Harley Benton RB-600CS Classic Series

Indeed, a semi hollow, with a set neck, and styled just differently enough from a Rick to have it's own character all for the price of fifty pints of dubious ale.
It's a very fine guitar, and not just "fine for the money" but in and of itself. Really nice neck with very well dressed frets, and reasonably well set up too: a touch of relief giving you a nice low action with a TINY bit of fret buzz that was easily dealt with with just a little more relief dialled in.
The sound is pretty much what you'd expect when you clap eyes on it: a sort of econobacker sound - just jangly enough with plenty of poke too. Switchgear and pots are all fine and do the job they are tasked with perfectly adequately: they will of course break eventually, but you have no need to swap them put straight away unless you plan on some really heavy gigging a long way from home.
The big deal for me is the styling: there are any amount of guitars out there for this sort of money, and most are strat or tele or LP shaped. This one gives you a little bit of character to play with.
I use this guitar for Jam nights and it has so far stood up fine to being used by a bunch of players, some of whom might have had just a little too much...whatever it is that is making them walk like that.
So yes, it's sturdy, it sounds fine ( not brilliant, but nothing to be ashamed of by a long way) pleays great, and it looks like a grand and a half's worth from a few feet away. What's not to like?
well if I had to be picky, one of the machine heads is a little loose around the centre point, meaning you had to turn it a couple of degrees before it starts to move the string. This is something I have had on other 2-300 euro guitars and so far isn't anything to worry about: it holds it's tuning fine, it's just a bit of a pain, but it will be replaced and locking tuners wouldn't go amiss.
The interior finish ( in the F hole ) looks a bit like an impressionist painting, but in that you have to look hard to see anything I don't care.
If you want to upgrade, either over time as the existing hardware wears out, or as a project just for the fun of it, you'll be doing so on a guitar that will merit the extra work.
It's great.

First Impressions
This beautiful looking Mahogany guitar is very light so it is easy to carry around with you and play gigs. The Mahogany wood is shown off to it best advantage by the cherry sunburst finish. My guitar has a flaw in the wood, not the finish but since it gives it personality and I am happy with that.

Influences
Guitar based on Rickenbacker designs are nickname "Rickenfakers". This guitar is not based on any one model but rather combines style elements from different models to create something new. The body shape is similar to the Rickie 600 series.

Set Up
Most of the strings were off the bridges, I didn't notice this at first because of the covered Rickie style bridge cover. The guitar has a low action. There is some fret buzz on the 5th and 4th strings at the first fret. I need to adjust the intonation on my guitar but I don't have a small enough spanner.

The control plate is covered with a protective plastic covering. unfortunately the plastic covering the lower plate cannot be completely removed without unscrewing the top plate. When I unscrewed the plate, expecting to separate them, I found that they were stuck together, curious.

Sound
This guitar wants you to play arpeggios in a lead and rhythm style that sorts certain type of songs. I have such a song I wrote called "Long Long Road" from my album "Mistress Of the Moon". The Rb600 fits this style of song perfectly and this will be my live guitar for this song from now on.

Techniques
Apply a little pressure to the floating tailpiece for some vibrato. It is also possible to create "behind the nut bends".

I had been considering one of these for some time before i made the plunge and to be honest i wish i'd dived in earlier! On receipt which came nearly two hours before the allotted delivery slot which was a major result the packaging was more than ample ensuring a safe delivery. On un-boxing and actually seeing the bit of kit it was a bit of a shock..wow it was better than i could ever have expected, it really looks the part, certainly a nod to a Ric bass but certainly hints of a 425 courtesy of the upper horn. On inspection there appeared to be no issues with the gloss finish, all looked well, the frets were well dressed, possibly only issue was the sharp edges to the scratch plate, a bevelled edge would have been nice but hey this is a budget after all and a damn fine budget at that. The pickups look like Filteron and are very smart indeed. Bridge looked okay and the action being a bit high was easily adjusted even though it played well acoustically straight out of the box. If it plays amplified as well as it looks then we have a bit of a winner here and i wasn't disappointed in the least. Played clean through a Vox amplifier the sound was very nice indeed, chords ringing out clearly defined, the neck pickup was nicely rounded and the the bridge pickup bright but not overly, with the two blended together a certain richness could be heard, dd a bit of chorus and reverb and well the world of sound is your oyster, it took it to a whole new level, a run through of The Blowers Daughter with it A9 and B11 chords and i was hooked, the guitar of choice from now on. Bit of Rockabilly and some slap back echo proving that this is no one trick pony and once you get onto Beatles and Byrds the joy continues. This is a worthy well more than worthy purchase for 200 quid its a snip and even the strings (10's) were in good shape makes me wonder if i really should have a look at a 12 string version!

