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Gretsch G5622 ElectromaticHarley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Review & Prices
- From Harley Benton's 2020 Standard series
- Made in China
- 6 strings
- 25.59"'' scale
- 16" Fretboard Radius
- Mahogany top
- Mahogany back
- Mahogany sides
- Mahogany neck
- Roseacer fretboard
- Bridge pickup: Preamp with volume control and 4-band EQ (Preamp/Active)
- Roseacer bridge
- Acoustic Modern "C" Set neck
- 20 Medium frets
- Gold-plated diecast machine heads tuners
- Compare Specs >
Our Scores and Tone Evaluation
- Heavy Metal
- Hard Rock
- Jazz
- Blues
- Funk
- Country
Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst
- Expensive Wood
- Electronics
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Made in China
- No High-Quality Nut
- No Top Brand Pickups
- Low-Quality Material Saddle
- Laminated Top Wood
- Laminated Side Wood
- Laminated Back Wood
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Price: is the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst a Good Deal?
Its average competitor's price is $420, which means that the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst is around 83% cheaper than the competition. This takes into account all guitars of the same category in our database with 6 strings and Fixed bridge that are made in China.
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Is The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Easy to Play?
The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst meets 5 out of our 9 criteria items for beginner friendliness, which means that it's a good guitar to start with as a complete beginner. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players to get used to.
Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst
- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Wide nut
- Comfortable neck
- Locking tuners
- Comfortable fretboard
- Short scale
- Soft Strings
Hand Size Comfortability
After taking into account the neck profile, scale size, fretboard radius, and nut width, we can conclude that the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst's construction is balanced for most hand sizes.
Nevertheless, this comes down in the end to personal preference. Make sure you test this guitar—or another one with similar characteristics—before buying.
Scale Length
Scale length is the distance the strings will span between the bridge and the nut. It can tell you a lot about the overall playability and tone of the instrument. A longer scale length means longer distance between frets, brighter tone and more string tension—which means lower action, but more difficult bending of the strings.
Here's the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst's 25.59" scale length compared to other common sizes:
This scale is close to the popular 25.50" length but longer, which allows you to tune your strings lower while keeping the action low without causing fret buzz. This is useful for lower tunings, 7-string, or even classical guitars.
You want to avoid such a long scale if you don't plan to play in low tunings since the longer scale also means the frets are more separated, making it harder to play fast, especially for small hands. It's also harder to bend the strings.
Neck Profile
The neck profile tells you the thickness (neck depth) and shape in cross section. Every difference will completely change the feeling and comfortability of the neck. This is a highly subjective thing, but most players indeed prefer certain types of necks (like Cs and Ds) because they feel nice in most hands.
It has a C type neck. C-shaped necks like this have been the most popular for the last years. The reason is that they feel good in most hands. It's generally a thin neck that doesn't get in your way when playing fast, but that also has enough mass to give your hands a comfortable grip for chords if they aren't too big.
Thin necks like this make it easier to move your hand across the neck and it helps when playing fast solos, especially if you like to leave your thumb free while playing high on the fretboard. However, thinner necks are also weaker and will need adjustment more often than a thicker neck.
Fretboard Radius
When it comes to fingerboard radius, personal preference will dictate which one is better for you. However, most people seem to agree that a more curved (lower) radius will make it easier to play chords while a less curved (higher) radius is better for soloing and bending.
The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst has a 16" fingerboard radius. Here's an image comparing this guitar's fretboard radius to other popular choices:
This fretboard radius is really different than Stratocasters, but it's also a lot flatter than Les Paul fingerboards. It'll heavily favor soloing over playing chords. This doesn't mean you can't use it for chords, but it will be more comfortable to play chords without muting strings in a more curved fretboard. Bending and sliding without losing sustain will also be more likely in a flat fretboard like this one.
Compound radius fingerboards give the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst has the same radius across the board.
Playability compared to main competitors
Nut Width
The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst has a nut width of 43mm (1.693''). This size is also known as 1 11/16'' and it's the most common size. It offers a good balance of string separation at the nut. It's the size that most guitarists prefer as it gives them just enough space to play open chords without muting the strings, but without spreading the strings too wide and making bar chords difficult to perform.
Frets
It comes with nickel silver frets, so they won't last as long as stainless steel frets. If you use your instrument a lot, you might need to replace the frets after a few years. But this is unlikely as most people change instruments before this happens.
Fret Size
Finally, let's talk about fret size. Some people prefer tall frets because it's easier to press the strings and perform bends since there's less friction against the fretboard. On the other hand, some people like shorter frets because they like to touch the fretboard when playing, or because they got heavy hands and tend to press too much on the string and alter the of the note pitch accidently.
The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst's frets are Medium size. With medium frets, you can feel the fretboard more than with jumbo frets, but it's still easier to press the strings cleanly than with small frets; notes might change their pitch just slightly if you press hard on the fret. Also, if you need to do some fret leveling after years of playing, you'll have some room to sand them down without having to replace them.
Playability Score
Does the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Sound Good? Tone Analysis
The type of wood and even the shape of the body will have a lot of influence in the final tone of an acoustic guitar. Here's we'll talk about what kind of tone you can expect from its specs.
Wood Used in the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst
Mahogany Top, Back, Sides and Neck: This is the type of wood found in many top-of-the-line guitars, so that's a positive point for the build quality. This red-looking wood Mahogany is found in Africa and Central America and has great sustain and a warm tone due to its high density. The downside about this type of wood is that it's relatively heavy.
Roseacer Fretboard: It's just thermally treated maple wood, or in other words, roasted maple. This process removes most water from the wood, making it more stable than regular untreated maple wood.
Pickups
This guitar comes with preamp pickups that will allow you to connect it directly to an amplifier and record with it, or use it live.
Sound Score
How well is the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Built?
Where is the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Made?
Knowing where the guitar is produced is a good way to know how well it's built. Some manufacturing countries are known for having higher quality standards. For example, most expensive guitars are made in the US or Japan, but there are some exceptionally great countries—like South Korea—that are building a good reputation.
The Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst is made in China. So you can expect lower build quality when compared to others made in Korea, Japan or the United States. Guitars made in this country are meant for mass production, which translates into less attention to detail and quality control. This doesn't mean the product is made poorly at all. Chinese products have a bad reputation since long ago, but they've definitely improved a lot the last few years.
Still, remember that we're taking about Harley Benton here, which is a brand with good renown. They know how to use cheap labor in this country without sacrificing too much quality. So you shouldn't end up receiving a useless or ugly instrument.
Bridge
Roseacer: The advantage of fixed bridges is that they don't require any kind of set-up. This makes it extremely easy when changing strings because you don't need to adjust anything besides tuning the guitar. Also, the fact that the bridge is directly attached to the body will help to increase sustain. The disadvantage is the lack of versatility since you can't create the same vibrato effects as with tremolo bridges.
Nut Material
Another important thing to analyze is the nut material, as it's one of the most important aspects that can affect the sound and playability of your guitar. A well-cut nut will make sure the guitar stays in tune and will make it more comfortable to play.
In this case, the Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst has a Plastic nut. This is a low-quality nut that you might want to consider upgrading soon. Bone and TUSQ nuts are the best for guitars with a fixed or simple tremolo bridge.
Build Quality Score
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Harley Benton CG-45E Vintage Sunburst Specs
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