Harley Benton ST-62MN SB Vintage Series

I bought this guitar almost on a whim: saw a couple of very favorable reviews, etc, needed a strat for recording purposes, finally got this, was very low on funds. I have been playing guitar for over 10 years as a band member, as a session player, etc, had my fair share of expensive stuff, at this time just happened to need a strat relatively quickly, and only had a tele and a les paul, which didn't fit the job. Was I surprised.. First of all, the guitar was in tune right out the box (albeit the slightly sharp high E string). The finish looks great, way better than on the photos. The guitar itself is pretty light, just about right for a strat. The neck is, well, not too slim, but not too fat as well, feels like a MIM Fender strat neck, almost identical. Freatboard finish is spectacular, no blemishes, high polish and all. Now the good stuff. I was worried about bad frets/warped neck/electronics/tremolo. None of these things are bad in any way. All it needs is a proper set up (And what I mean by that is , obviously everyone likes a certain set up for a guitar, so it can't be perfect for everyone, I like a floating bridge, a two spring setup, angled claw and so on), after that, it plays like a dream. The pickpus are nice, jangly, just as a strat should be. You'd have to be insane to complain about this guitar, would recommend to anyone looking for a decent strat. Only thing that it needs is a setup according to personal specifications, after that, it's a spectacular piece of equipment. (P.S - When set up right, ya can dive bomb it for a half an hour and it doesn't go out of tune, I was quite pleasantly surprised).

UPDATE:
Okay, it has SOME issues, of which ALL are fixable without much hassle. The issues that mine has are - some frets aren't fully set into the fretboard, which makes them stick out just that much, AND makes some strings at two or three positions buzz. While this is a very low maintenance job, it's still a little annoying, as everything else works perfectly (well, change the string trees, unless You never bend. then again, every strat with non-roller string trees has this problem.) and this seems as such a silly thing to miss. I've carefully set the frets fully into the neck, and now it plays great, but just a word of warning - when buying this, I mean, even with these issues, it's still a complete steal! Sounds great, the tremolo works fine, the finish is fantastic, the neck is comfortable and smooth, even the electronics are absolutely fine.

UPDATE No.2:
I've had it now for four years, so here's my recap. Everything is still working, the neck has been sanded down to a silkier feel, the wiring was resoldered to a different configuration, but as it stands it is still fully original and in working order. It survived gigging, bad conditions, etc. The only thing that went wrong with it is the tremolo arm - it broke off inside, due to me abusing (aka diving till I hit the scratchplate) it all the time during a certain song. (YES it keeps tune if You set it up properly, did it during live shows!) That and the ruined thread of the trem block is sad news, but having in mind my somewhat violent playing, I guess it was to be expected. Even so, it broke only recently, so it was able to whitstand three and a half years of abuse. Overall - fantastic guitar, worth every penny.

Amateur player. Country Greece.
My check cleared 4/8, received the package 17/8, a little bit late for a European country.
Some external damage to the package but no internal to the goods delivered.
The guitar's color and finish are perfect, body wood selection not so great, 3 pieces glued together with many wood flaws obvious under the nice finish, pity, it could have been a perfect high end looking, sun burst Stratocaster.
Neck is very nice with level freds that need a little polishing TLC specially to the sides.
The guitar came more or less tuned, but with high action that was set very easy from the bridge adjustment. Nut plastic low quality, a bit off center it will be replaced with a good one and centered.
Tuners a bit stiff probably need some lubrication but they keep up.
Pick guard well set but after of just five minutes playing was full of scratches.
Selection switch nice and two tone knobs that function properly and deliver what they are supposed to deliver ie tone change.
The guitar plays nice feels and sounds nice as well, typical Stratocaster sound, according to its price range expectations and above.
Generally a pleasant experience, but being amazed from my other HB a fusion II Tele style with hum backers and splitting coils, kind I got disappointed or better said earthed.
It seems like higher price HB guitars offer a lot more and lower price HB's offer just more.

I bought this guitar and a few others to check out the Harley Benton brand. This is probably the best of the ones I bought. I did not expect a lot for the price that I payed for it and the guitar was way better than I hoped. I have owned the guitar over two and a half years now and I still feel extremely satisfied every time I pick it up.

This guitar is a great alternative to a bigger brand that creates a similar guitar. I had a few of them over the years and I will rate this one over the 3 Fender strats that I had who was made in Mexico. I will put it between the Mexico and Japan made when it comes to quality and sound.

When it comes to playability I really love the neck of this guitar. I have quite big hands and I often feel the guitar necks are just to small and skinny for me. This one got a proper neck with a c shape that fits my hands perfect. I would not recommend it to people with small hands but if you like a bit bigger necks I would try this one out.
The neck feels good and there is no sharp fret ends. The frets are also well leveled so there are not fret buzz anywhere on the neck, even with very low action.

The sound of this guitar is really nice. The alnico 5 pickups makes it sound like a strat should and in my opinion it is sounding at least as good (if not better) as the Mexico made Fender.

The tuners and hardware of the guitar does the job. I have blocked my trem system since I never use it, so I can't say anything about that part.
The tuners is not great quality, but the guitar stays in tune and that is good enough for me.

To sum it up I will say that this is in my opinion the best strat type guitar for the money. I usually keep my guitars for a year or two before I sell them on, but this one is not going anywhere. This one is a keeper!

This guitar was so bad I had to send it back. There was a twist in the neck, the intonation was off, the action was so high that it was barely playable (probably a cheap attempt to offset the twist in the neck and the terrible fret job), it needed much fret leveling, and went out of tune easily. Everything wrong you could imagine with a guitar.

