Harley Benton ST-62 VW Vintage Series

OK, its Eu111 (£79) so its not going to be a Fender CS Strat but it IS surprisingly good for the money. Clearly styled around the early 60's Strats, its a good looking instrument. Straight out of the box it presented no cosmetic faults whatsoever. It comes with an 'accessory pack' of truss rod and bridge adusting allen keys, a "throwaway" short, cheap and nasty 1/4" mono jack lead, and the tremolo (vibrato) arm. This model is called "Vintage White" but is really light cream, just as Oly White might become after many years. Its a thick plastic paint coat which hopefully will wear well. So I expected quite a dull body tone acoustically but the Basswood body is quite reasonably resonant. It's fitted with branded Wilkinson 60's style single coil Alnico pickups, standard Strat controls and 5 way switch. Lifting the scratchplate reveals fairly cheap pots and blade switch (what do you expect for Eu111?) but for the moment everything works as it should with little "noise" - and I work right in front of the monitor. The bridge is a mock-60's no-name with pressed steel saddles. As supplied, its hard-tailed - flat to the body - but it's only a few minutes work to loosen the claw and bridge screws sufficiently to give a 2.5 to 3mm float. The 3 springs supplied do allow tuning to return to normal after use. Serious dive-bombing does knock the tuning out however. The worst thing about the bridge, and about the guitar in total is the positively awful zinc trem block. It's small and the internal screw thread for the arm is SO slack that it actually rattles unless it is wound in tight, which defeats the object. Whatever tolerance it has been tapped to is a very poor one. Time to get out the PTFE tape! The scratchplate is a 3 ply 11 screw mock-tortoiseshell one. 3 ply torty on a 62 Strat? Dont think so! The edge finish was very good and I thought it was very pretty. Neck pocket wasnt a 'precision fit' but wasn't at all bad and I've seen worse on 'real' Fenders.
The neck is 22 frets (excellent idea) Canadian Maple (that's Pine to you and me) with a rosewood topping and medium jumbo frets. No skunk stripe so the adjustable truss rod was inserted prior to being capped. Kluson type no name tuners keep tune reasonably well. Two string trees which I may experiment with the removal of to remove friction points. Fret dressing was good, no sharp edges or loose frets etc. The neck is a C profile and 13.75" radius fretboard so quite flat compared to some but very playable. Not hugely struck on the poly varnished neck (prefer satin myself) but it does not get sticky so its a personal thing.
Came with 9's D'Addario's which sounded OK but were like playing elastic so were replaced with Elixir 11's.
Sounds? For Eu111 ((£79) it gives a good account of itself IMO. (Tested through a Vox AC30 twin cab). ALL the pickups are a little 'brighter' than I expected, the Bridge having quite some 'bite' that I had to tone down with amp EQ. Neck pickup is nicely rounded but to my ears didn't quite have the depth on the top 3 strings. Roll off the tone, run a bit, or even a lot, of Overdrive and its an instant Blues guitar. Very impressive for a cheap Axe. Middle is a good general purpose pickup, quite warm and also good when driven into a compressor and OD pedal for some crunch. Bridge is wonderfully twangy at the bottom end but a bit brittle on the top two strings, especially if you're working above 12th fret. I'm sure I will find an amp setting that helps in this regard. Its great for RocknRoll. The in between 'quack' settings can give you Tele type tones or Mark Knopfler too.
Apart from the terrible zinc trem block in the obviously low spec bridge unit, the general and overall quality level, playability and the sounds you can get from this guitar exceeded my expectations. By a LOT!! How Thomann can do it for the money beats me!

First off, i have to admit that i ordered this guitar simply because i saw how cheap the price tag was.. And i loved the look of the vintage white colour.

Considering it was inexpensive, i wasn't expecting it to be all that great.

How wrong was I!

This guitar has a lovely maple neck with a pretty smooth rosewood slab board (not a cheaper thin veneer board!).

The neck shape is definitely not a slim or small neck. I'd say it's a medium to large C shape neck. Definitely a thicker and wider neck than my Charvel San Dimas guitars. Comfortable though! It's lacquered and shiny, but doesn't feel sticky.

Fret wire was all solid and level but a little dull looking upon arrival, but honestly.. at this price point i wasn't expecting them to be gleaming and shiny. I was totally fine with giving them a quick scrub using some 00000 grade wire wool, takes 5 mins and it did the job great!

The guitar is nice and lightweight, and it's actually very resonant. Harmonics fly out of this thing. Sustain is very impressive too!

The pickups sound very fat, i'd say they're probably overwound singlecoils. The in between positions (2 + 4) still get that glassy tone that we all know and love.

I can get some very convincing SRV and Hendrix tones using this guitar, but also it'll do the heavier sounds effortlessly. Yngwie and Blackmore tones are easy to cop with this guitar!

Hardware all seems solid, it has vintage Kluson style tuners which hold stable. Bridge seems pretty solid so far too.

Overall, i think this is an excellent guitar. Not just for the price, but generally! I own many other nice guitars from higher end brands, but I'll be using this guitar plenty for sure.

