Harley Benton CST-24T Black Cherry Flame

I wish guitars had this quality when I began playing In the early 2000's. For the amount you pay on this model, a set neck, roswell pickups, wilkinson bridge, coil tap etc you get a decently fair guitar and at this price It's actually excellent.

There's a few very minor stratches or scuffs on the very bottom of the fret board, pickup guards and where the strings go through the bottom of the guitar but again at under 200 quid, It's excellent, plays well (nothing special) but good enough and nicely too, the trem system is a bit tight out the box but I don't use that much anyway.

A guitar at under £200, with lovely aesthetics and good playability and great features is a steal. It doesn't feel cheap at all and can't wait to fully set it up to how I like and get a real feel for it, might install some lock in tuners as is my preference.

After a month or so of use I hard tailed the bridge, installed locking tuners and also replaced the nut, small mods that have turned this guitar into a very tightly and consistently tuned instrument and also improved sustain and tone instantly. I am really impressed and I can't put the guitar down...love the pickups, unique and characteristic in certain sounds.

I was surprised by the quality of this guitar particularly the neck although mine came with some headstock damage which they discounted for , and 3 frets were filed poorly overall I love this neck . I thinks if this came with jumbo frets it would be my favorite guitar of all.
I own 5 guitars that list from $1500 to $4,200 this guitar holds it own . as a disclaimer I have to say I replaced the pickups and the pots. but it sounded very good with the stock parts I am just very pickey about the sound. P.S I am 72 years old and have been a professional musician most of my life, 15 years on the road with varous bands some famous and some not

Bought this guitar because of the praising reviews on the internet and I must say I am really impressed buy this ¤222 guitar.
The body has some minor laquer flaws at the binding and on the high frets there are 3 or 4 fret ends which are not filed down. Filed these frets myself, no big deal.
Pick-up rings were gaping a little, screws were tightened too much and the srew holes in the rings were slightly too small. Used a drill to open them a bit more.
Body:
- nice weight
- neck profile ok
The hardware:
- the Wilkinson trem works really well
- tuners are nothing special, I would have liked locking ones.
- pots work fine, again nothing special
Pickups are the Roswell ones, I like the sound: no muddiness, clearly defined, mid/high gain output. Coil split works really nice and cleans up the sound, though you lose a little volume.

All in all I am impressed by this HB, it looks, sounds and plays really nice. My favourite guitar used to be my heavily modded Epi LP, but now the HB is my go to one.

I'll tell you something. This is a pretty good guitar, especially for the price. Advantages: Wilkinson bridge, nice sounding pickups with split coils, mahogany neck and body, maple top, nice lacquer. The instrument sounds similar to the guitars from which it was cloned. Cons: a little careless finish. The screws used to attach the tremolo springs had to be replaced. The tuning machineheads don't keep tuning when using the tremolo and should be replaced to locking tuners. After unscrewing the headstock cover, a tiny piece of lacquer dropped off and it does not look nice. The frets requires minimal leveling and polishing, a buzz detected after adjustment of the strings action. Still, I'm happy with this guitar. Requires a bit of additional care and should be ok. Thomann should really think about applying locking tuners in these guitars and improve the quality of the finish, even if it was to raise the price a little. I hope this help.

The Harley Benton CST-2T is my first ever HB, but definitely not my last.
After watching some reviews on YouTube, I expected this to sound a feel great. And I can honestly say I wasn't disappointed.
The pickups deliver a great clean tone eve through my digital Roland Cube, except for the bridge pickup on itself. When you start to add some distortion, it sounds just great. For my surprise, the Black Cherry Flame model came with coil split, which is...enjoyable.
Intonation-wise, the guitar came with a very low action and nearly perfect intonation. The tuners are very precise and hold tuning quite well, even when you start using the tremolo.
Finally, the guitar looks great with the flamed maple top, and very close to an actual PRS .
This guitar would be recommended for those who want a good guitar - enough for small gigs - with a short budget.
So I definitely recommend this product from Harley Benton, which comes at a very affordable price and a great shipping quality.


Pros: Looks; Sound; Intonation; Price
Cons: Heavy Weight(for someone who?s used to a strat); some ? rare - detunning caused by heavy use of the tremolo.