Harley Benton CST-24 - It's Beautiful, Just Don't Look too Close...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- Can Harley Benton make a decent PRS Clone? Let's Find out!
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Would construction like this bother you if the guitar still looked good (from a distance) and sounded good?
Have you ever had a guitar like this? Let me know :)
Nowadays we want to give the less money to have the better thing. So yes. It would be an issue for me. Even when i pay for a low cost guitar i want to have a perfect look. I don't expect the best pickups or tuners but i want them to be functional. I don't want the best wood but i also don't want a cardboard. So simple.
There's this Eastwood Classic 6HBTL guitar that is pretty much a Dave Grohl Signature Gibson clone. Looking forward to that review
I bought the same guitar and loved it, I replaced all the hardware though with a graphtech resomax bridge, hipshot locking tuners and the emg james hetfield set. Mine also came with an ebony finger board. Mine didn't have all those issues but maybe the one I got was an older model, they changed it a few times.
I would tinker with it and fix the little things that may be wrong. I enjoy doing that kind of thing.
Probably not a concern if the price differential was significant.
I think you should have started the video by saying this whole guitar has a price of a single PRS humbucker :).
Exactly!👍👍👍
Right?!? "$900" price difference!
So true. LOL!!
To be fair the fit & finish on my vietnamese Bentons look very Decent too both long & short sighted people 😄
yeah the quality isnt up to par with american made originals but it is on par with things like squier and epi or other east made guitars even though they are a quarter something of the price
Man, when you said the F holes were bad, I didn't expect it to be THAT bad
"thats the worst f-hole ive ever seen" lol
Yeah, those F holes are F’d up
The PRS is $1545 dollars, this was $280.
Enough said.
The frick holes
Basic f-holes for a cheap guitar.
I’ve got this HB guitar. Very pleased with it.
The “cosmetic” issues, in my case aren’t even issues at all.
It plays wonderfully, and it’s very bery versatile.
For this kind of money... best buy I’ve ever made.
Best regards
Same here. I love how people compare a guitar with one 20 times the price and still complain 😳
Well, this only means one thing. HB have terrible quality control. You guys got fine guitars, that’s great, but I’ve seen others who were really dissatisfied, and based on their descriptions they had similar issues to Darrel’s guitar. It seems like a bit of a gamble with these.
@@ej22_gc86 see the thing is, things like squires or Epiphone and other east made guitars by the original designers have these same exact issues but are still 4 times as expensive. For 100 dollars you get something at the quality level of a 400 epi.
@@pyotrilyichtchaikovsky3733 take a look at G&L's stuff; trueky great guitars at a sub $400 price range
@@ej22_gc86 I have bought 5 Harley Benton's from Strat style to LesPaul style and everyone was amazing! I've bought Epiphone ES 339 and the tuner fell off. I could have bought 3 Harley Benton's for the price of that guitar.
I have 4 HB's, and one came with issues like that. I sent an email, and Thomann took it back without any hassle and shipped out a nearly perfect replacement. It's a QC issue, but you don't have to live with it. It is a new instrument, and Thomann stands behind what they sell.
I appreciate that you buy these instead of asking for them to send you one. I feel like that really allows us to see a realistic representation of their product and not a cherry picked version.
I just wanted you to know that wasn't lost on me!
Thanks for the awesome content!
I’m glad someone else mentioned this! It’s so much more honest than some other TH-cam channels.
You mean he's got way more this than the company has?
Agreed 100 per cent!
I agree I’m sure if they knew you were going to do a review of the guitar on TH-cam they would have sent a better one and the average person would get one like this.
I LOVE HARLEY BENTON'S and will not buy any others. Everyone of my five guitars quality has been exceedingly good.
To be fair, the F holes on my Epi Dot look like they were done with a bread knife and finished with a magic marker. There's also a nick in the edge of the finger board. It's still a very playable guitar though.
Lol funny description.
My Epiphone Pro 335 was terrible also. Had to use thinner to get all the spilled black paint off the natural finished face of the guitar. And the neck was back bowed so much the strings were laying on the frets. After cleaning and set up, it does play really well.
@@barbmelle3136 yeah sometimes it is just cosmetics which have zero effect on sound or playability. Thank god guitars can be setup to solve bad action etc
I have an Epi Dot, it is the custom shop/limited edition model, really nice build quality
@@Deliquescentinsight yeah and so much cheaper than the Gibson version. Epiphones are I think better guitars than the Squire equivalents.
I have 3 HB guitars, and they’re all awesome. The fit and finish is very close to perfect on all of them. Remember these are very inexpensive guitars.
That's my experience too. I have 8 and they are unbelievably high quality. Forget about the price.
@@millcrafter3530 When the next one comes in I'll have 4 HBs. Love them all.
they arent usa level but they compare to things like squire and epiphone at a quarter of the price
how do you guys like their necks? i played like 5 harley bentons and all of them have thicc ass necks, feel like cheap acoustic guitars...like baseball bats...idk..i hated them ..they sound ok and seem to work fine.. fretwork is decent
I got a "B" stock CST24T. The guitar got here in 3 days & the guitar had no flaws, even under LEDs.
Eventually I will be putting a set of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates.
Me too. Mine was perfect. Can’t be faulted. ESP for price . Better finish than the fender duo sonic I just got
I bought one just before lockdown haven’t touched it since...pile of crap
@@dazla01206 that sinteresting. I have bought and almost immediately sold 4 other HBs. But this was great. Generally I prefer the epiphone
Send it back! I have several of their instruments and none have the defects you are suffering with.
It's a model per model situation though.
I would never buy a guitar where it was a total crap shoot on what you get. Horrible quality control.
