Watch It First
Harley Benton guitars have a reputation. Not always a flattering one, but lately, that reputation has been shifting fast.
The CLO-65M NT is an all-mahogany, orchestra-body acoustic that costs less than a decent pair of headphones. No electronics, no cutaway, nothing fancy.
Just wood, strings, and a genuinely surprising amount of tone for the money. Here’s why it’s worth your attention.
Why All-Mahogany Matters
Most budget acoustics pair a spruce top with mahogany or sapele back and sides. Spruce is bright and punchy; mahogany is warm and compressed-sounding.
Go all-mahogany — top included — and you get a completely different character: darker, woodier, almost old-and-broken-in even when the guitar is brand new. It’s a specific sound, and not every player wants it. But if you do want it, this is a very cheap way to get it.
Build & Materials
- Top: Solid mahogany
- Back & sides: Mahogany
- Neck: Nato, C profile
- Fretboard & bridge: Pau ferro
- Nut & saddle: Bone
Bone nut and saddle at this price is genuinely unusual — most guitars under 600 zł use plastic. It’s a small detail that adds up to noticeably better sustain and note definition.
Playability
The dovetail neck joint at the 14th fret and 649mm scale are both proper full-size specs, not corners cut to save money. Nut width sits at 43mm, comfortable for most hand sizes.
Owner reviews consistently mention how solid the fretwork and general finish feel, especially compared to guitars at three or four times the price. Harley Benton’s quality control has genuinely improved a lot over the past few years.
How It Sounds
Don’t expect a huge, boomy dreadnought voice — the orchestra body is smaller and more balanced, and the all-mahogany construction leans the tone even further toward warm and midrangey.
It’s a genuinely lovely fingerstyle and light-strumming guitar. Push it hard with a pick and heavy strumming, and it compresses rather than opening up — which some players love and others find limiting.
No Electronics, No Cutaway – and That’s Fine
This is a purely acoustic instrument. No pickup, no preamp, no cutaway for upper-fret access. For some players that’s a dealbreaker; for a lot of others, it’s exactly the point.
Fewer components means less to go wrong, and arguably a slightly more resonant top since there’s no under-saddle pickup interrupting string contact. If you need to plug in regularly, look elsewhere in the Harley Benton CLO-65 range — several variants add electronics.
Who’s This For?
- Bedroom players who want real tonewood without the real price
- Fingerstyle players who love a warm, compressed mahogany voice
- Anyone buying a second or travel-friendly acoustic that isn’t precious
Honest Niggles
One owner review mentioned it doesn’t have quite as much classic „mahogany midrange bark” as some other all-mahogany guitars, describing it as more bass-heavy instead. Tone is subjective, so your mileage may vary — but it’s worth knowing going in.
No case or gigbag included, and no electronics if you need to plug in. Both are easy to work around, but budget for a gigbag separately.
How Does It Compare?
If you want a similarly folk-leaning tone from a more established name, the Seagull S6 is the classic comparison, albeit at a noticeably higher price.
Want electronics built in from the start? The Takamine P3DC or the ultra-budget Epiphone PR-150 are both worth a look. And if you eventually want to step up to a genuine premium dreadnought, the Martin D-X2E is the natural next rung on the ladder.
Harley Benton Custom Line: The Backstory
Harley Benton is Thomann’s in-house brand, which means no middleman, no distributor markup, no retail store overhead. That’s the entire reason these guitars can hit prices that seem almost too good to be true.
The Custom Line sits above the absolute entry-level Harley Benton guitars, with better tonewoods and noticeably tighter build tolerances. The CLO-65 series specifically launched to fill a gap in the lineup for a genuinely solid-wood orchestra body guitar under 600 zloty, and it’s been well received since.
Body Size Explained
Orchestra body guitars sit between a dreadnought and a smaller parlor guitar in size. Think of it as the all-rounder shape – not as boomy as a dreadnought, not as intimate and quiet as a parlor.
It’s a comfortable size to hold for long sessions, and it balances well whether you’re sitting or standing with a strap. If you’ve only ever played a dreadnought, the smaller body takes a session or two to adjust to, but most players end up preferring it for solo playing.
String Choice Matters Here
The stock strings are Harley Benton’s own coated phosphor bronze set, which is a perfectly reasonable starting point. But because the top is solid mahogany rather than spruce, swapping to a lighter gauge can open the tone up noticeably if you find it a touch too compressed at first.
It’s a cheap experiment – a set of strings costs a fraction of the guitar itself – and it’s the first thing worth trying if the stock tone doesn’t immediately click with you.
Full Specs
- Type: Orchestra body, all-mahogany
- Top: Solid mahogany
- Back & sides: Mahogany
- Neck: Nato, C profile, dovetail joint
- Fretboard & bridge: Pau ferro, 20 nickel frets
- Nut/saddle: Bone, 43 mm nut width
- Scale length: 649 mm
- Tuners: Open chrome, 16:1 ratio
- Finish: Natural Satin, no electronics
Final Verdict
The CLO-65M NT shouldn’t sound this good for the price. Solid mahogany top and back, bone nut and saddle, a proper dovetail neck joint — that’s a spec sheet that used to require spending three or four times as much.
It’s not going to win a volume contest with a full dreadnought, and it skips electronics entirely. But as a pure, honest, warm-sounding acoustic for the price of a night out, it’s genuinely hard to beat right now.
