Harley Benton ST-20 BK Standard Series

This guitar is a very solid guitar for the money. The next and body are good and it is a really good platform to build a solid partscaster. Great value for money. Good entry level / beginner guitar if you are prepared to put some work in (intonation, action and fret ends) and upgrade into it (factor in an additional €40-65 for tuning machines and possibly an input jack, although it's still playable/ enjoyable without them). My ratings are taking the price into context.

Positives include:
- the neck and body is good and has a reassuring weight to them;
- the bridge / tremolo seems solid and stays in tune well once the tuners are changed;
- the pickup selector feels solid;
- the strings were much better than I expected but I still replaced mine to clean the fretboard;
- and the paint job was fine.

Negatives include:
- The tuners are really bad and keep slipping, with poor tuning stability (I replaced them straight away with the harley benton locking tuners, which are really good for the money);
- The input jack seems very weak and cuts in and out, so will need to be replaced. Short term solution was to unscrew the plate and bend it back into position but still not solid enough;
- Pick-ups are fine but a little thin sounding.
- Fret ends are a little sharp but easily fixed with a light sanding (first time I've done this and it went fine).

Update: I replaced the input jack with an Allparts gold one and that fixed the cutting out issue and somehow made the pick-ups sound much fuller and remove the thin sounding issue I mentioned above. I was thinking of changing the pick-ups later but I don't think I will bother now. Be careful changing the input jack though, as the new one was too big for the stock plate, so I replaced that with a Fender one (although a decent drill and bit would probably do the job on the stock plate). Guitar sounds good now.

Summary: For €79, the quality of this guitar seems impossible. For a first guitar, it seems like the obvious choice.

So, first, background: This is bought for my teenage son who has been learning guitar for about 4 months. It is his first electric guitar, and the first in our home. We have no previous experience and this is my first time reviewing a guitar. Also, I myself cannot play guitar, so I cannot really comment on playability etc, for that reason, other than to comment on what my son has experienced.

With that said, out of the box this guitar feels substantially better than I was expecting for €79. I can't remember the last time I have bought something and immediately thought that it should have cost a lot more.

The finish looks great, and the knobs and switches all feel good. I don't think I'm going too far to say that this guitar looks great. Even if you don't think about the price at all.

It took my son a few minutes to tune, but that was it, and he started playing clear chords with a very pleasant sound. It did take him a few hours to get accustomed to the narrow neck, having started out on an acoustic guitar, but it was all smiles all the way, and for us listening to him practice, the sounds coming from this guitar (through the Harley Benton TableAmp) are very nice.

If you are looking for comparisons to other guitars, and that kind of thing, I can't help you. But if this is your first experience with an electric guitar, or for a starter guitar for a young beginner, it seems like a no brainer.

Pros:
- Price, obviously
- Looks great
- Sounds nice
- Plays nicely out of the box (after tuning)

Cons
- The frets are sharp along the edges of the neck, with a few of them protruding quite a bit more than others. (But I understand this is something to expect at this end of the price range, and can be addressed with some work.)
- No instructions (maybe this is normal, but it means we don't know exactly what the nice feeling 5-way switch is doing, for example. And not sure how to make use of the supplied adjuster tools, for example.)
- Some minor damage marks on the white "pick guard" on our model, but hardly noticeable and could be due to shipping.

Overall this is a bargain. There are TOY electric guitars that cost this much, and this is the real deal. The fact that it looks good, sounds good, and is easy to play (according to my son), what's not to like?

Also, there is a audio lead included in the box. I wasn't aware so ordered a sssnake IPP1030 to go with this. The included lead will probably do the job though. However, we are glad we got the sssnake one at the time, as it is much higher quality.

If you don't have an electric guitar, and you would like to have one, and you have €79 to spend, then you should probably get this one.