If you're not sure, i say just give it a shot and try one! For the price, it's really a no brainer!

I had read the reviews about these Harley Benton Stratocasters on the Thomann website and all the reviews seemed to be either glowing or at the very least favourable. Looking further afield I ventured onto youtube and yet again found mostly either glowing or favourable reviews. This made me curious. The Harley Benton guitars are cheap...so cheap that they can't possibly be that good! Can They?

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to buy one, just to see for myself how good (or bad) these guitars are.

I got an interesting cream coloured one. I wanted a black one but that was on back order and I couldn't wait.

My cream ST-62 arrived very promptly, well packed and in one piece. That's a good start.

Before playing I inspected the guitar really carefully. What was the finish like? It was good, very good, flawless in fact!
The neck and the body are flawless (now I do know that this is not the case withal Harley Benton guitars as I have tried others, often they have minor flaws to the finish, but not this one). The only problem I found with the cosmetic appearance of the guitar was the cheap and badly cut scratchplate. It wasn't too badly cut, but it wasn't spot on either, some of the edges were a bit uneven here and there. This is a shame. I wouldn't send it back because of the scratchplate, but I think others have commented similarly and so I'd say to Thomann 'get that issue sorted'.

So, so far so good (apart from that scratchplate). Next to plug it in. Out of the box the guitar was fairly well set up. The action was slightly high for me, but just a tad. The intonation was mostly there are there abouts. I made a few minor changes and the guitar was more to my liking. Very good. So, onto plugging it in. This is where it got interesting...The Harley Benton had real punch and bite and a nice range and variation to each pick up. Not only this but the Harley Benton ST-62 is probably one of the quietest strats I have ever played in terms of hum from the pickups (there was virtually non-amazing!!).

The hardware is fine. Not the best (obviously at this price) but the guitar stays in tune pretty well. The wood is basswood, so again this will put some people off. It shouldn't. This guitar is better than guitars at three or four times the price. I'm not going to compare this guitar to others. Having played many strats over the years (and as the owner of 'real' Fenders) I am prepared to say that the Harley Benton ST-62 is as good a copy as you will find. With a few modifications it could be even better. I'll keep mine and try it in a few recordings. An extra bonus is that at this price you don't have to worry about knocking it around!

I was given my first guitar 31 years ago, and over that time I've owned a number of fender strat style guitars, and the times when I didn't have one I always missed the warm tones and comfortable feel. For me the strat, with it's particular features, the 5 way switch, out of phase sounds and tremolo that begged to be used but always takes your strings out of tune - these things always give me a warm feeling.

I've been without a strat or strat copy for some time, after moving to a Les Paul and a 335. I fancied a new one to noodle around on and play some Jimi style so I ordered this Harley Benton without thinking it would be that great. It arrived in 3 days, well packaged and safe with no dents or damage.

The guitar has a lovely finish, the action was a little high for me but easily corrected. THe intonation was spot on (the notes on the 12th fret were in tune with the open strings). The trem wasn't set up properly as the spring adjustments were screwed in all the way and the pivot screws were also screwed down tight. I set the guitar up and also lemon oiled the fretboard which was a little dry.

These are all minor things and something I do with every guitar I buy. THe strings were in good condition and didn't need changing, which is also something I usually do when buying a new guitar.

There is no fret buzz, all frets are smooth to play, no rough edges although I think I will polish them when I change the strings (again something I always do)

The scratchplate (plastic that hold the pickups and dials) wasn't cut perfectly and there were a couple of very minor flaws with it, but you'd need to look very closely and be very picky to notice them.

The tuners are ok and don't jump or lose tuning, although I may replace them one day, probably won't bother as they are good enough.

Sound is pretty lovely, especially cranked up and through a wah peddle. All in all I'm very happy, plays great and fast, feels good (good weight), stays in tune and works!

For this low price I'm amazed, really good guitar for the money. THanks for a lovely addition to my collection!

Not my first Harley Benton, already rated them as great practice/chilling/modifying guitars. Bought this one to leave lying around the house to jam and noodle on. Did not expect it to take the front spot in my guitar rack... now I need another one for leaving around the house!

Absolutely fabulous guitar to hear, pickups are punchy and lively, really the classic tone. Through a hot and overdriven 6V6 amp you get that real "Texas" sound, but it cleans up nicely too for some shimmering fusion or jangly indie riffs just as well.

Quality of the parts is good, very good even. Switch and pots are sturdy, the bridge is reasonable, tuners are a great vintage look and although there's the occasional dead spot I'm keeping them as-is to maintain the overall look and feel.

Perhaps not the most obvious of colour schemes - off-white with a tort guard and "rosewood" (Pau Ferro) neck, but it's really grown on me. The amber tint of the neck is well executed and makes this guitar look like it's several price brackets up compared to its similar-cost competitors.

A few other good tweaks - whilst most people will just pull it off, the slotted spring cover on the reverse allows for a great out-of-the box compromise between fast adjustment of the bridge and not getting things like clothes caught on the springs.

