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!!!

So i have owned this guitar for years now and i often play it iv modded it to look like the Mike Shinoda Black and white Meteora guitar (linkin Park) once it had a fret level and full setup its up there with my fave guitars to play its a keeper

the pickups are fine sounds great mine are uncovered now tho!!......and adding locking tuners and an adjustable bridge was necessary for drop tuning but the stock parts are fine if you're in standard tuning

i love this thing that much Im tempted to buy a second to do my own custom paint job and interesting hardware


set up out of the box 5/10 the frets weren't level was buzzing needed some TLC but that's OK i knew that going in.
so sound id rate this for the price 9/10 doesn't need pickups changing its lovely
visually looks (before i painted it) lovely black calve top 10/10 (id give mine a 20/10 after my paint job wish i could add picture here ;(

I've had it for a few years now. Firstly, expect to get backpain with this one because it's heavy - great wood I guess?

Pros
Fixed bridge with a selected piece for intonation.
10 and 11 gauge strings sound amazing on this one
you can go from blues to metal in an instant
the push/pull function for coil split
the sound is as full as it can be, very rich and warm
stays in tune!!

Cons
gets heavy if you're playing standing up for long periods of time
the finish isn't perfect, specially with the outline
I recon newer models aren't made with rosewood which can be a preference for some

I own a PRS McCarty and Hamer CSPS/FM.

PROs:
1) This guitar is pretty nicely built.
2) I was surprised to find that it's shielded against electromagnetic fields.
3) Looks and sounds good.

CONs:
1) the wood is very bright, it's not the same mahogany that I see on other my guitars.
2) the strap holder is connected with two very thin screws.
3) roasted jatoba fretboard feel weird at first, but I guess it's not a big problem.

Overall, would I trade my PRS for it? No.
Is this a cool guitar that I enjoy playing? Yes.

This is my 4th Harley Benton guitar, the previous 3 have been incredible value for money and this one is no different.

The specification is similar to a PRS SE guitar: wide neck with what I would call a medium thickness, 25" scale, dual humbuckers, mahogany body with maple cap and black gloss finish with wood grain binding.

I bought this guitar mainly for the 25" scale which allows you to down-tune while still remaining tight and responsive.

It arrived with a few blemishes in the finish and a very dry fret-board which soon moistened up from my fingers once played. It came set-up nice and low and has stayed that way upon installing my own Elixer strings (09-52). The compensated bridge although not entirely adjustable can be tweaked forward or back and intonates well when set-up.

This guitar is very thick sounding and sonically reminds me of an Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty that a friend owns.

The only real issue I've had is that the B string can buzz against the frets when struck hard. Normally this is an easy fix. However, because this guitar features a PRS style compensated bridge you cannot change the height of a string individually. So the only way to fix this would be to raise the entire bridge, therefore raising the action which I wasn't prepared to do. So I have just lived with it as it is not audible through an amp.

At this price point, the only competitors rivaling this guitar are other Harley Bentons. If you want a guitar that looks this classy and has a branded name it's going to cost in excess of £500. The one thing I would change is to give it a normal bridge with a whammy bar, as individual string adjustment would be a great feature.

I am intermediate learner, playing along rock and pop tracks at home.
This guitar looks stunningly beautiful and elegant!
It came set up to be usable, but action was high - more like acoustic. Intonation on 12th fret was slightly off.
reasonably stable tuners, nice sounding pick-ups (my instructor uses PaulReedSmith guitar which sounds full, weighty, warm, awesome). CST24 does not sound quite like PR S. but with humbucker and split coil option produces a great variety of tones for all styles of music. (Perhaps needless to say, but This PRSish type guitar will not sound quite like Strat or LP. If you want one of those sounds, go for that type of guitar).
Quality: the guitar seems to be really nicely made and finished, very good looking, without a blemish. All parts feel solid and work well, and it should last and be reliable.
But, It needs a bit of setting up of action to be easier to play. Also, lower action gives fret-buzz and you lose some high notes.
I think that this guitar is a reasonable value for money, usable straight out of the box, but can be much better than price-tag with bit of work.