Thomann / Harley Benton Experience?

[andrewsrea]

Looking for anyone with Harley Benton experience. Acoustic experience even better.

I am feeling the GAS for a dreadnaught acoustic guitar to compliment my Takamine EF340-S (a nice and old Martin D-18 clone) and am vacillating on different models and brands. Like many folks here, I feel I am hunting a unicorn. I am looking for string balance, tight and present bass (not boomy), warm mids and present but not harsh trebles, and is dynamic. Solid woods and probably not mahogany back and sides. The neck is imperative for feel: a scale between 24.7" and 25.5", a nice 59/60 'C' oval neck shape, 12" to 14" fingerboard radius, a 42mm to 44mm nut spacing, medium to tall frets. Prefer bone nut, bridge and pins.

I came across the HB CLD-41SE WN and HB CLD-41S WN (same, no electronics) which hit a lot of those 'wants.' Starting price is $345 ($318 for a demo model).

Asking from the experienced AGF members:
1.) How was Thomann to deal with / what has been your overall experience with them and Harley Benton products??
2.) Typically, how much is charged for taxes & customs?
2.) Any experience with shipping with a gigbag or without a case at all?
3.) How long does shipping take?
4.) Any experience with returns? Specifically, does the buyer pay for the return shipping and is it cash back or store credit? Does their 30 days begin
when I receive it?
5.) No mention in the of it having an adjustable truss rod.

[BrianSkeezer]

Looking for anyone with Harley Benton experience. Acoustic experience even better.

I am feeling the GAS for a dreadnaught acoustic guitar to compliment my Takamine EF340-S (a nice and old Martin D-18 clone) and am vacillating on different models and brands. Like many folks here, I feel I am hunting a unicorn. I am looking for string balance, tight and present bass (not boomy), warm mids and present but not harsh trebles, and is dynamic. Solid woods and probably not mahogany back and sides. The neck is imperative for feel: a scale between 24.7" and 25.5", a nice 59/60 'C' oval neck shape, 12" to 14" fingerboard radius, a 42mm to 44mm nut spacing, medium to tall frets. Prefer bone nut, bridge and pins.

I came across the HB CLD-41SE WN and HB CLD-41S WN (same, no electronics) which hit a lot of those 'wants.' Starting price is $345 ($318 for a demo model).

Asking from the experienced AGF members:
1.) How was Thomann to deal with / what has been your overall experience with them and Harley Benton products??
2.) Typically, how much is charged for taxes & customs?
2.) Any experience with shipping with a gigbag or without a case at all?
3.) How long does shipping take?
4.) Any experience with returns? Specifically, does the buyer pay for the return shipping and is it cash back or store credit? Does their 30 days begin
when I receive it?
5.) No mention in the of it having an adjustable truss rod.

My experiences with Thomann and Harley Benton guitars have been with electrics and gig bags only. I was gassing for an acoustic bass lately, and they have one at around $150 that I was thinking of getting, but the shipping was around $130 to me, and that took the purchase off my plate.

1. My experiences with Thomann have been great, but I haven't had a problem or needed to return anything. I've had 11 Harley Benton guitars (all electric), and they have ranged from decent to great. Right off the bat, expect sharp fret ends and needing a setup and strings. On one of my purchases, for a prototype HB Amarok Explorer listed as a B-stock, they actually called me to explain what was not exactly right with the guitar and to see if I wanted to wait for a newer version which had different cutouts on the body and whatnot. I thought that was good business. (Completely off-topic: The Thomann Premium Gigbags are great in my opinion!)

2. I have not been charged any taxes or customs for any of my purchases, but things may have changed since my last purchase from them. I really haven't purchased much since the change in shipping charges happened. I really liked that I could buy 3 guitars and some gig bags for the same shipping price. Now, the more you add in the box, the higher the shipping goes, making the purchases not-so-good deals anymore.

3. None of my guitars were shipped in gigbags or cases, even when I purchased gigbags with them. The gigbags were always wrapped up in cellophane and just placed in the outer box with the guitars in their own boxes, also inside the outer box. Every one of the outer boxes that I've received looked like it had gone through multiple car crashes, but, luckily, none of the guitars were damaged. I did have one where it looked like something had punctured through the outer box and into the inner guitar box, but no damage. I usually record all of my unboxings to show all the damage in case I need to make a return claim.

4. Shipping time was between 1-2 weeks to me on the east coast.

5. Fortunately for me, no returns on my end. I know some here have had to do so, and had terrible experiences.

6. You should be able to ask a rep if the guitar has an adjustable truss rod through email. I have an email address of gitarre@thomann.de for questions.