Also very lightweight but without sounding thin as a result - I could play this for hours (and I do!). Very easy player and holds its own against more expensive models.

Negative points for me primarily come from the fretboard. In fact, pretty much exclusively so. The wood was exceptionally dry (which I expect and was sorted quickly), but also the frets were very, very dull to the point of being overtly scratchy for bending. Likewise, the fretboard radius is flat, much flatter than most S-type guitars, somewhere around the 14" mark rather than even the more "modern" 9 of most guitars in this style, let alone the original 7.25".

Best points: sound, neck feel, weight, price.
Even Better If: Fretboard radius was smaller, frets were polished.

What's going on? because I really can't get it... the body is lightweight basswood, really light, neck is slim and FAST. so comfortable. and the pickups are great! really surprised me alot. sounds so stratty! its enough for me without any mods. all of this for 100 EURO?! honestly, I can't believe this. I ordered many HB guitars, but by now, while all of them are great, this one is my favorite!
btw, best of all, Thomann won the headstock challenge. when designing ST style guitars, the headstock shape always falls short. HB managed to design one that's nicer than any other brand. that includes Fender! way to go guys.

I have only good things to day about this guitar. Sounds great, stays in tune like a champ and is super nice to play. First thing I noticed when I unpacked the guitar was how comfterbale the neck is and how good it feels in the hand. Sure this is a personal preferance but for me it was just right. I bought the guitar like many just because I wanted a Strat to try out and did not want to pay brand name prices. During the years I have owned about 10 guitars from various brands. And this one is one of my favs, this one is the guitar I tend to pick up and play the most these days. For the last few shows I have been using this one as my main guitar or a back up to my Gibson SG. Only negative point was that the string hight was set way to high, almost unplayable for me. But that is something I can live with for the price. A trip to the guitar doctor and now she sings.
It is hard to belive what quality gear harley benton is putting out when they ask for so little in return.

The neck on this guitar is a satin finish. The fingerboard is Pau Ferro which is a fingerboard wood normally used on high priced instruments. I once had a SRV signature and a Custom shop set-net Tele and they had Pau ferro boards. How Thomann can afford to use it on guitars at this price point is a mystery to me. The neck feels very good.
The white finish is variously described as Vintage White or Cream. In fact in cold (blue/daylight) it appears as pale yellow. In warm (reddish) artificial light it appears pale pink. I think it would look good on stage whatever light they put on it!
The headstock has changed over earlier HB "strat" headstocks. It no longer has a long "tongue" at the top as the right hand edge is longer before the right turn. It is still clearly not a Fender scroll but it does look better than earlier ST-62's etc.
The instrument came intonated with a playable action although with the trem hard down. I will set it to float later. All electric functions worked correctly.
I have had several Harley Benton guitars and I am embarrassed to realise that I have failed to comment on Thomann service in any of my reviews. This guitar arrived in 4 working days from Germany to the UK. ( I ordered on a Friday evening and it arrived on the following Thursday.) It was in perfect condition. In fact this level of service is normal from Thomann in my experience.

So I recently bought a harley benton st-90sa (the ash version of this model) and I was so impressed I just had to get another one. Because what's better than one strat? Two strats!

The guitar arrived and when I opened it I was a bit surprised. It looks a bit different from the pictures.

First of all: it has a satin finished neck. I prefer this over glossy, so that's nice! Secondly: it has a lighter fretboard. That I could have guessed since the specs say its pau ferro, which in general is a bit lighter than Rosewood. The box says st-62vw rw. Where the rw could stand for Rosewood, but I definitely think its pau ferro.

It needed a bit of a setup. So relief of the neck and it needed a shim in the pocket. The action out of the box was 2.1mm and it was buzzing. It had me worried for a minute, but after I added the shim and adjusted the relief all buzzing disappeared. It now has 2mm action low e and 1.5mm high e.

I applied lots of fretboard oil (crimson) because the board was rather dry. All good, for this price you should expect these kinds of things. Also I like fiddling with guitars so it's actually a bonus for me.

I removed the pickguard to see the electronics. Every looks neat. It has FULL SIZE POTS. Amazing at this price point. They appear to be alpha style pots. The tone pots are double capped with .47 capacitors. I need to replace this with one .22. Just personal preference.

It has a cheap switch (although it works fine) and that needs to be replaced with an oak grigsby.

The tremolo block is really thin. I've never seen one this bloody thin :D. So that needs to be replaced. There is a fender tremolo on the market for about 30 euro that should be a direct fit and has a full size (zinc) trem block.

The neck feels amazing, no sharp fret ends and a few high frets on the board, but as I mentioned it has fine action with no buzzing so it's not an issue. It plays very nice.

This guitar costs 120 euro. 120 euro. I can't understand how this is possible. I had a squier classic vibe stratocaster before and really the st-62 is finished just as nice. Sure, the fretboard radius is flatter and the contours of the strat body aren't exactly like fender but who really cares? If it feels great and it plays great it must be great!