Harley Benton ST-62BK Hot Rod

This is my first purchase from Thomann. I was intrigued by the good reviews and the attractive price. The presence of a humbacker in the bridge was a nice bonus. And so the deal took place. The guitar was delivered perfectly packed and undamaged.
First impressions: Out of the box, as a whole, you can play, but it's better to bring some things to condition.
Neck: The fingerboard was not black, but the color of a dusty brick. Neck, matt varnish (glossy varnish in the photo). Closer to the heel of the bar, the rounding ends too early and you land on a flat board. Not nice. The frets are good, hardly scratched, but the edges can be sanded a little. The neck is perfectly flat, the tuning is excellent in frets. The tuners hold well, tune well, smoothly. The bone is plastic, neat, but the grooves for the strings are a little sloppy and deep. Fitting the neck into the groove of the deck is ideal.
BODY: Painted and polished perfectly. The pickguard is installed precisely, covered with two layers of protective film. I didn’t like the fact that “sharp transitions” were felt on the smooth edges at the ends. But these are trifles.
SOUND: Similar to a Stratocaster, but not with a bridge pickup. This hot pepper "yells" like a victim! ;). The electronics work fine, crisp and smooth. But the noise is a little higher than we would like.
ELECTRONICS: I opened it and understood, I need to work. The wires are too long. Pickups: Neck 5.5k; Mid 5.96k; Bridge 22.5k. And that's bad. At 250K volume, the bridge sounds dull. It is better to connect the coils in parallel and this will be a great solution in 5.86k. I redid it, the result is excellent.
TREMOLO: Like a normal tremolo. ;) With all the flaws, the sharp edges of the screws in the saddles. "Keel" from silumin, steel lever will quickly ruin the thread.
And one more unpleasant moment for me. Having carefully studied the website and compared the two models ST-62 BK and ST-62 Hot Rod, I came to the conclusion that Thomann sent me a hybrid guitar. It is assembled from two: (ST-62ВК) on which a pickguard with pickups from ST-62BK Hot Rod was installed. This is indicated by the color and shape of the neck, the buttons for the belt, the back cover, like the ST-62BK. I lost the desire to buy something here ...
Perhaps that's all. Maybe someone will come in handy. Enjoy the shopping!

OK, first a little backstory.
A few years ago I bought the regular ST 62.
I was very disappointed due to the fact that the pick ups were misaligned, pickup selector was bent , it felt cheap and I had to let it go because quality was not standard.

However I decided to take another chance since I bought another Harley Benton guitar which was really great and a friend of mine has a few also which are very good indeed. So I ended up buying the same model only in a hot rod version. And let me tell you I am not disappointed at all. This time it is a Smash Hit.

The pick ups sound very decent for the price, the finish is outstanding, the tuners hold up and guitar stays in tune quite well, the plastic on the pick guard which often on cheaper is impossible to get off was very easy to remove.

It just looks great. It's very comfortable to play at least for the price taken into consideration. However my biggest surprise was the neck. On the website it looks like a glossy neck. But on this guitar it is more like a satin finish and, here is the real bonus, it almost looks like it's a roasted maple neck. It has a very distinct color and looks awesome. If Thomanns website had listed roasted maple neck under the featured section I would have believed it.

Another cool factor is the logo on the headstock. With a nice gold shine It reminds me of the logo on Ibanez prestige model.

It also comes with a cable, Allen wrench which is really neatly and nicely packed in a little pouch.

The only negative thing I can say is that the tremolo arm doesn't really work very well. But, a good luthier would probably be able to set it up. I am sure that is possible if you wanted to use it.
I paid 1200 Danish crowns in total including an extra set of strings but I want to put this in perspective for you guys in the states. It's an amazing bargain. Thats approximately $180!

Whether you are looking for your first guitar, a guitar to teach on, a guitar to mod further, or to use in live settings, you can't go wrong with this one if its in as old shape as the one I received .

Get it while supplies last .

Rock on Thomann! And Harley Benton .

BE AWARE: If you are in the US (not sure about other countries outside Europe) and you buy one of these guitars inexpensive guitars and something is wrong with them YOU will have to pay the return shipping in order to get a refund ($80.00 in my case).

I bought the Harley Benton ST-62BK Hot Rod. I had looked a several videos such as the one from Guitar Max, and in none of them mentioned that it is a split coil guitar. It was in the specs on the Thomann site, but I didn't catch that it was a feature, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a feature.

I played it for a day or so, and after using the split coil a couple of times, the Roswell Hot Rail humbucker totally quit working. I sent Thomann an email and they asked me to send a video of the problem, which I did.

Then, they asked me to take it to a local guitar shop to get it looked at to determine the problem. The luthier looked at it and determined that the humbucker was dead and needed to be replaced. I sent them his invoice and diagnosis. They then responded that they would provide a replacement pickup. When I got the pickup, it was not a Roswell Hot Rail humbucker, instead it was a single coil pickup. I sent took it to the luthier and he put the new one in. When I sent his invoice to install the pickup, the Thomann said that I must have misunderstood, they would not pay for him to install the new pickup.

I ended up just buying a Seymour Duncan JB JR and had him install it.

So, the long and short of it is that if you buy an inexpensive $135 guitar from them, and something is wrong with them, you can expect very little in the way of customer service from Thomann. Not sure if I'll buy anything else from Thomann. I have bought several guitars from them, and spent upwards to $1000 between the other gutars and this one, but I will think long and hard before buying another from them.

The guitar is really hot and even much more interesting in some features compared with the expections. The pickups sound amazingly. The playability is much more comfort in comparison with standart HB series such as my ST20. Thus, the neck is a bit thicker, the tuners are quite good and maintain the tunning even when using the tremolo system actively, the trem system itself is very comfort and the arm can be fixed in any position. Concerning the exterior, the guitar is really beautiful and it looks much more beautiful than the pictures on the site show.

Lacks:
1) there is no push/pull: coil split as it is claimed by Thomann
2) the input nest is screwed with a gap between it and the body
Perhaps, there are more lacks but I hope there is no more because generally I am fond of this guitar! It is very versatile and can be used for a wide range of styles.

Ok so right off the bat, the problems: It's really lightweight. Enough to maybe affect tone and sustain if you notice subtle nuances like that in tonewoods. Personally, I'm deaf.
The tremolo tends to knock it out of tune pretty quickly. I'll replace the butterfly string guides with something more suitable.

that's about it. I'm not a fan of the lighter fretboard wood, but a little Fiebings dye will turn that around if it becomes so unbearable. Otherwise I am FLOORED they were able to fit this much into this price point.
The caramelized maple neck has a satiny smooth finish that is a pleasure to play. The body is slightly smaller than a proper Strat, but honestly that works in its favor with it being light.

The pickups have that singular Strat jangle that I was looking for, and the hot rail is the perfect thing for those that still want to have that strat single coil in the bridge sound as an option.

I will be ordering many more Harley Bentons in the future.

For Harley Benton guitars, we all know that you get a lot for your money, you just have to be a little lucky to come across a good piece. Because quality control isn't the best - and it's not just Harley Benton guitars. Many other companies face the same problems.

The guitar looks great, I can't find any flaws anywhere. It can be seen from the tuners, that they are not really the best. As for the pickups, I was positively surprised because they sound quite well. Especially the humbucker is very good (and quite highoutput). The only thing I have to point out is the overall setup. Extremely bad setup on the guitar. When the luthier sets up my guitar properly, I daresay it will be a great guitar - especially considering the ridiculously low price.

I decided to give it a 5 stars overall, because for the money you get a really great instrument.