Harley Benton CST-24 BK

Since I bought this guitar I've also purchased an actual PRS guitar (which cost three times as much). Now, the actual PRS has the best pickups I've ever heard, but apart from that the quality of these two guitars is very similar, and the Harley Benton is by far better looking (it's inspired by an even more expensive PRS than what I have...). So, this Harley Benton looks amazing, but is it a good guitar ? Yes, I think so! I have tuned mine is C# standard with Ernie Ball Skinny top heavy bottom strings (10-52) and I have no fret buzz problem. It stays in tune just fine (I've had to change the tuners on another Harley Benton guitar, but the ones on this model seem very good) and it sounds very decent, although the pickups are very high gain and not very subtle.... but that is ok for the kind of music I play with it. You can always swap them for better pickups and have an absolute beast of a guitar for much cheaper than what it looks and sounds like. One little hardware flaw: the pickup selector has a tendency to flip back into the middle position at the slightest touch. It's not really been a problem while playing (it's out of the way), but that's not the way a pickup selector should behave and it might get worse with time and not stay on other positions... In conclusion, this guitar plays great, looks great (I even prefer its headstock design to the PRS one!), sounds fine (not bad at all, but nothing special) and it is incredible value for money. This is my second Harley Benton guitar and certainly not the last one.

As per usual with Harley Bentons, this guitar showed up in excellent form. The action was perfect (in my opinion), intonation was great, no rough frets or unfinished areas, and ready to play right outta the box.

Upon plugging it in, I was amazed by the quality of the pickups. They express a really nice glassy clean sound and they hold a good solid and even overdrive. I have used this guitar live a few times now and it has been amazing. I know the pickups are stock, but they are seriously impressive.

The volume and tone pots are great high quality, sensitive and responsive for their size. The guitar hardware itself is immaculate and would rival most mid-high range guitars out there.

I play in a variety of different tunings, from E standard to Drop A and the tuners on this guitar handle the different tunings and string gauges perfectly. They hold their tune exceptionally well.

My only gripe with this guitar was a little part of the binding on the top curve gets slightly wider than it should towards the neck. That is literally the only bad thing I have to say about this guitar and I really had to nit-pick to come up with that one.

All in all, I feel like a bit of a thief for getting a guitar of this quality at the price I bought it for. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I have no Idea how HB make a profit on these guitars! - I'm just glad they exist for those of us who, like me, love quality guitars but operate on a very small budget!

Thank you Harley Benton and thank you Thomann! :)

I'm a hobbyist so I'm not looking for top tier instruments, however I do like instruments to feel good to play and to sound pleasing.

This guitar checks those boxes well enough. for the price its outstanding, but you get what you pay for so dont expect a miracle.

It feels lovely to play and has a really bulky neck if you're into that sort of thing. The pickups sound good in a high gain lead setting but I find them to be muddy and dull when played clean. The clean sound is marginally better with the coil tap engaged but don't expect any strat sounds, just a bit more clarity.

It weighs more than any guitar I've ever owned except a Greco Les Paul from the 70's (the heaviest object in the universe) so I hope you have a strong back. This weight however, paired with the set neck and lump of metal that is the bridge gives it excellent sustain.

The finish is adequate but not without its flaws, there are many tiny blemishes but nothing a good polish wouldnt fix. I was expecting as much as this is one of several Harley Benton guitars I own and it's well known that finish is where the price point of this brand is made obvious.

If you can deal with a few minor issues and arent looking for a bright, clean sound, then this guitar is good bang for the buck

This guitar is amazing!!! When I received it, the intonation was spot on. The strings were almost in tune! The playability is great!!! The neck seems wider than I'm used to, but this is a good thing because I'm a beginner. After receiving it a couple of days ago, I finally plugged it into my amp today and it sounds excellent! Now for the bad, which is totally NOT Thomann's fault. Thanks to Covid-19 slowing everything down worldwide, from when I placed the order until I received it, was over a month. Having said this, my gut told me the longer it took DHL/ US Postal Service to get the guitar to me, the more chance of it arriving damaged. Sure enough, my gut was right! The box was grossly mishandled and the headstock broke through 3 layers of protective cardboard. NOT COOL! A piece about a quarter of an inch of wood and paint was chipped right off the headstock! I've since repaired it with wood filler and black paint, but it's not 100%. Oh well! I can live with it. This guitar is a fantastic buy!!! But BEWARE of crappy shipping if you're a long distance from Germany!!!