@@CaffeineInjected never had that problem with them funny enough.
@@CaffeineInjected and funny enough Gibson is about the exact same way
@@armandomorales3809 i own mostly fenders. They are great guitars. Gibsons are ridiculously over priced. Also their quality has gone down. I liked gibson back in the 90s
How about, take the binding off the f-holes, sand those edges and paint them black. Reward yourself for this fiddly effort with a beer bought from the $1750 you just saved.
Cool. How can I do that without cracking the finish on top?
@@Newnodrogbob That would depend on what the binding is stuck on with: perhaps heat, perhaps scraping or Dremel
Gordon Roberts , you could experiment with methods of improvement. Not like it will drastically affect the instrument value.
Thanks for your honest and blunt reviews! Keep everyone to a higher standard, my man!
Peace from Cowtown, AB.
I've got that exact same one and I love it. No complaints from me.
I think you should take a look at a brazilian brand called "Tagima". They have some nice products, and I think you're gonna like it!
THAT WOULD BE SOOOOO AMAZING
Tagima endorsed Kiko Loureiro from Megadeth once, amazing instruments.
I own a Tamiga TW61 with P90s and it is a very nice instrument.
Well it’s pretty hard to look at that manufacture when their website is running at 56K baud rate 😂😂😂😂 I haven’t experienced such a slow website in 20 years but I guess it’s worth the wait always interested in finding new germs
My Tagima tw530 is a great guitar
I just got one a few days ago as my first guitar. $160 display model. I was thinking of a donner, Harley benton, Squier, or glarry. It feels very high end and I didn’t have to do anything to it.
Benton shipping costs is like buying one guitar for the price of two. Glarry is on the extreme low end and I had no way of getting a feel. Squier affinity/bullet felt worse, for more money. Donner doesn’t have maple necks. So I ended up with my Tagima and I am happy with my purchase. I still want a glarry, to mod and mess around on cause the tagima’s build quality feels like a $500 guitar. (Just based on me, a total noob, holding guitars at guitar center.)
YESSS THANK YOU, we need more harley Benton content
Plenty moreeee. Do a harley tele review
I agree. I bought my first Harley Benton 6 months back or so and its the Fusion T Hh fnt. Pro series. Let me say. ITS AMAZING. All the specs for 400 usd and will last forever. Its beautiful and the pups are actually articulate and lovely. Nothing to add or subtract. I love it. Ive made alot of videos albeit nowhere near the Darrell B amazing. Hahaha.
Nahh. There's a million of these videos already. Lets get some original content
I enjoyed your analysis Darrell you always provide a balanced, practical insight mate!
I'm a bit on the fence with these super-affordable guitars. On the one hand it's great that it's even possible to buy a beautiful instrument for this little money. It surely puts instruments in player's hands that would not otherwise have them. On the other hand, these guitar factories must be absolute sweatshops, to be able to crank out guitars at that price-point. For me, making music is somewhat... sacred, for lack of a better word. An escape from a sometimes ugly reality.
I like to think that the making of my guitar hasn't been someone else's ugly reality, but with H-B (or other super-cheap instruments), there can be no doubt about that.
For the past few months, I've had a mighty craving for a semi-hollow electric, and almost pulled the trigger on this exact model. I've since decided to save a bit more and buy something really nice next year - when picking it up, I want to think "this is special!", and H-B wouldn't give me that.
In case of Harley Benton? It seems mostly the same fabs that Gibson and Ibanez are using too. So the Cort fab in Indonesia and some not so well known Chinese ones.
You need to approach this from this side of things: How expensive are those squires and Epiphones really to build? Because HB is just a label, they don't need to make a single dollar, only Thomann needs to have a profit margin and that one is traditional always rather small anyway. You just cut the middle man and for Thomann the middle man is Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, they just directly order from the same fabs.
I’ll tell you now, guitar factories aren’t the worst sweat shops out (if they’re even able to be classified as such). Guitars are far less popular (in terms of how many people own them and how many each person has) and far less abundant than some other products that sweat shops produce, so theoretically the conditions shouldn’t be as strenuous.
Also, I think of your perspective as just as flawed as people who complain about “wasting paper” when they want to save trees. The damage has already been done by the time you have the product. The product is made regardless of if you buy it or not because there will always be stock available (in both scenarios). At least in the case of guitars, the case could be made that not buying those guitars is more harmful because multiple people already put in the work to make it.
Thomann obviously isn't sending those to you for free 😆. Nice to see an unbiased review.
Hi Darrel,
I always appreciate what you have to say. For many years, I've been a fan of genuine rather than knock-offs (or clones) having owned a fair number of the originals. But things are changing on the quality front these days, especially with the Chinese products which 20 years ago couldn't even get the lettering straight on their instruments. I would say that the clones, especially recent Epiphones, are really getting closer to the experience of the original article with the Gibson name on it. It isn't true with all the models, but if you go through the product line I think you'll find there are some models that once they've been "finished" at the dealer (or your own setup), you will find the playing experience very satisfying and realistic both in feel and sound. This is new for me to say, but has been my experience in the last 5 years and seems to be getting better. Summary: it's coming to the time when we will no longer be able to say, "You just can't get the genuine experience from a clone", because in today's market, there are a few clones and semi-clones that are coming into their own reality, in my opinion anyway, for whatever that may be worth (or not). You are valued. Thanks for all you do.
This *IS* the one I was waiting for you to review, THANK YOU very much. Realizing it has issues, it's still the guitar I want on my very limited budget. Thanks to you, at least I will go in with eyes wide open, and who knows, with HB's spotty QC, I may be pleasantly surprised!
