Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series

Ordered in early Jan, and was told to wait 7-8 weeks.
It arrived couple weeks ago, and here are my initial observations...

PROS
1. Looks even better than in the pictures. The red tortoise pick-guard really nice against the matte black body- which had no finish flaws.
2. Neck is fairly straight, and the fretwork is good - level with no sharp edges although I did polish them.
3. Stays in tune well, but I imediately replaced the basic tuners with Harley Benton brand locking tuners (black). Nut and bridge seem fine.
4. The pickups are pretty good, and all 5 positions are usable from clean to dirty tones & various points in between.
Note: Bridge pickup is quite hot, so some amp/pedal tweaking might be necessary to get the sound you're after (especially since it's not wired to the tone control - per usual Strat-style configuration).
5. Electronics are fine for what they are, and do the job without fuss. This can be considered another upgrade point in the future.

CONS
1. The strings are a bit heavy and flat feeling- personal taste thing.
2. Rough edges on the pickguard around the selector switch cutout. A quick 2-3 mins with a small file should do the trick if it bugs you.
3. Screw-in vibrato arm is either too loose or too tight, which is typical of this type of application. You'll need either a small spring or some tape to make it stay in your personal sweet-spot.

CONCLUSION
If you're a beginner or intermediate player looking for a good-quality HSS Strat that won't break the bank, this is a definite contender. Great deal and upgrade platform: as you get better and want to get to know a guitar by working on it, or someone who needs a backup guitar, or just to get a strat type w/ HSS layout?

This guitar is so much fun to play! Every time I look at it, it's screaming, "pick me up and play me!" Finally, after trying many different guitars, I have found my daily guitar that I play for hours on end. What do I love about this guitar?

- Satin finish. Extremely smooth and fast. (why don't more guitars have a satin finish neck?)
- Lightweight
- Black finish that I really don't care that much about, meaning, if it gets nicked or scratch, that would just add character. The black aesthetic with tortoise shell pickguard appeals to my sense of style.
- S type styling that is very comfortable sitting or standing
- The low price

The only knock is that the pickups are clearly not the best in terms of tone and variety. A) who cares, this is a practice guitar. B) easy enough to change them if I want to. C) They sound like an S type, which is what you would expect. They just don't sound like a PRS or genuine Fender noiseless for obvious reasons.

For reference, I am fairly new to the guitar (2.5 years) and I have actually purchased and used the following guitars in the last two years in my search for a guitar to fall in love with:
- Epiphone LP Vintage
- HB tele
- HB CST24HB
- HB DC Custom
- HB SC Custom II
- HB HB-35 Plus
- Epiphone Prophecy
- Sire S7
- EART E35
- Donner cheap S type

I still have the Epiphone LP Vintage that I kept because it was my first guitar. I still have the HB-35 Plus because I love it also, but it's a very different machine. All the others were either returned or I resold them.

I will keep this ST20HSS and play it til my fingers bleed. Yes, it is an inexpensive thrasher guitar, and yes, it is so much fun to play. I highly recommend it.

I don't play guitar, I play Banjo so I bought this for my daughter after looking over similarly priced second hand guitars. Unimpressed with the condition of them I started looking and was recommended HB guitars.

Having previously played acoustic and knowing she wanted a Strat style I went through the various reviews and this came top as a good guitar for the price.
Arrived well packaged (double boxed) and took 4 working days from Germany (I'm UK based). Postage was a very reasonable £10. For £105 total I couldn't have bought a decent condition 2nd hand from a "big" manufacturer.

After unpacking I had some help setting it up. Other than dropping the action slightly it didn't need any work. The finish is excellent, looks and feels good.

It has been looked at by a workmate (2 LPs amoung other guitars) and her guitar teacher they're impressed with it. Teacher is impressed enough he's considering getting a similar one for pupils.

Overall I think a Good Buy for anyone wanting a guitar that is good value and plays well for a new-ish player.

I am more than happy with this guitar! For the price, it delivers so much. The sound is great, and the HSS pickup configuration makes it versatile enough for different styles of music.

I also bought it together with the Harley Benton HB-40R amplifier, and that, too, is more than excellent for the price. I can’t even turn the amp up halfway without it being heard throughout the entire house! The drive options are a bit limited, but still very good for this price range.

Even my guitarist friends were pleasantly surprised – they didn’t expect such a great guitar and amp combo at this price. The guitar arrived well-packed and protected, which is always a big plus.

One small suggestion: avoid wrapping the protective film under the knobs. It’s quite tricky to remove it properly.

Overall, this is a fantastic product, and I would highly recommend it!

Great guitar with great sound. Has both types of pickups so it enables you to play something clean and funky but it has dual coil bridge pickup so if you want to kick it into higher gear and play some distortion stuff it offers great sound. Easy to setup and change wires. Only flaw is that if you use the tremolo system it goes out of tune quickly but guitar costs less than a tank of gas. Great for beginners, easy to play. If you decide you don't want to play anymore it doesn't matter because it isn't a lot of money and if you keep playing you can go long time without buying another guitar because for playing at home, having fun and learning on budget, it's the best guitar on the site!!

This is a good choice for guitarists looking for an affordable yet quality instrument. This model offers versatility and playing comfort.

Sound versatility: With the combination of one humbucker and two single coils, the guitar offers a wide range of sounds suitable for different musical genres.

The guitar has a comfortable fingerboard profile and lightweight construction, making it ideal for extended playing or learning.

Despite its affordable price, the guitar is made with an attention to detail and quality not often found in this price segment.

The satin black colour and classic design make this guitar visually appealing.

In addition to the above I would like to say that I picked this guitar up as a gift for a friend of mine who has been wanting to start learning the guitar for a long time, and he was very pleased.

This is an excellent sounding guitar for the price. The pickups are no name pickups however they sound really good. I was surprised when playing the guitar how well it played. It came perfectly set up and the intonation was spot on. The matte finish is super cool looking. The guitar is well made, not a flaw at all on anything. The only complaint I have is purely from aesthetic and that's the plastic protective film on the pickguard. When removing the film parts of a 2nd layer of film underneath started to peel off as well and looked horrible. I have never seen 2 layers of film on a pickguard. The top came off very easy and with it some pieces of the 2nd layer however the 2nd layer is nearly impossible to get off all the way. I am still working at it and may have to remove the pickguard to get it off with heat or something that will soften the glue. So right now it looks a bit spotty. Other than that, I really have nothing to complain about. This is a great guitar for all levels. Advanced players will likely want to mod this. I actually love it the way it is however I can see adding some seymour duncan pickups, a tusq nut, an upgraded bridge and locking tuners. The tuners are ok but could be better. The tremelo bar is a little loose however I was able to fix that with plumbers tape which fixed the extra play in the bar and the looseness of it. All oi all, yes, this is a really good guitar for under $100 and has a ton of potential to be a really great guitar with a few mods. Absolutely incredible. Great work Harley Benton!

I genuinely bought this guitar to mod it by changing pickups tuners bridge..etc Thomann is my go-to website for great quality and cheap guitars, it's also close to where i live (NL) but until now i'm nothing but satisfied with the guiatr, pickups wise and everything else, it so good that it doesn't feel cheap AT ALL. I reviewed many youtube videos about this guitar, and none of them complained about the sound, quality, sharp edges broken parts or anything, they were surprised as i am. but one thing the reviews on youtube got wrong (in my opinion) is assigning this guitar to "Beginner" type of guitar because it's cheap, sorry but it's NOT, any guitar can be in any level, the player can make any guitar sound good cheap or expensive, but also don't forget about having a good amp, that's where you should invest your money at, invest your time in practicing. Thank you Thomann.