semi hollow

Harley Benton HB-35 Plus Top Semi-hollow Guitar Review

Guitars & Gear

At the end of last year, I acquired a new second-hand guitar. It even shipped with a hard case included as part of the sale! The guitar in question is a budget 335-style copy, made by Harley Benton, the in-house grand for the German musical instrument retailing giant Thomann. Or rather, I should say the Harley Benton HB-35 Plus…

What does plus mean?

Harley Benton already have the HB-35, their budget version of a 335-style guitar. Selling for just £175, they get good reviews and are an affordable way to try out Semi-hollow guitars for the first time. The HB-35 Plus retails at approximately £220 new, but has features which mark it out as a considerable upgrade on it’s cheaper sibling.

So what does that extra £45 get you? Block inlays, for a start, which look very classy. You also get more specialised vintage-voiced humbucking pickups (which can be split for a single-coil sound) and an arched maple top (hence the plus top moniker) in fancier colour options, such as the lemon drop colour reviewed here.

Image from Harley Benton’s website – note the original placement of the pickup selector

I love this colour, which appears more of a light orange-yellow to my eyes.

Furthermore, it seems that the nut is slightly more narrow (42mm to the original HB-35’s 43mm) and a slightly more curved fingerboard (12″ radius, compared to the older model’s 13.5″ or thereabouts), making this guitar feel a little more like the classic ‘jazz boxes’ of old.

Specifications & build quality

Having bought this guitar from another player, I received an instrument which had already been set up, and indeed, modified. This means I don’t know how this guitar would have arrived ‘from the box’, although I hear that like most guitars, a simple set up would be enough to get it in shape.

The guitar I received felt well balanced across the fretboard and is really comfortable to play. The classic Gibson scale length feels familiar and the neck is comfortable in my hand. In fact, it feels like they have copied the dimensions of the classic 335 very closely, which is no bad thing.

What’s more, the previous owner had moved the pickup selector switch from the top shoulder (where you would find it on a Les Paul) to a sit with the other controls, which is much more typical on a 335-style guitar. The only negative is that the original hole is still there (it was covered with a giant sticker when it arrived, which I quickly and carefully removed).

Here are the full specs of the guitar, according the Harley Benton:

  • Semi-hollow design with mahogany sustain block (Entandrophragma cylindricum)
  • Maple body with AAAA flamed maple archtop
  • Set-in maple neck
  • Pau Ferro fretboard with block fretboard inlays
  • Fretboard radius: 12 inches
  • 22 medium jumbo Frets
  • Scale: 24.75 inches
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • 2 Roswell LAF Alnico-5 vintage-style humbucker pickups
  • 2 Volume controls with push/pull function for split coil
  • Individual tone controls for each pickup
  • 3-Way pickup toggle switch
  • Tune-O-Matic bridge

The main thing on my list to change, and indeed the only upgrade I feel this guitar needs, is to swap the plastic nut for one made of bone. I’ll probably get round to doing this later in the year, and for now it’s working fine and holding its tuning well.

How does it sound?

Before even plugging into an amp, this guitar sounds good (and surprisingly loud) completely acoustic, which is useful for playing at home.

Plugged in – it sounds exactly as a 335 should.

Played clean, single notes and chords ring out loud & clear, sounding even across the entire fretboard. The pickups, combined with the tone controls, allow for everything from jazz and blues to soul, pop, country and an almost Gretsch-like Chet Atkins vibe. Using the push-pull volume to split the humbuckers down to single-coils beings out an airier version of a Telecaster sound.

Throwing a little overdrive in makes this a very enjoyable guitar to play. As well as offering grittier takes on all the styles and sounds mentioned above, you also get some of the best classic rock tones out there. Add more distortion and it continues to sound very good and play incredibly well. The semi-hollow body allowing gentle feedback which helps add to note sustain.