Short and sweet, thank you for doing these types of videos, especially with your attention to detail!
You got me into HB man, they are probably wondering why all of these people from our postal codes are ordering these!
LOVE your brutal honesty!
That looks nice as hell from far away. Good video man. I appreciate the honesty.
Really appreciate your videos and the time that goes into them!
I am a drummer but love your vids. I have been thinking for a while of buying a guitar (just for fun) and HB CST-24 grabbed my attention. Thanks for the great review, you are amazing!
Did you do it?
I've been using a HB CST-24 for 3 years now as my main guitar. It's awesome considering the $230 price tag. It's obviously not a high end guitar, but it does the job great! Also did I mention it's freakin beautiful?!
TY for the honest review(s) Darrell, love your channel bud!
Hi Darrell. I own real tele, strat, prs se. Harley Benton guitars are not going to be the same, BUT they're fun to buy! I bought a cst24t last year, and maybe got lucky. Couldn't find flaws in construction/finish, guitar felt good in hand, neck was comfortable. Looked gorgeous.
Soon became apparent that the tuners were crap, and pickups underwhelming, so I replaced them with affordable replacement parts.
So, final outlay £190 guitar, £30 pickups, £18 tuners =£238 or 410 Canadian dollars. AND I'm very happy. When I was a kid you would get firewood for this kind of money!!
At the end of the day it's how it sounds, the Bentons are satisfyingly close. You can buy a Benton and a very good tube amp for hundreds less than one PRS
Yeah, if the only significant difference between this Harley Benton and the PRS that costs about five times as much is the looks, then buying the Harley Benton is still a good deal.
@@Tigermaster1986 Yup. I got a Tele harley benton. Plays and sonds very good. A fender is slightly better, but no one will ever notice a difference, unless you play them next to each other. A few caveats in the finish, but I dont care about that. You never see it anyways, unless you look for it. But personally I enjoy guitars that look a little beat up and used.
@@TheFrontyer it’ll get beat up and used anyway if you play it enough 😉
@@TheFrontyer divots???
@@joehahn8817 No non. The guitar is pretty much flawless in the finish. Except the one edge of the binding. Its not finished perfect, however you have to look for it to find it.
Biggest issue with the guitar is a tall fret and buzzing on low E string. Both can be fixed relatively easy.
I can't believe Darrell only has 624k subs?.....this channels so awesome!
I bet at one point, he had less than 1k subs eh? : )
I'm not planning to buy a new guitar, but I couldn't resist watching a content that I was sure that I'm going to like - one more great guitar review of yours, and I'm glad that it was related to an earlier experience with Thomann.
I really enjoy the content that you post in here
Thanks for your exceptionally great work!
Thanks for the demo and comparison. Stay safe DB!
Honest and impartial, thank you!
Awesome Darrell.......HB's seem to be hit and miss much like most off shore brands in that range. Thanks for the honest review and opinion.
I have the exact same guitar. I received it in 3 days in Toronto. I love the guitar and I have over a dozen Fender, Gibson and Schecter guitars. I polished the frets and installed locking tuners. Mine had none of these issues.
You are one of the very few reviewers that really know how to do a proper review. I can't thank you enough for that. I am sick of reviewers that think they've covered what was needed to pass on only to find when I check further or see the guitar in person their recommendations fall way too short. You're my go-to-guy for dependability. Helps that you're also a fellow Canadian and I can understand what the H you're saying too... Thanks again from A Canuck in Latvia! ❗🎸🥇👌💯
Hey Darrell
After watching your review of this guitar, I have just bought one 😊 it’s a B stock item and I honestly can’t find any flaws on it. The guitar arrived today, I set the tuning and plugged it in, WOW it’s amazing. Thanks for your budget guitar reviews 👍
it's possible someone just wanted to try the guitar, didn't like it and sent it back. since it had already been opened they can't sell it as new anymore.
here in europe you have a two week return guarantee, no questions asked.
"I'll take one for the team, no problem" LOL!! Love the channel!
I wish that I always had Darrell's attitude! Always in a great mood!! Thanks and keep up the great work!!
PRS is on another level when it comes to the quality of their instruments. Even the SEs.
Love my Tremonti Signature. (USA)
Thanks for your insightful review as usual, Darrell.
Great video! I actually have 2 CST24Ts. There's a few flaws in there, and even though it isn't as good as a PRS, it's as close as some folks may be able to get, and for the money, it rises far above the endless pile of strat clones out there. Bummer about the F hole. That just sucks. It's a drag your experiences with Harley Benton have been like that. Even the b stock one I got was in better shape. But your reviews are always straight up and helpful, and for that we thank you!
Is the vibrato system functioning well???
PRS makes some of the best quality guitars in the world, the quality control and attention to detail is far beyond something like Gibson does. So obviously it's not as good as a PRS in fit and finish, but nobody needs that, if you buy a real PRS you have money to spare and want the luxury of having the best, but for actually playing this guitar will be more than enough which is good enough for me
You should have compared the sound really, the review seems more focused on the cosmetic side of things more than anything else. I own a strat version and my dad has a hollow body telecaster, he's been playing for decades and played some of the best gear you can imagine and he loves it. For that money they are amazing guitars. Mine wasn't perfect when it came from the factory it needed a setup and the nut slots were too shallow, but after a bit of work, it blew my MIJ and MIM strats out of the water and they are both very good guitars the MIJ especially, I couldn't believe it. The finish may leave a little to be desired in some areas, but when it sounds better than my branded guitars, I couldn't really care but thats just my opinion. It would have been really interesting to see how it held up sound wise against the PRS! ( that PRS is lovely btw :D )
Awesome honest review. Love your channel!
