Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-42C Concert - REVIEW

bazmaz

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I was almost shocked when I saw the name of the brand. I've owned one Harley Benton myself, a banjo uke which was absolutely dreadful. The fret ends on that were so sharp they actually cut my fingernails when playing. Build quality wasn't very good either. I do have to wonder if Thomann have had to step up their game amidst the overall increase in quality of the low to mid range ukulele market. I recently noticed that they have a section in their online store called "Traditional Ukuleles" which consists of really nice looking Thomann branded ukes, some of which are all solid and around the 100-150 pound price point. I'm really curious whether those are actually any good. The Harley Benton guitars have supposedly been better quality for many years now compared to their ukes.
 
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I think this would be a pretty good beginner's uke, for those who want flashiness. Take the neck down to a nicer shape, replace the tuners with better ones, dress the frets and grease up the dry fretboard, then later could add a passive pickup and perform with it. It could all cost less than $300, and could save a lot of dough preventing UAS!
 
The Harley Benton guitars have supposedly been better quality for many years now compared to their ukes.

After reading countless threads and reviews about how great the HB electrics were, I took the plunge years ago and bought an ES-335 like guitar which looked absolutely stunning... too bad that's where it ended.

The fretwork was hideous, the neck unplayable and no matter how much work on the action you did, I never managed to get a comfortable action (and I'm used to classical guitars, that alone should speak volumes).
I just had to re-sell it at a loss.
Will NEVER buy an HB electric again.

A guy I bought my latest electric from said he has an HB acoustic and it's very very good.

This to say, I'm surprised by the review on this uke as well.
 
Certainly a value line - and why I added the health warning at the end of the review!
 
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