Putting the HB-35+ through it’s paces at home

This guitar not only took any style I threw at it in its stride, but excelled across the board, even in higher-gain settings. Admittedly, I don’t play the more extreme metal genres, but even then, if you can work out the likely feedback issue, I have a feeling this guitar would surprise you…

Does it hold up well at live shows?

Since acquiring this guitar at the end of autumn last year, I’ve gigged it pretty regularly. It performed brilliantly when I put it through its paces at a recent soul review show, covering Steve Cropper style licks and jazzier solos and choral work. With one of my main covers acts, this quickly became my first choice guitar, covering everything from jangle and early 60s pop to classic rock, punk and Britpop, all in the space of one show. It is comfortable both to play and also to wear standing up for two hours.

Ask most professional session guitarists what the best ‘cover all bases’ guitars are, for studio work and live, and they will probably tell you to have a 335 handy. Obviously, this applies to any decent 335-style guitar, if not the gold standard Gibson original. But it certainly makes sense to snap up this significantly cheaper tribute, especially when it looks classy sounds fantastic and plays so well. It may be that they take a little post-purchase work to reach the decent playing standard I seem to have, but in my opinion, it’s worth it.

This guitar is quickly becoming a firm favourite in my small stable of electric guitars (which includes Stratocasters, a triple P90 non-reverse Firebird copy, and my other, less traditional semi-hollow). In fact, it’s already become my main guitar for covers gigs, playing weddings and corporate functions.

Final Thoughts

This guitar surprised me. I’d heard really good things about Harley Benton, but I still wasn’t prepared to be blown away as much as I was by this guitar. I’ve used it in various settings and with several different acts in the last couple of months, covering styles from Kuti to Kasabian and BB to The Buzzcocks, and I’m very impressed with how it’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it.

Nowadays, the term ‘budget guitar’ doesn’t mean the same as it did twenty or even ten years ago, and shouldn’t arouse the kind of stigma which cling to those older, poorly constructed guitars. The quality on this instrument is very high, and I can’t stress enough just how fantastic those Roswell pickups sound!

After years (decades, even) of using Stratocasters as my main go-to guitar while others have come and gone from my collection, I might have found another guitar that I love just as much. I might even have to buy another of these, just in case something happens to this one – which at this price point, is an affordable prospect.

Highly recommended. Go and give one a try now.

Elderwood Guitar review: my custom-made semi-hollow

Guitars & Gear

I have never owned a semi-hollow guitar before, despite having played 335 style and ‘thinline’ guitars on several occasions. This year, I had the budget to rectify this, but with so many great options out there, I was undecided on where to invest my hard-earned money.

Enter Elderwood Guitars, a one-man operation based in Carlisle, in the north of Cumbria. I had seen a few Elderwood models for sale in a guitar shop in Newcastle, and a couple of players I know spoke highly of these instruments. Barrie, the man behind Elderwood Guitars, makes it his mission to create the guitar of your dreams at a more affordable price. You are involved in all aspects of the layout and design of your instrument, which is largely made up from recycled wood.

You may remember another guitar built for me, a nylon-strung classical guitar, which was also crafted by a solo luthier in Cumbria and made form recycled wood (and if not, you can read about that guitar by clicking here).

The two main principles of making something beautiful from old wood, as well as being able to design the guitar to my own specifications, was something which greatly appealed to me. To that end, I found myself in conversation with Barrie near the start of lockdown, and soon we went back-and-forth with ideas and draft designs. Rather than going for a more straightforward 335-style design, I was inspired by some of the beautiful high-end creations of small guitar companies such as Kauer. In the end, the final design looked like this:

The fifth & final draft of my custom design. Picture courtesy of Elderwood Guitars

My guitar would be an offset semi-hollow with a serious vintage feel to it. The two humbuckers and sound hole on the upper half would be covered in a gold foil/mesh, and the neck would feature block markers. For the finish, I requested as close to British Racing Green as he could manage, with cream for the pickguard, binding and truss rod cover, likening the overall colouring style to that of a classic Mini Cooper. You don’t see many green guitars and I have always wanted one. Now I just had to wait for it to be completed (although since lockdown meant that I wasn’t gigging, I was in no hurry).