Im glad you chose this model to review and critique. I've seriously been contemplating buying one. The little things like the fret work and the F holes, well I always do a complete fret job and setup when I buy any guitar. And with the F holes, I think I could clean that up fairly easily. The blushing at the neck joint there isn't much that can be done. Looks like there was probably some glue around the joint and finished over. And the few minor chips and or finish crack I can always drop fill. And the nut I can file the edges and make it a little prettier, and use micro mesh to clean it up. Which none of this bothers me. I really enjoy doing that stuff. As it's my chosen semi profession after I retired from the ARMY. I know that when I see your review on these inexpensive guitars, it's honest because you have payed for them yourself. Where others talk them up because the talked said company to send them one for a review and they keep the guitar or piece of gear. So thank you for an absolute honest breakdown of this model. I'm pretty sure I will be ordering one very soon.
I recently bought a Harley Benton acoustic and it's absolutely perfect in every way. Shame that their QC isn't up to scratch across their whole network of suppliers.
By far and away the best guitar review series I have found. Completely fair and detailed from first glimpse to the tonal options. Thank you
Darrell, thank you for a great channel. But even bigger thanks for all you have taught me. Your fan and friend, Jerry
I literally just bought this guitar and you put up a video, awesome!
I have the previous series with the cross inlays and rosewood fretboard. Honestly I didn’t have all those quality issues, maybe it is just a matter of luck. Suggestion for review is the Harley Benton Amarok 6 with EMG active pickups.
I would love to see you do a price point shootout where you pick a price, $500, for example, and then compare guitars from several brands in that range to see who is giving you the biggest bang for the buck.
Great review. I really brings home how much I love my PRS custom 22 ten top. It's a masterpiece. Like wearing a tux that feels like a comfy pair of sweats.
I always had best experience with Thomann's service. Very fast, very customer oriented. I got an SC450 plus, installed some Tonerider pickups and it sounds really good.
Cool, can't wait for H-B to make the Piezo version!
Join the club mate lol
Kewl
@@joguipo turns out I didn't wait. I bought the PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo for Xmas.
@@JonNewquist Oh I hate you! (Terrible thing, envy lol).
Enjoy it mate.
Big love from Spain
@@joguipo - I completely understand. Love from California.
For me Harley Benton has some models that aren't really that great but some are just really good like se SC custom ii with the FR 1000. I have it and it is really good
That's a beautiful guitar. I just bought a cst24t kit. I got it within 5 days, and it was PERFECT. The body was great. The neck was really well done. Frets were nearly perfect. I'm painting it right now. Which is a slow process if you do it right. I can't wait to get it together, with the premium parts I ordered for it, separately. Nice demo as usual.
Really hyped to see this review, as I purchased this exact make of guitar about a week before your original HB review. After having it for a few months here are my thoughts (TLDR, Great for their price, and while I have cosmetic issues, they aren't to the extent that Darrell had. Overall, I'm happy, and would buy again.)
Fairly sure this guitar was backordered when I purchased it, so I had to wait a week or so for the shipment to arrive a Thomann. Shipping was killer at nearly $90 USD, so I ordered a cheap HB acoustic (D-120CE BK) as well to make myself feel better about the shipping (If the CST-24 wasn't back ordered, this one was.) Once they shipped from Germany they were at my door in Florida within two days. The box itself came damaged, however both guitars were perfectly intact with no damage.
Overall, as Darrell noted, the CST-24 is a stunning guitar at a distance. The top on mine is a similar gorgeous tobacco burst to what Darrell displayed, but partially because the box came damaged, and partially because I had bought it without seeing the actual guitar I was purchasing, I went over it with a fine tooth comb.
Sound quality is as as you heard, quite good. Also, as a semi-hollowbody it's quite resonant, to the point if I play it acoustic (as I often do when the rest of the house is asleep) I'll need to plug in headphones to hear anything clearly in a live stream form my computer. However it's not loud enough acoustic to wake anyone in the next room, which is a large part of why I purchased this type of guitar. Tuning stability is reasonable, and I only need to tune it up a few times a week, while I'll play it at least an hour or three each day.
As for the details, and fit and finish, like Darrell found, there are issues. The fret board was particularly dry when it came from the factory, and needed a good bit of polish before it felt good. The frets themselves were comparable to Darrell's with no fret sprout or shrink to speak of. They were fairly gritty on arrival, but have polished up a good bit through play in the interim. The nut is fairly decently cut, though the G string sticks a bit, so I suspect that grove should be recut for the size strings I use. The corners on the nut were pretty sharp on the fret board size, but a quick pass with an emory board solved that. Due to its construction, I suspect you would struggle to replace any of the pots or switches, as there is no access to the electronics except through the F holes. This is somewhat annoying, as the nut on the jack plug keeps coming loose, and I struggle to properly tighten it. The neck is glossy, so take that as you will.
Speaking of the varnish, that's where the first of my three complaints (rather than nit picks) come in. There are a few points where the varnish bled into the binding, but most egregious is the varnish on the neck near the fret board at the side dots, where the tape job clearly was misaligned, and the varnish is at a slight angle. The higher dots, closer to the body are mostly visible, with the varnish clipping the edge of the dot, but the dot at the third fret is less than half visible. If they were shooting to line that varnish line up with the base of the nut (which is what I'm guessing they intended) they missed by a good 2 or 3 mm.
