetail neck joints, black binding and black die-cast tuners. However, there are a few differences between the models.

Most notably, the parlour-sized model has a slightly shorter 24.72" (628mm) scale, 18 frets, and a wider 45mm bone nut that immediately identifies it as a good contender for fingerstyle. It also has a slotted style headstock compared to the matching headstocks found on the cutaway dreadnought and grand auditorium models.

The dreadnought and grand auditorium models, meanwhile, both feature Venetian cutaways, have 20 frets, a 25.3" (643mm) scale, and 43mm bone nuts. 

These look like a lot of acoustic guitar for not a lot of money, but as we have come to expect from a brand who can bring us an entry-level all-valve lunchbox head or a most-exquisite LP-style electric guitar for just over 200 quid, this is business as usual.

Available exclusively through Thomann, the flamed koa models retail for £407 / €564, the plain koa models £259 / €358, and Java ebony models £184 / €254.

See Harley Benton for more details. 

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.