It took me a little while to dial in the TP sound I was looking for in this Rickenbacker inspired semi hollow. First, I replaced the strings with Elixir Nanowebs. The I tuned her down to D which gives it that bottom on Running Down a Dream. I don't use pedals generally because I feel they take out the percussiveness of the instrument.

I'm running it through a Fender 40 watt Champion on the British setting which gives you punch and grit.

This was my first try with Harley Benton and the guitar arrived in great shape. I also like the smaller body style than if it were a Ricky. It's easy to play and looks the part. All in all, good deal.

It caught my eye because of its similarity to a very expensive American made guitar that starts with an R, but with a smaller, yet very comfortable body. Fine out of the box; I just put my favorite strings on it and lowered the action a bit, not that it was too high at first. I love the neck, which is about Fender 9.5 C shape and size, comfortable for my smaller hand and shorter fingers. Tuners are fine, as it all the rest of the hardware. The volume and tone knobs and perhaps the pots are not the most precise for fine tuning, but I can work with them. It is fun to play and I love the looks. I hope soon to pull the string on an acoustic that I've had my eyes on. I recommend it.

The guitar itself is beautiful, nice finish and everything is where it's supposed to be with no flaws that I can see. Sounds great, plays great. The only thing that might put some folks off is the short 22 fret neck. I guess the advantage to that is you can play it in confined spaces and bump the guitar into anything. As far as playing it does have a wonderful sound, I don't think it needs any upgrades unless you absolutely want to spend extra money on pots, pickups, or tuners. I wouldn't change a thing, plug her in, and go.

If I have one suggestion it would be to get rid of the plastic nut. Why not add a bone or graphite nut to all HB guitars, for an extra 4-5 dollars added to the cost, it would be a real value-added accessory to the entire lineup.

As a jaded guitar player with too much blues I decided to get out and find something new. Thomann and the internet are new to me and so is HB. The RB600CS caught my attention. How could it fail. It's a bobby-dazzler of a guitar.

The design of trapeze tailpiece, and the 'R' type bridge assembley needed tightening to elliminate buzz so did action height, Truss rod adgustment ( it was dead straight with no relief ) was required too. Also the fingerboard, strings and frets need polishing. It's now lovely.

Stays in tune and controls work nice. Pick ups sound like an electric guitar (!). No feed back problems. It's not really hollow body. No added volume from the soundboard through the f-hole at all. The finish and paint and lacquer are very good. With a set in neck and binding the features can't be faulted for the money. After all a 'real R'. costs a fortune .

Good company selling a nice guitar. It makes me play happy tunes...

This instrument looks great and plays reasonably well, though unusually for Harley Benton guitars, mine would have benefited from a bit more work on the set up. The strings were quite high. I lowered the bridge and will probably get round to having a pro set up on it because as they say, it is on the neck that you communicate with the guitar - it's the bit you touch. Played unplugged there is a slight metalic resonance coming off the hardware that you won't find on a Rickenbacker (costing 10 times the price!). Plugged in it is very impressive to my ears, once you get used to the semi-solid feel of it and adjust playing style slightly. The other guitarist in my band started using his on stage straight away. The tuners seem ok, with a touch of sticking on one of the wound strings, but a bit of pencil lead in the nut, and a few other tweaks that are perfectly normal on a new instrument, and this is an excellent choice for the Ricky fan. Not recommended for shredding or players who prefer very thin neck profiles, but if over time, elements were upgraded, such as a bone nut, top end tuners, maybe a new loom and pots, I think this you would have guitar worth a lot more than you payed for it. Though you couldn't sell it at a price to reflect that now, HB guitars could start to become collectable?