Harley Benton HB-35Plus Metallic Plum

Instead of "Introduction, rationale, conclusion", here's a review by the main areas that compose it:
Binding and colour - just beautiful, no spots, blemishes and smooth on the touch
Body - Great weight. The first string was touching the bridge on the back side, so I had to raise the tailpiece. Do not want to overwrap because of gold colour which will be scratched.
Neck - bought this guitar together with CST-24 and I own a Player Strat. The neck is chunkier than both, but it has a nice shape and it doesn't bother me. The CST-24 has a larger fretboard radius, but the neck is slimmer and easier to wrap around on the top three frets.
Fretboard - pau ferro, the darkest variety (compares well with the Strat), initially quite dry and needed oiling. Very smooth on the touch, inlays are very well added and smooth.
Nut - very well cut, looks like plastic, no issues with it so far
Tuners - hold their own
String action: came set up to 5/64 Bass end - 4/64 treble end
Intonation: perfect
Frets - jumbo; the neck came set up, but once I tightened the truss rod a bit, like I like it, I got fret buzz on the 7/8th fret. It looks just a little high, maybe not well crowned.
Cleanliness - very dirty fretboard, a lot of dust residue on a dry paper towel, but now it's great. Everything else was shiny.
Intonation - spot on
Pickups - I am still playing with the height to get them to sound approximately same with loudness. I am getting really good tones from all three combinations, my pedals and amp like this guitar.
Pickup switch: I can feel the changes, not loose and does the job well
Volume/Tone: work really well and smooth and there is great effect.
Coil Split: There is coil splitting (push/pull) on both volume pots. It takes a bit of getting used to because they are not the easiest to pull.
Bridge: I just noticed all string grooves are the same depth, like for the 6th string.
Other: one strap button loose, easy fix

Conclusion: you really have to look at the price; with customs and tax, it cost me less than 300 euros. All the above fixes took me about an hour, I did them myself and it was fun because I learned a lot about the guitar. I also rubbed the neck down with carnauba car wax (thanks to Ron Thorn for the tip) to make it smoother without sanding it and it is noticeably smoother than the back of the body for e.g. All in all, a great guitar so far. I've reached for the Strat 2-3 times, but at the moment this is the guitar standing next to the amp.

I have owned the regular HB-35 for 7 years now and it has been my main axe for a long time. It started to get worn out after the many hours of playing it and when I saw the new finishes for the Plus models I decided it was time to retire my old pal.
Out of the box this guitar needed some minimal tuning and then was ready to go. the quality control was great, I couldn't find any blemishes or issues in the setup like I had with Harley Benton guitars in the past. The pickups in this guitar sound great, a big improvement over the normal HB-35. I especially really like the tuners on this model, they are really sturdy and also look great. Overal I have nothing bad to say about this guitar. in this price range it cannot be beat and I would recommend anyone interested in an ES style guitar to check this out.

So I'll start this off by saying that Thomann customer service is amazing and gets five stars from me; when I received my first HB-35 plus, it had unfortunately taken some serious damage during it's journey overseas to the US, and the neck was broken at the scarf joint. I got in touch with Thomann and sent a Google drive link with photos, and was quickly on my way to having a replacement sent out. I was even able to keep the broken one, as shipping it back overseas really wasn't worth the cost.
Bottom line, Thomann made the damage claim process as easy as they could.

Once I received my second, intact guitar, I was more than satisfied. This HB-35 plus feels amazing. The neck feels great, not too big, not too small; the action and setup of the guitar was excellent out of the box. It is easy to play, sounds fantastic, and looks just as good. The hardware is excellent for the cost: the pots turn smoothly, the toggle switch feels very good and clicks firmly between positions, and the Roswell pickups provide a wide range of high-quality tones.

This has definitely become one of my top two favorite guitars. It makes me want to pick it up, and is a joy to play. It has some decent heft to it without being uncomfortably heavy; I think it is lighter than my Les Paul-style LTD guitar, even though this HB-35 plus is larger in body size. The variety of tones that this guitar can produce is very impressive as well. The dual coil-splitting provides a very wide range of options. I also have to congratulate myself on going for the metallic pink top as well, it really pops and adds some great color variety to my guitar collection.

There are a few imperfections, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars in the quality section, the most noticable of which are tooling marks down both sides of the fretboard. However there are no sharp fret ends, and while the tooling marks are noticable, they are not painfully obvious. For the price of the guitar, I feel like the imperfections give it character. None of the imperfections affect playability or take away from the fact that this is a very well constructed and eye catching guitar.

If you've got this far and are still considering purchasing one of these amazing instruments, do it. You won't regret it.

I am a sunburst/flamed-top kind-of-guy but I couldn't wait for the estimated 9-12 weeks as I wanted to get my hands on a semi-acoustic fast. But in all fairness, this metallic plum with the gold hardware and transparent back is absolutely stunning.

The guitar sounds very good and the split coils are a super versatile add-on. Quality-wise some components are lacking a bit in my opinion (some parts feel a bit fragile such as the bridge and pick-up area). Fretwork is OK but the fretboard overall could use a nice cleaning up to start off fresh. Taking into account the price-point and overall quality of the instrument, this is all minor and very much acceptable.

Playability is really good although the action on mine was set quite high. Lowering it was the only adjustment I had to make. The tuning and intonation was initially set pretty OK from the factory.

Overall extremely happy with this instrument, amazing production from Thomann.

I bought this because I love the color and didn't have a 335 style guitar in my collection. Overall I am very pleased with it. It has a nice thick neck and came set up reasonably well. It sounds good and plays as well as other 335s from other companies that I've tried.
I like this guitar and don't have any complaints. It's a great value and I prefer it to the more expensive 335s I've tried. With that said, it's not my favorite guitar. But they can't all be your favorite. I love HB guitars and own 7 now. If I have to "thin the herd" at some point, this one may end up going. But for now, it's a keeper! And I can fully recommend it if you are in the market for a 335 style guitar.

I ordered the HB35PLUS in metallic plum and was excited when it arrived. My excitement soon turned to extreme disappointment. As I took the guitar of the box, I noticed how beautiful it looked. Then I noticed the string height - about 7 to 8 millimetres at the bottom of the neck. Close inspection showed that the beach joint was open and the neck was loose. In effect the guitar was a useless piece of junk which cannot have been inspected by anyone with any clue about guitars. Also the stop tailpiece was badly fitted. The guitar should not have left the factory, let alone arrived in Germany and been despatched from Thomann. I am now going through the process of getting Thomann to deal with it, but they give the impression that it will be entirely at my inconvenience. SHOCKING on every count.