I have brought a couple of budget guitars in the past and really wasn't expecting much for less than 100 euros. I took it out of the box and my first impression was that it looked like a far more expensive guitar, I was sure that my initial surprize would disappear when I plugged it in. Straight from the off I was blown away by the sound and the ease of play, I couldn't put it down. The finish and workmanship was as good as any guitar I have owned in the past, OK I've never owned a top class strat. I love playing this guitar and would not have the slightest concern about gigging with it. I'm not going to look for fault or any negativity on this guitar just for the sake of a review because honestly, less than a hundred bucks?? Don't bother looking, I doubt very much if there is a better guitar than this out there in this price range. Amazing.

My 4th Harley Benton guitar in as many months. This has been my second purchase from the Standard range. I wanted a Stratocaster copy, but didn't want to spend the extra money for one of the more expensive models. I already have a Squier Affinity Strat, but it is need of some work on the nut that I wouldn't tackle myself. I would have to say that this guitar won't disappoint at the price point. It looks stunning in the black finish, and I found no blemishes on the body or the neck, which is worth the price of the guitar on its own. I prefer Strats with a floating tremolo and was able to achieve that on this guitar without too much trouble. The tension screws on the tremolo block were out of alignment with each other, which was a bit of a problem, but if need be I'll replace the screws. Suffice to say that it is possible to float the tremolo on this guitar without having to buy any replacement parts. It's set for the 009 gauge strings that came with the guitar and I'll be replacing them with 009s in future to save having to readjust the tremolo. What else was wrong? One or two fret ends were very slightly sharp, and the frets could do with filing to take the roughness off them, which you can feel when bending the strings, but other than that I could find no faults. The tuning pegs are best described as adequate, but I won't replace them unless I run into problems. Once the strings were stretched the guitar held tune reasonably well. I lowered the action slightly, but that was only to suit me, and the guitar was well set up when it arrived. Intonation was spot on except the lower E and A, but that could well have been down to me fiddling about with the tremolo block. The pickups may need adjusting, as they are the same height off the strings at both ends instead of being slightly higher on the treble strings, but that is very easy to remedy and I'll do it myself. Some people say the pickups on this guitar aren't great, but you need to experiment with their height and the sound coming from the amp. They are at least as good as on my Squier Affinity Strat, which cost twice the price of this guitar nearly 10 years ago. More to the point, this guitar sounds enough like a Strat to be a keeper. I've played guitars (as an amateur) for nearly 60 years, and this will more than fit the bill for most players. If you are mainly a Strat player then maybe the 62CC would be a better buy, but if you just want a Strat model on your rack, you need look no further. Obviously I have a fair bit of experience of tinkering with guitars, but it is easy to learn from You Tube, including how to float the tremolos on these etc. If you have the dexterity to play it doesn't take much to learn how to set them up etc.

Well, this is the 5th or 6th Harley Benton guitar I have purchased and I figure at some point everyone gets one that is not absolutely perfect, but with that being said I am quite happy with it. It arrived safely and with no issues. Paint is flawless and look very good. Good weight and heft to the guitar and it's a little bit lighter than what I expected, which is a good thing. Obviously coming halfway around the world one can expect to see the wood take time to acclimate. The only thing I saw that really disappointed me (and this is just a personal thing) is that the nut didn't appear to be as well cut as my other Harley Bentons. I plan to replace it with a Graph Tech nut in a bit anyway, so that's not really a big deal to me. I have to agree with many others that the tuners leave a lot to be desired, but again I plan to replace with locking tuners so not big deal there either. The pickups sound good once the pickup height is properly adjusted and since I hardtail all of my guitars the tremolo is locked down. Pots and switch were all perfect and had a smooth action. For the price, I am certainly not going to complain except that I wish I lived closer to the Thomann facility, but that might not be a good idea since I would be in there all the time buying guitars and gear. Final word... This guitar is well worth the money spent and will be a great upgrade platform later for when I want to swap out the pickups to Texas Specials. Thanks, Thomann. You came through again with a great product.

A little bit about me:
- Playing guitar for over 10 years
- Have played everything from dirt cheap to expensive custom shop Gibsons and PRS
- I setup and mod guitars as a hobby
- I have a te-62 that I bought from Thomann and modded

I am genuinely flabbergasted at the quality of this instrument, in fact I think out of the box it was better than my TE-62.

