Harley Benton has expanded its Custom Line range with a 12-string jumbo acoustic guitar that’s all dressed up in maple, spruce and gold, with a vibe that nods to the original King of the Flat-tops, and a look that puts country, folk, and big open chords on the menu.
The clue is in the name, the King-12 CE NT, but also in the aesthetics and the build, with the big-bodied acoustic featuring a solid spruce top with layered maple on the back and sides – plus you have the gold die-cast tuners and that rosewood bridge that’s dressed up with pearloid inlays and carved into a moustache-esque profile.
This model has been offered by Harley Benton as a six-string version for about six years now. Now it’s doubling up the strings with a 12-string guitar those jingle-jangle mornings, et cetera.
There is multi-ply binding on the body, and the neck, headstock and fingerboard are all bound, with ornate inlays on the fingerboard and headstock and a decorative backstrip to make this all kinds of fancy. Go big or go home, right?
This is one for strummers who like their big-bodied acoustic to be just on the right side of ostentatious – the black pickguard dials it down nicely. There are some nice details on this one.
But unlike the O.G. Gibson Super Jumbo that inspired it, this is a cheap acoustic guitar by today’s money. You’ll get plenty of change out of 400 bucks.
As a budget strummer with 12-string mojo for all your Roger McGuinn/Tom Petty manoeuvres, it looks the part – a typical Harley Benton guitar.
Harley benton has even given this a bone nut and saddle, and you have an onboard Presys-II acoustic guitar pickup and preamp system from Fishman, complete with bass and treble controls, phase, volume, and an onboard guitar tuner – the controls for which are all mounted on the instrument’s shoulder.
As for the vital stats, the nut measures 48mm – a little more room to accommodate that second set of strings. The scale length is 25.66”. And there are 20 frets, with that cutaway opening the upper registers up should you want to go up the dusty end of the ‘board.
It’s not everyday you see a 12-string cutaway jumbo acoustic electric guitar like this, and not at this price.
The Custom Line King-12 CE NT is available now, priced just £265/$350 exclusively via Thomann and the Harley Benton Reverb Store in the US.
For more details, head over to Harley Benton.