The second complaint is the F holes. Mine are near pristine compared to Darrell's but that's only /near/ pristine. The varnish from the top bleeds slightly onto the binding nearly the whole way around, and the binding itself has several points where there are where if I wasn't sure this was an injection molded binding, I'd say there's a join point in some unnatural places, where there's a dark spot under the clear coat. There were also a few spots where the binding over hangs inside the cavity about a mm, but a quick pass with a hobby knife fixed that. The worst part of the F holes for me was the paint job inside them, which was a pretty patchy black. It was so bad that I taped everything else off, broke out my airbrush and a super flat black, and sprayed the inside of each of them. Now it looks nice and classy.
My third major complaint on the guitar wasn't something I noticed until I tried to mess with the pole position on the humbuckers to make them sound a little better. Apparently whoever assembled the pickups for this guitar over screwed one of the pole pieces, to the point that it was only held in place by a healthy dollop of what I assume was lubricant. I had to remove the humbucker entirely, and push the pole back into the threads before I could get it to unscrew.
Overall I'd rate it a good 4/5. I love playing it, and have probably already spent a good 100 hours or more with it in my hands in a couple months. It was well worth the ~$240 USD that I paid, but if you really don't need it right now, I'd wait until they offer $30 shipping again, as $90 was steep. My complaints are ,aside from the pickup which I fixed, minor and entirely cosmetic, and in the case of of the paint in F holes also fixed.
As a bonus review, D-120CE BK sounds okay. It's not as resonant as my Ibanez acoustic that I also have, but it's ~$100. At that price point, I'm concerned with the basics like "does it play" and "will it stay on tune reasonably" to which both answers are yes. The built in piezo pick up is functional, but doesn't impress. The fit and finish were okay. I'd have liked the bridge to have a bit more work done on it as the wood was a little rough, and the wood on the bridge was soft enough that a couple of the pins had pushed into the wood, which doesn't fill me with confidence. Also not happy with the placement of the tuner heads themselves, as the A string brushes up to the E tuner head when the E Tuner has a string on it (aka normal use). The nut is plastic, and is cut okay, but not great. The frets aren't polished, and a couple of them have a bit of fret sprout, but nothing that will hinder play. The fretboard is very open grain, which is different from any other guitar I've used. Not sure how I feel about that. The binding is minutely rough in a couple places, but overall is pretty clean. The logo on the headstock and rosary around the sound hole are iridescent, which looks lovely, except for a couple places where it's begun to chip slightly on the rosary. Impressive for ~$100, but otherwise meh.
If you are willing to risk another try, perhaps look at one of their Fusion series.
My friend has one and I have a Charvel promod dk24. Night and day difference. Charvel is so much better. To be fair, it is more money, but the Charvel addresses areas the fusion doesn’t-Seymour Duncan pickups, no load tone pot, smooth volume pot, perfect neck with zero fret issues, output Jack located perfectly. The fusion has stainless steel frets which is better, but they are not even close to as smooth as my Charvel
@@lomoholga But you cant really compare the two. The HB fusions are sub $400 budget guitars whereas Charvel's are in the same price range of the "main" guitar brands (fender, gibson etc.). For the price of the Charvel, they'd better be top quality because they are $1000+ guitars
@@uglyguyy totally correct yes. I’m
Just saying ppl need to understand they are not really getting something for nothing, nor the equivalent of more expensive gear. Honestly they are advertised as these amazing illogical steal bargains- they are simply not. For the money, they are excellent.
He has been unlucky w/ them. IDK what's up.
Ah.... But would you be willing to smash the PRS on stage? 🤪
As a HB enthousiast, I really enjoyed your review. I think you got things right and balanced here. I have to say that I haven't experienced that king of finish flaws on mines, but I guess I could have.
A friend of mine has 2 Harley Bentons - an electro-acoustic that we purchased for him for his birthday and a Les Paul type.They both arrived in super quick time and are truly excellent guitars irrespective of price - just really good quality instruments. I have been after a Bass guitar for recording with for quite some time and my my wife purchased me a Harley Benton Lefty Rickenbacker type bass and I find it great. I don’t have any experience of bass guitars but this one seems fine to me. I think that you have to speak as you find with these guitars and some of them are really good and some are pretty poor. Great Channel by the way!!
It's an obvious choice for a Canadian, but a Godin LGXT. Otherwise, a Hagstrom Super Swede would be nice for a demo.
Hagstroms are best i personally have Ultra Swede ESN, and my guitar teacher is only person selling this guitars in Czech Republic
Hagstrom viking here. Super beautiful and easy to play. Just the nut is lose and not installed sell. So one off fit and finish aside, it's a beautiful instrument.
Godin guitars are lovely - but expensive. They always seem to be just that little bit over what I'd pay for a guitar that's not that unique. There is an A6 in my future though...
I recently purchased the Hagstrom Alvar and ended up returning it. For a guitar costing slightly over 700 I was really disappointed. The F holes weren't as bad as this Harley but it was not pretty at all. The paint job was uneven throughout the whole body and the fret ends were as sharp as knives. Plus the A string would not stay in tune. Really disappointed considering all the good things I heard about Hagstrom. Plus the Neck was so sweet...nice and fast feel. But in the end it was shipped back.
@@nelsonc6173 I guess you can chalk it up to China quality control... I lucked out.. of course if I look at the F holes and the paint and smidge marks I might find reasons for disappointment... But my fretwork, tuning stability and the pickups are bitchin lol....
Hi Darrell, in Thomann’s defence.. I’ve been buying from them for a few years and I can’t fault the quality of anything I’ve purchased. I had one quality issue and the customer service was nothing short of excellent with a replacement part sent within a week. The Harley Benton range is targeted to make the expensive guitar experience available to those on a budget and the prices are very reasonable. Thanks for the excellent content as always 🤘
Genuine question: how do they look after a few years of playing? There's a video of a guy reviewing a Les Paul HB clone and he shows worn down nickel on the bridge etc. after just a few months. (Tbf, if you disregard cosmetic issues like in this video, all the reviews are very positive. The value seems insane. But still, how do you judge the durability of these guitars?)