Over the next few months, I received occasional updates from Barrie which always got me salivating:

The guitar starting to take shape. Photos courtney of Elderwood Guitars

Barrie checked back to confirm my preferences for pickups, tremelo, control layout, as well as general updates on progress. He seemed to be having a busy summer but as each guitar was finished and presented on his Facebook page, they continued to look and sound as high quality as I had been told they’d be.

At last it was ready to collect in early October, and it did not disappoint…

The first shots of my completed guitar, sent across by Barrie at Elderwood Guitars

Specifications

  • Offset semi-hollow body, made from recycled pine
  • Maple neck, with rosewood fingerboard featuring block position markers
  • 3-a-side headstock
  • Bigsby-style vibrato system and ‘roller saddle’ bridge
  • 2 x Vanson ’57 Alnico II humbuckers
  • 1 x volume & 1 x tone control
  • 3-way pickup selector switch, plus mini-switch for coil-tapping
  • Push button to bypass volume control (see below)
  • Side-mounted jack socket (secured by four screws for greater stability)

This guitar certainly looks the part. The green finish contrasts beautifully with the pickguard and copper coloured control knobs. After sharing the images above on my Facebook page, I was inundated with questions and compliments about the it. It’ll certainly make a visual impact at gigs (whenever they start back up again).

Sounds

Acoustically, this guitar is much louder than my other electrics. It’s interesting just how much difference the resonance of a semi-hollow together with the sound hole, can make. The matched PAF-style humbuckers give you all the tones you would expect from an early Les Paul, but with more airiness due to the mainly hollow body. These humbuckers are made by Vanson, a budget brand readily available on websites such as Amazon. Barrie shares my sentiment that one shouldn’t have to, and doesn’t need to, pay over the odds for a combination of magnets and copper wiring. I had said early on in the design process that I was happy with ‘budget’ pickups on this guitar, and they certainly sound as good as anything the big name brands churn out!

The bridge pickup provides everything I need, from classic rock crunch to an almost rockabilly style twang – the Bigsby certainly comes to the fore here. The neck pickup gives up warm jazz tones on a clean amp with the tone rolled back, and splitting the humbucker into ‘single coil mode’, I’m able to get a sound remarkably similar to a Strat or Tele in this position, which is no bad thing as far as I’m concerned. With both pickups engaged, I’m in my beloved funk and soul territory, great for rhythm playing and bluesy licks. Not only that, but it feels like BB King’s trademark singing lead tone is virtually built-in to this instrument.

Is it any good?

Oh yes, it’s very good. I love it! I’ve certainty enjoyed playing it so far, both through my amps and unplugged. It sits perfectly on a strap and the neck is comfortably chucky, like a true vintage instrument (which is exactly how I like it).

My only hurdle so far has been getting used to the Bigsby-style vibratio. I don’t use the vibratio arms on my Stratocasters, but as well as the right hand aspect, Bigsby units are notoriously tricky to keep in tune. However, this is something that can only be changed through practice and getting used to using it, rather than anything wrong with the guitar itself. Nonetheless, Barrie’s aftermarket service has been top drawer, offering all sorts of advice on how to get the most from the unit, as well as tips on maximisng tuning stability.

Finally collecting the new axe. Picture courtesy of Elderwood Guitars

I expect to be in the studio again in the coming weeks, recording a new LP with the Nick Gladdish Band, and this guitar will be coming along with me. I’ll share links to sounds and videos of this guitar in that (or any) setting as and when they become available…

If you are interested in your own custom-made guitar, Barrie can be contacted directly through Elderwood Guitar’s Facebook page. I’d recommend that you take a look through the numerous creations he has made, and make sure you have a good idea of what you are looking for when you drop him a line. Once you do, you will meet an affable and courteous man dedicated to making the best instruments he can, at a price point open to all of us – and that, like his guitars, is truly something to be admired.