Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

I normally wouldn't buy a guitar online without trying it first, but I couldn't resist this.. Been looking towards PRS guitars for the past year, and honestly can't afford one so this is my best shot at something near 'PRS like'. On a budget... Amazing but it comes with some flaws...

Right out of the box, the finish is astonishing. The guitar was well packed, for not having a case or gigbag, which is totally normal for this price point. The amount of clear coats on this thing is insane. Great binding and overall finish, vivid colours on the burst. Over actually really amazing.

Plays great out of the box. Only did some minor tweaking on the truss rod and bridge height to personal taste. Ok fretwork for the price and the neck plays great. It's a bit sticky because of the glossy finish, that's totally sandable.

The best part is the sound.. I'm surprised by the stock pickups (Roswell) and I was very eager to try out coil splitting for the first time. They came installed very low, almost under the pickup plates. Measured at around 8k, these pickups, along with the push pull coil splitting will bring you anywhere between crystal clean fender cleans and some heavier gibson humbucker tones.

Now comes the weird part.. The Wilkinson floating bridge. The trem arm came uninstalled (great), and it just wouldn't fit in the bridge. I'm aware of the Wilkinson mini hex screw that is installed on the back of the bridge to adjust the grip on the trem arm. It wasn't closed. It was the hole in the metal plate on top. I finally had to drill it half a millimeter wider. The whammy bar is hard to use, unlike my Stratocaster floating bridge which is basically the same system with springs. It stays better in tune though than on a Fender.

The electronics seem to have been poorly soldered, but overall clean. Luckily it's a case of too little solder, not like a total mess where the pots are all covered with too much solder.

The three way switch failed after a couple of days, there was bad contact with the bridge pickup. Resoldered but will replace it soon with something better as it doesn't seem to be of overall good quality.

Overall total bang for your buck!! You get a beautifully finished guitar with a great array of sounds. To me it's an everyday guitar and I bet it'll stay like that in the future!

Out of the box the guitar looked stunning but the bridge saddles looked to be in a very high. I did expect to have to set this guitar up so I wasn't too perturbed. No sharp fret ends, the body is a single piece of mahogany which I was very surprised about, I was expecting 2 or 3 pieces glues together, so a pleasant surprise.

The setup is where the issues arose. The truss rod was loose so the neck had a good bow on it and the action was sky high and fret buzz and choking was a rendering the guitar unplayable as it was. I tightened the truss rod which improved things across the neck but there's still a light buzz. There is some uneveness with the frets which will need to be addressed at some point. I think there may be a slight dip in the neck where the truss rod ends, but the neck will probably take a couple of days to settle given the state that it was in when it arrived.
But on to the main issue with this guitar, and that's the bridge. The saddles need to be raised so high that they are well proud of the trem body, this not only looks strange it is extremely uncomfortable to play as the saddles are square with a sharp corner, it's actually unplayable. I think filing the corner off the low E saddle would help a lot, or swap them for rounded saddles or replace the bridge. Maybe the neck on my one is glued at a bad angle, but in the stock photos you can see the saddle height is high also (not as high as on my one). If I was buying this again I'd get the fixed bridge version.
The pickups sound OK, but I'll probably replace them if I get the neck/frets and bridge sorted so that the guitar is nice to play.

Update:

I've now leveled and dressed the frets and filed the corner of the E saddle so the corner is blunt. After a couple of months playing it I'm astonished every time I pick it up how nice it is to play. It is super comfortable. I have a 1980's RG550 that I've owned since new and love to bits, but I find myself picking up the Harley Benton and leaving the Ibanez sitting in its stand. My reservations about the trem are now redundant. The neck has settled beautifully, it looks great and plays great. If you know how to level and dress frets or are willing to pay the £80 or so for someone to do it get one of these. Out of the box it was terrible, but once the issues are sorted it's outstanding. The fretboard does feel a bit weird/dry though, but I suspect once my finger oil/dirt embeds itself in it it will improve.

This was a major supprise when I got it. I couldn't believe how incredible it looked if I would have paid triple I still wouldn't for some other brand I wouldn't have got a better looking guitar. the sound is awesome everything works excellent and it was in tune when I received it and it only took 6 days to the states that being said I would have received it sooner if I had known about somethings they should let you know about in advance like when ordering from abroad your bank will most likely flag it as fraud unless you let them know in advance that's the first thing. the other was I was going to get an thoman amp also but after a few days I got another email that they couldn't send it to the usa due to it being a 220 and not 110 as we use here in the states it would be a lot smother process if they would state these couple of things if that had been the case I would have revcieve my shipment at least a week sooner. That being said though the coustomer service was excellent and as soon as I was informed and the bank thing straightend out it was shipped out emediatly. I HAVE TO SAY ONE THING ABOUT THE REVIEWS THAT NIT PICK ABOUT THE ABS0LUTLY MINOR IMPERFECTIONS WHAT THE HELL GUYS ITS A 200 DOLLAR GUITAR THAT YOU COULDNT GET CLOSE TO WITH A $1000 TO GET ALL THE EXTRAS. I REALLY HAD TO LOOK SUPER HARD TO FIND ANY AND THEY WERE SO MINOR NO ONE COULD SEE THEM FROM A FOOT AND A HALF AWAY THE ONLY THING I MIGHT FALT ON THIS GUITAR ARE THE TUNERS THEY WORK FINE BUT COULD BE SMOOTHER AND THE PICKUPS ARE JUST A LITTLE DARK SOUNDING BUT NOTHING A LITTLE EQ ING WONT TAKE CARE OF OVERALL GREAT GUITAR.((((( HOW ABOUT MAKING ONE IN A PURPLETHT WOULD BE AWSOME I THINK ))))