I recently bought 2 Harley Bentons, a white explorer (Hetfield vibes) and a CST-24T in Ocean Flame. I took a chance on them as both were B-Stock items with cosmetic issues or 'slight traces of use' as the site put it. Both guitars arrived and to my surprise both were in really nice condition. The one major thing I could find on either was on the PRS clone and it was a spot of glue or some such that was caught under the finish on the top. Otherwise it's a damn pretty guitar and plays pretty nice too. But I think for the ~$500 I paid for both they were a great deal.
Love the content Darrell! Keep it up!
Hi from Spain. I enjoyed your honest and fair review. I ordered my first Harley Benton guitar ( and a single cut hard case ) 3 months ago, an SC-550 II PAF based on numerous positive reviews. Unfortunately mine arrived unplayable, the graphite nut set so high even simple chords were unplayable without intonation issues, I had this re-slotted at my cost. Then the selector switch, bridge volume and tone controls failed so I returned it for repair. When it arrived back BOTH volume and tone controls for both pick ups were not functioning so I returned it for a second time for repair. I even took the trouble to make a video for them demonstrating the problem. Last week they gave me my money back which I did not want, I told them I would be happy with any of the SC-550 II models but because I purchased a "B" stock they said they did not have one available at the price I paid of 245.00 Euro. I still do not know why they could not repair the original guitar I purchased? I asked them in the circumstances what do I do with the hard case which was perfect, and they simply said return it. Of course I incurred all the costs for the repair to the graphite nut and the travelling costs to and from my city post office three times. I have purchased a lot of other items from Thomann in the past which were excellent. I feel so strongly about this transaction that I wrote a personal letter to their managing director Johann Thomann, I will let you know if I get a reply. I have lost all confidence in buying any guitar from them in the future. You review a lot of guitars and without exception you give your honest opinion either good or bad on numerous guitars and you are a great guitarist. Kind regards, John.
I got an H.B. Jazz Bass, so something simple. It's just perfect. Absolutely nothing to find on it. You cannot ask for a piece of art to be at those prices.
I've got gibsons, fenders, epihones and harley bentons. The harley bentons all feel like epiphone in terms of quality but at half the price. Considering that I live in the Netherlands, shipping from thomann is free. and my god do I love my harley bentons.
Shipping down to Aus is more than some of their instruments!
It's a big advantage for EU customers. We can send them back. For foreign customers, it must be a crappy experience.
Having said that, 5 HB instruments later, the quality has been excellent.
It's nice to know that we can always count on you for a completely honest review, so thank you for that :-)
And I actually think the PRS looks better anyway, I'm getting kinda tired of these extreme veneers.
Its nice to see a review of these that point out that they come with flaws.
I'd love to see you review some of the All in one guitars models.
Well, the HB sounded great and a guitar in that price point could provide a platform for 75% of your learning/improving. With increased shipping costs however, HB isn't the value it once was. Aspiring to a significantly better guitar than what you learned on is a proper right of passage that shouldn't be satisfied to early in your guitar journey. Great review.
LOL... when you said "... I'll take one for the team..." really cracked me up! 🤣
Just had the CST-24T delivered to my house yesterday, which is amazing considering it was just ordered last Thursday night. So, four days to be shipped to the Chicago suburbs from Germany. Not bad at all!
This one doesn't have the f-holes. After a quick set-up (I still need to adjust the truss rod, but I don't have a screwdriver that fits the screw for the truss rod cover, so it'll get done eventually), it plays really, really well. As soon as I can adjust the truss rod, I'm putting my preferred strings on (Elixir .009's), but for now, the D'addario .010's are good enough.
The fit and finish problems yours had are non-existent. The top is pretty much flawless. The back and sides are painted in the same translucent blue paint as the flame maple top, so the grain of the mahogany shows through beautifully. The binding goes all the way up the sides of the neck, and is done very, very well, as is the binding on the body. The pickups, while darker than what I'm used to, are clear as a bell, with great articulation. The split coil option yields some great Tele tones, while in humbucking mode, it screams like a good Les Paul.
For shits and giggles, I compared it to a friend of mine's PRS SE Custom 24, and... it's close. I mean, really, really close. The PRS doesn't sound as dark or punchy, but the coil split is really weak. The action on his is a little lower than mine, but I plan to fix it soon. The PRS neck feels more comfortable to him, while the Harley Benton neck feels more comfortable to me. The top on mine is nicer, while his has the recessed knobs and is just a skosh lighter than mine. His has a rosewood fretboard and a maple neck, mine has a jatoba fretboard and a mahogany neck. So, yeah, there's some big differences, but from what I can tell, if it weren't for the crappy tuners the Harley Benton has, it would definitely hold its own against the PRS SE. I couldn't be happier with it.
By the way Darrell, most guitar companies are 'cloners.'
yes but actually no
Would you test drive a Rockabilly for me and where I can pick one up.
i mean almost every brand makes a single cut and a strat.
I get a feeling that Darryl has a hidden metal head deep inside.
Awaiting an ESP review but I know it’ll never come lol
If he didn't buy it, maybe they wouldn't have sent him a turd.
That’s because all guitarists have one...
