Harley Benton’s R-446 guitars sets its sights on high gain and shred players

Harley Benton has announced the introduction of the R-446 -  a brand new family of guitars, this time aimed at modern high gain-players.

At launch, the R-446 ‘family’ is in fact a single model, offered in five finishes, but underneath the paint jobs there’s a lot on offer, particularly when you realise that the R-446 comes in at €150/£127.

Starting with the body, we get a doublecut shape that sits firmly in the classic shred camp. It’s made from poplar, and features carved bevelling for added comfort, while the cutaways leave access to the busy end of the neck wide-open.

The bolt-on neck has been given a thin profile to help keep things speedy, and it’s fitted with a 25.5” scale amaranth fingerboard, which in turn includes 24 jumbo frets along with a 15.75” radius. At the join, it features a rounded heel to further aid upper fret access. 

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The pickups are Artec ceramic humbuckers, which Benton says “keep the tone tight, snappy and articulate”. There’s a master volume and master tone control, and thanks to a five-way switch, you get the full humbuckers, plus coil-split tones from each (with both pickups split and blended in position 4).   

Finally, the hardware is finished in black with an R-1001 hardtail bridge (strung through the body) and six-in-line tuners.

The R-446 is available in Blue Metallic, Blood Metallic, Plum Metallic, Green Metallic, and Graphite Metallic. For more information, check out Harley Benton’s website.