Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series

Nice guitar, great value. I've never had a genuine Stratocaster but have purchased a number of Harley Benton Guitars and am very pleased with the Quality & Value for the Money you pay, and the Service in general has been outstanding.

So, this guitar does "work" as a "Strat-like" instrument, you get a lot of different tones to pick from with the 5-Way Selector Switch & the 2 Tone Knobs (There's 1 Volume Control Knob), and you can get a "chimey sound" and "glassy sound" that Strats are known for.

The only draw back is that I think that the frets need "crowning" (so, it's another one of those Luthier Skills that I'll have to acquire, I already have the file.) They're a little rough on the fingers; otherwise, the frets seem to be wider than normal compared to other guitars. There's a little fret sprout, but that's probably due to the very low humidity in my locale (dressing the frets will probably take care of that).

Otherwise, it's a very nice guitar. A nice finish, the workmanship is very good (no scuffs or "cut corners" it seems), it stays in tune very well. The Tremolo("Whammy") Bar works well, better than other guitars, but not as good as the one with a Floyd Rose, as to be expected.

Overall, it's a great buy, pretty normal for a Harley Benton, and The Service has been Colossal! Pretty much normal for Thomann too.

So, I'm pleased. (However, if you want that full fledged Strat Sound, you're going to have to go "all the way" and spend $1,000 to $2,000 & up for one.) But for now and where I am at, These are terrific!
👍for the folks at Thomann.

Well recommended for the price!

I am impressed with the following: quick shipping time (I received my Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series in Australia within two weeks of ordering it), quality of the guitar straight out of the box, its affordable price.

I am an amateur guitarist of 40 years. I could plug this guitar in and play a gig and sound great. There are no fret buzzes anywhere on the neck! The neck feels nice, the pick ups sound good (I cant test them loud on my amp at the moment, but I think they will be fine for my style).

There are some caveats, which I expected for the price, but again the minor issues are better than expected. The tuners are good. There is some minor out of tune issues (slightly flat) after playing it but remember it just travelled thousands of miles to a hot city. With a silent tuner these are easy resolved between songs at a gig. I expect this will settle down. There are a couple of frets I will get dressed to take a millimetre or two off. Again, nothing to stop taking this guitar to a gig. I will pay for a set up purely because I like the action set for my playing style (jazz and blues) - this is just my personal preference.

I would have given this guitar 5 stars for its price, but the reason I didn't is the whammy bar doesn't do much at all. I can do some chordal whammy with it, but on individual notes it is too stiff.

Regardless, this is an excellent first guitar for anyone who loves the strat style and tone. I bought it to customise it a bit, so I also recommend if for those who like to customise their guitars. Yes this doesn't necessarily mean it is economical in the long run, but I would rather do this and personalise my guitar than spend $800 for a guitar off the shop wall which I still want set up and personalised for my playing.

Well recommended!

I bought this as a backup guitar and to fill the single coil role for home recording projects. I didn't want to spend alot of money and had read reviews / heard sound clips and decided to take the plunge.

First impressions were good, the guitar looks great, plays nicely and was well set up (lowish action and intonation was set). Electronics are fine, all pickups work and sound how you'd expect them to in
each position and switch and pots all work as they should.

The Wilkinson pickups are great (though a little noisy with gain / high volume) and sound like the guitar they are emulating in each position:
The neck pickup is great for cleans and lightly overdriven tones, the middle / bridge position gives
a great quacky clean tone and the bridge is very bright and great for leads and overdriven / distorted rhythm playing.

The bridge is good and is adjustable for string height (action) and length (intonation) and has 3 tremolo springs which hold it firmly in place (couldn't use the tremolo bar) You could loosen the springs (or remove one of the springs) to use this though not sure how well it'd hold tuning.

The neck doesn't sit flush with the body (their is a small gap between them) this doesn't affect playability of the instrument and is purely a cosmetic flaw.

The fretboard is a separate piece of wood to the neck (though this isn't too noticable as the neck has a gloss finish) again just a cosmetic issue. On close inspection the fretboard markers also seem slightly blurry (almost like a low resolution image)

Tuners work and hold tuning though aren't particularly smooth and can be quite difficult to turn.

Nut is well cut and intonation at the first fret is fine and didn't notice any tuning issues from strings bends Though I did put some graphite (pencil lead) on the nut slots when I first changed the strings.

The truss rod doesn't seem to do anything, I changed string gauge and didn't notice any difference when trying to make an adjustment (ended up doing a whole turn anti clockwise to add relief and measured no change with the feeler gauge)

Overall for the price this was a great purchase with only minor issues and cosmetic flaws going against it and will suit a beginner as well as someone looking for a budget backup or just looking to try an ST style guitar.

Not much to complain about really,since this is quite decent guitar for the price.Was actually surprised for it being set up that well.String action,truss rod and intonation was pretty dead on (Guitar was even close to being in tune right out of the box).Frets could use a some touch here and there,but nothing major, like,they're not going to cut your hands or buzz all over the place.No complaints about nut and machine heads.Guitar actually holds tuning really well,even after some tremolo bar use.Not a fan of those classic fender type bridge saddles,so i might change those eventually.Electronics work as they should.Can't comment much on pickups, since i'm more of a humbucker person and therefore, don't have a good point of reference.Paint job is simply perfect.One negative thing I did found, was that the woodwork inside the back cavity where springs are located is kinda rough, to say the least.Obviously,it doesn't affect playability or anything,but still,there's literally a bunch of wood fiber sticking out,kind of like if you cut wood with a dull blade,but again,doesn't affect anything ,except for knowing it's there.
It's a decent guitar,but I think it's important to understand that it is a budget instrument,therefore, don't expect it to be high end one.If you want a strat style guitar on a budget,project guitar or your first instrument then this is definetely a good choice.

I can confidently say that this guitar is a cheap version of a good guitar. The accessories are all cheap, but not the worst, the tuners are good, the machine is so-so. I had a much better machine on Cort G100. The fretboard is smooth and in excellent condition, there are no comments on this. An incomprehensible situation with the pickups, why do the middle magnets look outward more than all the others, I wonder how it should be? The sound is about the same Cort G100, I would even say that Cort sounded a little more interesting. In general, the guitar is good, I liked it. The only thing that could put a better quality machine and it would be generally great.

I enjoyed breaking it in, yes it's great out of the box but depending on where you live, altitude, humidity, temp, it will need tweaks. I live in the high dry desert. The one I rec'd is terrific. I would highly recommend this guitar whatever level player you are. Tuners are good, nut is good, frets are good, trem is good. All can be improved with some elbow grease. For this price it's so close to the one's at 5-6 times the money, it's well worth putting the minor upgrades into it. Those may include several depending on your tastes and expectations. But you are going to get every bit of your money's worth it of this instrument.
I absolutely love the tone and playability. It really has grown on me in a short time and I didn't spend a dime on upgrades, polished the fret ends a little, did a minor truss rod adjust, minor action adjustments, new strings and a good clean and oil. It is a real good guitar, I have more and better, but I keep picking this one up. I really dig it, vintage pups and this bad dog has some bark.