Great unbiased video. I have looked at a model and almost purchased it, but I am left handed and options are limited as is. Every guitar I own has been a buy it to try it. Now with the review I know its not going to be what I want, and I may be better off just saving to get what I really want. I would like to see you review Eastwood classic series. More specifically the classic 6. Keep up the great content, and your great playing as well.
Just watched this review and I was amazed how honest you were which is exactly what I was hoping for..I am grateful for the review but I wondered if you could have considered maybe upgrading this guitar to some up market pickups/machines etc and maybe sorting out the defects.
I'm so on the fence on HB because it seems they have bought off every TH-cam people(besides you and about 4 other people).I saw one guy I watched a couple times over the years and was suprized he was so hard on ESPs LTD line.Well he starts talking up how good HB's are and suprize he got a signature series.Give me a break.I love how honest you are.
Harley Benton has a huge TH-cam presence
It’s the way TH-cam is now man. Ppl aren’t getting views with instructional videos nearly as much as they do by doing what are essentially advertisements for companies. It’s funny how prior generations complained about commercials getting in the way of their tv entertainment, and now the commercials ARE the entertainment
I just got a HB and mine doesn't have any of the major issues this guitar has. It plays great and the fit and finish is good.
Are you talking about Agufish? He's a huge ESP fan so I don't really understand your comment
I have 4 HB:
Strat copy (amazing, scalloped the neck and put yjm fury and it rocks)
Fusion II roasted flamed maple looks and plays killer. Had to send the first one back for an issue with the finish. Second one is gorgeous
Acoustic 12 string. It is ok, not super big on acoustic but it does its job. Can't hold tune very well but it sounds convincing
5 string stingray style bass super fun but super heavy
Overall they are very worth it in my opinion. The fusions are insane for the money
I'm constantly leaning back and forth with getting a harley benton
best to avoid them. better options out there.
I would say go for it ,I've got 3 of their different explorer copies, they are well cheap so you are getting a good guitar for hardly anything.
@@shanewalton8888 like?
@@shanewalton8888 I don't agree. I have 5 HBs and they are all very nice guitars.
Depends where you live and what you're looking for. They jacked up their shipping costs to the US, which takes away their biggest advantage to US customers - the price. Might as well just splurge a little and get a used Epi or Squier, you can probably find a good deal if you look hard enough. Lotta people starting to play also means a lot of people quitting after two weeks.
Thanks for this honest review. I personnally don't care much about the small details but it is good to show that you can't really expect a PRS fit and finish on such a low price. A semi hollow construction is much trickier to master to the perfection and on this model, it seems the factory has to fix a few things in their process. But it sounds pretty good and if it plays well, then it is a win. I bought 2 HB, ST62 and SC450+, both are pretty good but I had to do a proper fret polish and oiling the fingerboard on the SC450. Nothing dramatic in the end; I kept both and I still like them a lot. Just don't expect a perfect guitar and be ready to spend some time to refine it a bit.
I purchased an £1200 ESP from a well known guitar website in the U.K. It arrived with dirty frets. Cracked binding both sides of the locking nut where it was over tightened. A black dot on the blue and green fade finish that was enhanced by the clear coat. It was replaced within a few days and the new one looked amazing with no issues. I think if you returned it they would replace it for you with an better one. Good video. Thank you for sharing the good and the bad with us.
Does it make sense to diy pimp the Benton as a winter project ? Like: sanding and polish the frets, exchange the tuner etc. ?
I modded this guitar, a bit of fret leveling, new tuners, new bridge (fully adjustable). I also put other pickups in, but it is a pain in the a.. with this guitar.
The problem is that you can't remove the potentiometers or the switch, and there is no way you could reach any of them with a soldering iron. So I ended up cutting the wires and soldering wire to wire.
Also, when a pot fails, especially the push-pull pot, there is no way to repair it, only chance would be to route open the back of the guitar.
Other than that: love the guitar!
Good from afar, but far from good. Sounds pretty good though for the price. Would it be worth it to redo the binding in the f-hole?
I was one who chimed in and was a bit harsh. I appreciate you giving it another go. I have had 6 successful transaction's with Thomann, and have had great back and forth with numerous staff...even though i never had an issue, just chatting with them. My longest delivery time was10 days. The last order was placed on a Friday, and arrived on Wed, to Michigan. That one you got is still sub par. Holy HEll there are serious issues. I don't have ANY finish issues with the six i got. I have no explanation. I am no rookie. I have played since 1982.
I choose the models from Thomann for the pickups, the body style, the scale lengths, and the different finishes.... Not to slap some fake birds on it and make it into a $6000 instrument. I am not looking for the Gibson, Fender, PRS for a steal, i am looking for the Harley Benton.
Lucky Dog.
Hey Darrell, great video as always!
At this point you're probably put off HB for life 😂, but maybe you'd like some of their slightly higher priced models, like the Fusion-II HSH (I've heard good things about the version with a roasted maple neck).
Of course, it usually goes out of stock immediately after every restock, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for it...!
Dude you NEED to check out the fusion series. I can only find two or three good videos.
btw they got teles.
@@jadensimmons6646 He should review Wolf Guitars.
They also have teles.
Fusions are great for the money. My friend has one. They have a lot of minor issues-none of which are there in guitars that are similar (super Strats) but cost $1000 up. Honestly if you have other good gear (amp, pedals, modeling device) you really don’t need to upgrade anything. I wouldn’t bother because it is fine- and why spend on all new pickups and electronics when you could just have put the money into a more expensive guitar?
@@lomoholgaThanks for the info. I was planning to mod mine once I get it. one of those mods might be changing pickups.
@@jadensimmons6646 meh you might like the sound of the stock pickups! Probably a better choice may be to upgrade the pots/capacitors which will undoubtedly make a difference.
