Harley Benton HBMA-50 Mandoline BK

146

Mandolin

Bluegrass series
Body shape: A style
Spruce top
Body: Basswood
Neck: Teak
Fretboard: Blackwood (Pinus radiata)
20 Frets
Dot inlays
Scale: 350 mm
Nut width: 30 mm
Blackwood bridge
Cream binding
Hardware: Chrome
Colour: Black
Finish: High-gloss

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

3-Year Thomann Warranty

Available since July 2012

Item number 277630

Sales Unit 1 piece(s)

Shape A-Style

Colour Black

Body Basswood

Top Spruce

Neck Teak

Pickup System No

Incl. Case No

Incl. Gigbag No

Scale 350

£49

Including VAT; Excluding £10 shipping

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in Mandolins

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Harley Benton HBMA-50 Mandoline BK w/Bag

£59

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146 Customer ratings

5 52 Customers 4 64 Customers 3 20 Customers 2 7 Customers 1 3 Customers

4.1 / 5

features

sound

quality

Review guidelines

94 Reviews

Good for traveling

Anonymous 31.01.2016

I bought this mandolin to take something with me when I'm traveling.
Lets start with the bad:
There are so many flaws I wont be able to list them all. paint/finish is bad. Many chips, uneven lines on "binding". Rough nut. Some screws are screwed in bad angles so they stick out a bit from body. When it comes to the wood - it is built from all kinds of leftovers. you really don't want to look inside the soundholes. :) Neck is beyond any repairs - it has a weird angle and its warped a bit. truss rod wont fix this. But the good thing is that its playable up to 12th fret and the intonation is alright.
The good:
It somehow stays in one piece and actually sounds ok. Put in some decent strings and it will sound nice. The fretboard is playable up to 12th fret (anything above that - not so good though...). The bridge is adjustable and is a good quality one. at least on mine.
Overall I am satisfied. For the price I paid I got what I needed - a mandolin that sounds good and that I can take on my bicycle and go anywhere without feeling sorry for it getting damaged.

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Worth the price (if you buy strings with it)

Dominik D. 17.02.2014

I bought it for fun because I always wanted to have a mandolin (or an Irish bouzouki which was too expensive..) and I hadn't too much of professional demands towards such an instrument. So I decided to go for a cheaper one and ended up with the Harley Benton HBMA-50 and was surprised when I got it. The overall quality was really great (for the price!) and there was nothing to complain about. No sharp frets, no rattling stuff - really usable cheap mandolin. If it weren't for the strings. Those delivered on the instrument were black. I mean really black. The wounded and the plain ones. Incredible how old they must have been.

I ordered new ones and 'Hello World' there was this typical mandolin sound. Bright, small, shimmering. Wonderful. Okay, it's missing the definition and fine treble of more expensive instruments. It sounds a little bit 'rough' if you want to say so. But for an instrument I bought just for fun from time to time or record a melody it's perfectly fine. If you want to learn mandolin seriously I recommend buying something 'better' (and I mean better, not just more expensive) for everyone else or experimenting it's a wonderful chance of gambling around with a mandolin.

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Good little instrument

Nyli 01.06.2014

When i first got the mandolin i would say i was pleasantly suprised. I think the colour and finish of the body was bright, and it had a fair amount of depth.
The hardware, mainly the tuning pegs feel and look a little cheap, but they do the job. I'm sure you could upgrade these if you really wanted to.
I sanded a little round the bridge, tightened truss rod, and put on new strings to get the mandolin closer to my taste.
I think the acoustic sound of the mandolin is pretty good. Quite woody, and sparkly, especially when the strings were changed.
The amplified tone of the instrument is again not bad. I plugged in and played into my soundcard without issue.
Overall i would say for the price it is pretty good. I don't think it's fair to compare this to mandolins which cost 5 or 10 times as much. Of course they will be 'better'. I did make a few adjustments because i am an experienced musician and felt they would benefit me, and make it easier to play.
I think if you want to try out a mandolin, and don't want to break the bank doing it, this is a good product to start with.

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Geoff's Mando

GeoffreyH 23.12.2013

This is a fine mandolin. I have two mandolins, the other costs ten times as much as this Harley Benton - it is better, but not ten times better. I play this Harley Benton every day, and like it more and more. With solid top and truss rod, I don't know where you can get as much in a mandolin at anywhere near this price. Set up was also good, only needing a little work on the nut and bridge to get best action.

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