Let me start with a bit of context. I started playing guitar at age 10 and did so nearly every day until I went away to college. In college I sold my Les Paul, Strat, and Marshall half stack for beer money and haven't played much in the 20+ years since. Having just had knee surgery, I have gotten back into playing and I purchased this model along with the Harley Benton SC-550 Plus EMG FTF which is a Les Paul replica. I would characterize my play as more towards a lead style and I enjoy playing anything from SRV blues to Metallica and Maiden. Having grown up with a Les Paul and Marshall half stack, that is the tone profile that I utterly crave and default to.

With that said, I bought this model for the times that I need 24 frets and a whammy bar. This thing definitely checks the box for that. I also was hoping to be able to get in the ball park of a SRV/John Mayer single pickup strat tone profile. Despite the fact that this does have the coil split, this hope was a little ambitious; I can maybe get in the neighborhood, but not on the same street.

In terms of being very nitpicky, I do have about 3-4 minor issues with the actual craftmanship of the guitar and one major thing (which actually is a pretty easy fix.)

The major issue is that the nut on the guitar I received is a trainwreck. It's significantly slanted and is so high on the lower strings that it actually bends roughly 1/4 of a note if the string is fully pressed against the fret board. With that said, it's not so awful that it's not playable; it takes a ton of pressure to get it all the way down. Also, nuts are a pretty easy fix for a guitar repair shop, though, and I'm probably just going to tackle this myself. The minor issues are all preferential, so I won't go into depth on any of them. The pickups are a bit dull. The input jack is difficult to keep tight. I definitely would prefer locking tune pegs. All in all, I expect that I'm going to end up putting another $250-300 into it to get it to the point where I've got the most out of this thing (new pickups, new nut, locking tuners).

Let's talk positives. The neck and fret work are incredible. It's a slim neck that plays fast as hell and feels incredible in my hands. I wouldn't say that it is exceptional at any single tone, but it is quite versatile. Its also an absolutely GORGEOUS instrument.

As mentioned, I'm likely going to end up puting as much into this as I bought it for. Even so, it's still a steal. I would say that this guy is ideal for someone who is looking for a BEAUTIFUL looking guitar that has a lot of versatility but is on a budget and doesn't mind spending more money on it down the road to get it to it's maximum playability. As someone who bought 2 HB's I would say that if you aren't interested in spending more money down the road, then look into a model that is another $100 or so. The SC-550 Plus I purchased was an extra $100 and it needs no adjustments.

All in all, I'm absolutely giddy with the purchase of this guitar. I knew coming in that I would probably have to toss another $200-300 into it to get it to the way that I like it, but even then it's still a fantastic bargain and it looks and sounds great. Very very happy!

The guitar is almost perfect, yes I will change tuners and pick ups for better ones, but these do their honest job. Once filed and lubed the nut, removed the central spring tremolo of the three, accurately set up the guitar works perfectely. The frets do not buzz nor have sharp edges, but yes could be better polished. The real bad is the painting: too much filler between the binding and the veneered top, TOO much, also in some spots the paint coloures the binding. The colour of the veneer is so unrealistic that may let you think it is not even a wood veneer but just a picture of some kind stuck over the top. I would prefer much better for the top the simple natural "asian mahogany" of the back and the neck. Finish flaws a part I had to say that I am so happy with the guitar that I bought even the blue with P90s on it (P90s sound much better than hunbuckers and blue veneer looks more like made of wood). The neck shape is superb: a mix of modern C andh PRS slimmer pattern regular but not so wide as PRS wide thin: I love it better than PRS pattern regular and wide thin. I'm plannig tu buy a third one in black flame hoping that the wood filler around the binding will be less visible in that dark colour.

Wow is this guitar nice! I have 15 guitars dating back 30 years and have been playing 53 years and many of those as a pro And this feels and plays awesome. And sounds even better. The single coil taps very unique sounding, Sounds like no other guitar I have. The taper on the volume pot is a little weird, from 10 to 8 theres a big drop and not much else to work with all the way to zero. And the tuners are kinda funky but it stays in tune just fine. The term bar was really stiff , so i removed one of the 3 springs and now if feels just fine also i put a 009 set of strings on it instead of 010s. this is a really great guitar any price even though it was less that $300.00 with a gig bag and shipping and customs to the US. I will be buying a another HB but which on? there are so many great choices. good job Thomann!

I am overwhelmed at the quality of the instrument. It played in tune straight out of the packaging (almost). The finish is excellent with no dings or scratches and i absolutely love the thing to bits. From Germany to Australia in one week. Great!

I have encountered a problem though!!! The volume control does not turn off the sound of the pickups. There is a constant "ON" situation and I am not getting the full range of volume from 0 to 10. Worrying...yes indeed. It this a regular problem. I hope not.

That is my only negative. What do i do now??

Thankyou.
Dennis