I have got 90% of my gear from them. It has always arrived in a timely fashion. Some guitars have come in a week and I'm in Canada. The longest anything has taken to get to me is just a bit over a month. All the guitars that have arrived and have been in mint condition. I got the flat black less Paul and it is so fantastic.
TwisTProGaming Can you give us some insight on your experience with customs? Did you have to pay gst and an import duty? Thanks for any feedback you can provide.
@@ElmerE I will be giving in depth reviews very soon on all the things that I have purchased from Thomann on my other channel think free productions.
I will at least say this.
My customer experience with Thomann has been nothing but great every time.
Canada post and UPS on the other hand have not been so great.
The outside Boxes are always in poor condition sometimes even ripped open and poorly tapped back together. I know it's not Thomann because everything in the box is not damaged or ripped open.
TwisTProGaming Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for your reviews. Appreciate the response.
@@ElmerE no problem it will be on my other channel think free productions.
That sounds like a very fair review. Thank you! I just ordered one and it will be very interesting to compare to some lawsuit Ibanez Les Pauls.
I have had my CST 24 for about 2 yrs now it is one of my favorite playing guitars i own, i have heard of Thomann customer service actually sending a new guitar and letting the customer keep the damaged or poorly finished one i wonder if they are still doing that? I would call them im sure they would work with you for the cosmetic flaws. Love your reviews Darrell thank you for very detailed reviews and awesome quality so we can see and hear what we are getting.
its b stock guitar..i actually bought one last year and it is perfect..the b stock guitars are 10-15% cheaper but like the one you just reviewed they have small imperfections..ive bought 2 harley bentons.the other being sc550 flame cherry..both perfect
Man you have REALLY bad luck with these.
I never considered them until one fell in my lap accidentally...
I saw your original video and I avoided ever considering them as a result. One day though, a friend bought a HB CST-24 Deluxe at a local auction in Toronto. He brought it over for a tune up/set up.
I was BLOWN AWAY. I fell in love with it instantly and because of that he offered to sell it to me at price which was probably 30% off MSRP. I could not believe the quality, feel and attention to detail they put into it. I always wanted a PRS but was always a nice to have not a need to have. The CST-24 Deluxe scratched that itch completely. It's probably my second most favourite guitar.
I could not find one design/esthetic issue with it except for a tiny spot level I had to do on the 23rd fret of the high-E but even that was a result of liking my action to be extremely low. Mine is also Vietnamese made.
Sorry for your poor luck. Maybe third's a charm?
-Happy HB owner.
I've had good luck with my Fusions. Great guitars.
@@jamesthreadgill7651 yeah the same friend managed to find a Fusion-T HH EB BK, he brought it over because it was clearly dropped at some point cracking some of the non-critical areas on the foot of the bolt on neck -which I managed to repair. So it can clearly take a beating. It plays like a dream too not to mention looks great.
I've got this guitar. It has similar issues on the binding around the F holes, but it's most pronounced towards the inside and I can probably sand it smooth if it starts to bother me. It's flush with the outside, so yeah the binding is too narrow. It sounds fine to me. I didn't know what a PRS was when I bought it, so I can't make that comparison, but I'm pleased with the guitar.
I bought a HB CST-24T P90(b-stock) a month ago and it plays & sounds great. The finish work isn't great(not as bad as Darrell's guitar) but I can deal with it's several cosmetic flaws at this price. I really like the roasted jatoba fingerboard, it's very smooth.
Harley Benton is hit and miss. Considering how they jacked up their shipping prices, there are better options out there.
I think they do a lot better with their Tele and Strat copies. The Fusions are really nice. It pays to look carefully at the reviews. The CSTs have been problematic.
Yeah, that's what's kept me from pulling the trigger. The shipping is outrageous.
@@DJBuglip It used to be reasonable, but now it doesn't make sense. Order locally a Gretch or an Ibanez Artcore. Sweetwater has Artcores for under $400
We don't have this kind of problem over here in Europe haha
All guitars in the HB price range are hit and miss. That's why they are this price. Not saying they aren't good value, they are really good value. It's just that these 'good value' guitars get hyped and because of it some people start to think they offer the same value as a more expensive (known brand) guitar of the same type. Like Darrell I have never experienced that to be the case. I enjoy my HB guitar a lot, but it will never compete with a guitar double the price - obviously.
It would be cool to see you review AIO Wolf guitars, they have PRS style guitars. Would love to see a review of them.
guitarmax covers a lot of those.
they are great guitars..aio do a fantastic pro set up them..
Bought the Spalted Maple FF338 after watching your recent video. Glad I jumped on it before it was gone, it looks & plays great. Thanks for the heads up.
Thank you for making this video. It is really important to see what these instruments are in reality. The online marketing ploy HB has pulling has been really successful, but any one of their instruments I've tried felt cheap in most areas. They are good for the money, but when people start telling they're on par with Korean made instruments I just wanna pull my hair out. Not even on par with chinese Epis, tbh. These are budget instruments for people who are starting out or want an nth guitar for whatever purpose.
One thing you gotta hand HB: pickups are great, especially for the price.
Looks like my private stock prs that only exists in my head😭😭
Good work DB. Hey if you don’t wanna keep that guitar, I happen to know a guy who sold his guitar to pay for my kids (ahem I mean his kids) Christmas LOL
Darryl, thanks for the thorough review. Steller as always. Would love to see you take a hard look at Michael Kelly's stuff. Especially the hybrid line! Keep on rockin!
Brilliant guitars I’ve got a tele 52 ...it’s heavy but..
It looks great feels great and plays fantastic ..I love it 🎸