This guitar had a very acceptable setup to me out of the box, action at 2mm on 12th, truss rod needed a couple of turns but was playable and sounded excellent. Nice weight, I'd say about 3.5 kg.

Minor cosmetic issues, nothing thats a deal breaker. Tuners are good. Nut needs a bit of work, cut slightly too high but not enough to cause intonation issues. Tuning stability issues are present if you go crazy with the whammy bar, I'd avoid using it. It came with the bridge hardtailed anyways.

One high fret on the 2nd fret, slight buzz with action at 2mm but not too bad, everything else is perfect. No sharp fret ends, frets could do with a polish but it's not so bad that you can feel the fret scrape as you bend.

The pickups sound fine, they are low output as strat pickups usually are, if you play in isolation, will be excellent, but doing A/B comparisons with a classic vibe or player you might notice slight differences but not enough to justify the price differential.

Switch feels excellent, nice and clicky, volume and tone knobs all work great. Only wish that they wired the second tone to the bridge and not the middle pickup.

Neck profile is a chunky C shape, it feels really nice, it's a little thicker than a player series strat. For chordal playing I think this is more comfortable. It's an unfinished neck which feels pretty good, the fretboard is roseacer, it's a little dry, needed some lemon oil.

This guitar is literally 98% of a fender player after a couple of truss rod turns. Maybe I got lucky, but this guitar is truly excellent. Strats aren't my cup of tea, but any beginner or even experienced player would be happy with this.

Having owned quite a few low-priced guitars more expensive than this one, I was expecting something terrible given the price. Imagine my surprise when I got the instrument and I could not detect any bad craftsmanship!

No sharp or uneven frets, clean and polished surface, sturdy soldering and it even includes a cable and all the keys you may need to set it up yourself! The guitar stays perfectly in tune after allowing the strings to stretch for a day.

The action was a bit high for my tastes, but that's something purely individual. All I had to do to make this guitar playable to my taste was lower the action (which it handled pretty well, no buzzing) and set the intonation. Nothing I wouldn't do at any instrument regardless of price range.

The sound is nice, I got it because I like the sound of single coils and it hasn't disappointed me. If you find that you'd like less hum try switching to positions 4 and 2 on the pickup selector which uses the neck and middle (or middle and bridge respectively) pickups to cancel the hum.

This is a real instrument, not a toy. If you are looking for a first guitar, a guitar to practice on the go without the fear of having it stolen or just a guitar to mod and learn this then is for you. You'll love it!

My dad wanted to learn the guitar again after decades of endless responsibilities so I bought him this as it was the cheapest electric guitar available from any website we looked.

The quality on this model is phenomenal, blows my bass -with some QC issues- which costs almost twice that out of the water in terms of the paintjob, pickguard, neck and the wood finish.

The sound is pleasant with a digital Amplitude clean tone amp and it works well with distortion too. The only problems we have encountered with this guitar is some heavy fret buzz on the 3 higher strings, can be fixed with a good setup from a luthier, and the tuning problem it has. It goes out of tune pretty much instantly, although it isn't that bad playing alone, trying playing bass-guitar was impossible.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with this purchase, very good value for money. With a proper string and neck setup and with some locked tuners this will be unbeatable at this price!

This guitar was bought for my son, a beginning guitarist, as a gift. The tool is good for learning! The guitar came from the store with a normally tuned strings height and an adjusted coils height. String quality is standard for this price range. The body and neck of the guitar are well finished and varnished. Nice view of guitar! The tuners are standard with a soft ride. 5-position switch with confident fixation in each position. The tremolo keeps the tuning well, but you have to tune the guitar from time to time, like for any other music instrument. Sound quality is good for an guitar at this price point, pickups with good exhaust.
For transportation, the guitar was wrapped in a soft film with soft spacers and packed in 2 boxes. At customs, the guitar was unpacked and apparently dropped there, because of this, a dent in varnish remained on the back of the body. No claims against Thomann, this is the fault of the customs, – they have holes in their hands.
As a result, I want to say that this is a great stratocaster for its price! Best for beginning guitarist! The quality of materials and workmanship is excellent. Respect to Thomann store! You make good music tools!