Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE: A low-cost all-mahogany dreadnought for the summer

22 Jul 2021 by Jef |

5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE closeup · Source: Harley Benton

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The new Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE is an all-mahogany acoustic guitar with a full-size dreadnought body. Fancy banging out some songs this summer on an acoustic, but don’t have much to spend? This model should be on your radar.

Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE NT

The Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE NT is a dreadnought-sized acoustic with scalloped x-bracing, dove-tail construction and, Harley Benton says, “high-quality sapele mahogany” for the back, sides and neck. The top is solid wood, too. You get 20 vintage-size frets fitted to a Roseacer fingerboard, and the mahogany neck has a dual-action truss rod.

Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE

Onboard Preamp

For s budget-priced dreadnought, it’s good they also include an HB-03 preamp with three-band EQ and phase switch, plus an integrated tuner, so you can plug it into an amp or mixer and get playing straight out the box.

Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE rear

Budget Dreadnought

Coming in at the low end of the market, this guitar has a few areas where the specs reflect the price. Like a plastic nut and plastic saddle for the roseacer bridge, as well as no-brand die-cast tuners. For this price though, this dreadnought acoustic model has a lot going for it. The Natural finish lets you see the grain of the mahogany throughout, which is good as there is nowhere to hide. Some companies will use solid colour finishes to hide stuff, so I welcome the honesty. By using that natural finish, you can see exactly what you are getting.

Harley Benton CLD-60SMCE diecast tuners

Good Value

Overall, at this low price point, I think this budget dreadnought could be perfect for many musicians on a tight budget. That dreadnought size body should give players give plenty of natural volume and good projection, which they’ll need for for performing without a PA. Having a cutaway will also make the CLD-60SMCE a lot easier to play in higher registers, if you need to take flight with a solo. The guitar comes factory strung with a set of fairly lightweight phosphor bronze .012 – .052 strings, which should suit beginners well.

More on Harley Benton and the CLD-60SMCE NT

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