After seeing the good reviews and how this guitar is advertised by those Harley benton send it to review on youtube, together with their own youtube channel, I was very dissapointed because the guitar actually sounds very good, but my product was completely unplayable without spending more than twice the money the guitar costs to get it fixed.

That is why I am giving it one star. If you're ordering this guitar, be very strict with how you want it setup and perhaps you will be given a better example than mine, but still be prepared to have to put atleast 2-3 hours of work or pay a luthier 200+ euros to get it fixed. Might aswell get a squier classic vibe from your local shop and know it is setup well.

For 15 years i worked in a music store setting up used guitars and new ones right out of the box like this one.I had done my homework and zoomed in on all the picture details,and read all the reviews about how people got there guitars out of the box almost in tune. Mine was in tune.i had my amp already on and waiting. So out of the box, a 15 second lookover and boom. I got some insane Hendrixy feed back swells that were so inspiering.i play rock/blues/ hippy stuff, with lots of controlled feedback.the neck was perfect,the whole set up was perfect.you could tell the strings were still brand new and fresh.and the pickups work great for if you wanna go Hendrix crazy. the bridge pick up really kicks it over the top for screaming licks with tons of harmonics.and the pickups are pretty quiet for single coils. i dont play through anything fancy,some distortion,reverb,a wha pedal,and crank volume up till you have to wrestle the guitar to the ground to controll the beautiful feedback swells and notes.its a really solid guitar,The sunburst finish on mine made me laugh cause it looks exactly like the japanese sunburst on my first guitar in 1977. Very 70's. i must have got a good one. I just ordered two more Harley Bentons. A lemon drop, flame top semi -hollowbody, and a set neck sg. I can't wait.these are cool.And even i can afford one. That's somethin .

I bought this guitar last year. The overall build quality is good. The finish is applied well and the neck/body joint is solid. The neck is a bit thicker than I expected, but I got used to this quickly. The opportunity for improvement on my guitar were the frets. The tops of the frets needed to be polished as there was a gritty feel when bending strings. The fret ends were rough and sharp, requiring filing to cure the fret sprout. The tuners work and hold tune, but they are not as smooth as higher end tuners on my other guitars. Still, considering the price, this guitar is a very good value. It's a great way to try out an "S-style" guitar, as it was for me.

Excellent guitar it have some pros and cons but its the best bang for buck guitar you can buy.
First some pros:
- Great finish there are no stains or blemishes on the paint or varnish
- Good sounding Rosewell pickups
- Stays in tune
- Plays very good after some setup

Cons:
- Machine heads are little bit hard but i think after some oiling will be good
- Frets are very scratchy and first thing to do with this guitar is to change strings and polish frets
- Whammy bar needs also adjusting to use tremolo
- Pickguard material is soft so after few minutes of playing had some scratches

After polishing frets and changing strings guitar plays excellently.

So - for 100 GBP allows you to buy a strat with pickups that aren't trash and a tremolo. Even the pickups are staggered.

Pros

-Mirror-like finish
-Staggered pickups
-Pickups are decent
-Everything works as it should
-Vintage tuners

Cons
-Sustain block is thin
-Tuners aren't the best
-Cellophane gets stuck between pickup and pick guard
-Tremolo was set weird

The guitar came with a set-up already, so it was pretty much ready to go. It was practically already in tune, although, I would recommend replacing the strings, as they might be a bit dirty/rusty. It was clean, the frets were polished and everything. The tuners sometimes "slip" and let my B string go loose. It's easy to re-tune but often has me re-doing takes. Since the strings are already on it, it's weird getting the cellophane off of the guitar itself. Might have to take the pickguard off if I wanted to get the rest. The tremolo is set so that it drops, but can't do the opposite, so you're stuck with diving (unless you fix it yourself).

Over-all, it's alright. I've definitely encountered many worse guitars at this pricepoint and you'd be hard pressed to find something better at this price.

This thing is great!

I gave my four star rating for quality without considering the cost. For the price, it's way better than it should be.

I was expecting a budget guitar, and would have been very happy with that, but this is a really nice guitar. I have a Fender American Strat, an Ibanez strat-style, and a very cheap Chinese strat-style, and this one better than all but the Fender. And it's not far off the Fender. If it came with a better fret job, I'd call them even.

Looking at the pictures on-line, I guessed that the body had a veneered top, but it isn't, it's solid ash, or something similar. It's not too heavy, but it's definitely hardwood. The sunburst is just like it looks online, and the surface is perfect. Shiny and smooth. There aren't any flaws that I can find anywhere. All the woodworking is spot-on. There are no fitting gaps or blemishes. The neck is aligned and seated tight.

The neck is thick, and the fretboard is wide for a strat. The frets are fairly big. The tuners work well and feel smooth. The nut is cut well, needing no adjustment.

The setup was pretty good out of the box. I put half a turn on the truss rod, lowered all the bridge saddles about 1/2mm and set the intonation on a couple of the strings, but otherwise nothing at all was needed. The fretwork is good, not great, nothing that needs fixing.

It sounds good! Very middle of the road in terms of tonality. Not too weak, not too hot. It pretty much sounds like a '62-ish fender, which makes sense, given the model number.

Overall, this guitar exceeded what I expected in every aspect. I'm really amazed. With some slightly better tuners and a bridge, and a better fret job, this guitar would be the equal of any guitar.

So after first 30 minutes I just could not make friends with thist guitar, but then slowly it began to grow on me.

+ looks better than on pictures, actually looks really nice
+ soundwise it is is GOOD guitar
+ set up was good out of the box, small intonation issues

- G string sounded strange (perhaps a nut thing)
- nut is not the best quality and there were some damage on a guitar before the nut(but Ok, I wil not complain)
- 2 minor faults in the finish ( one strange line on the body of a guitar, and a small dent on the side, but I can live with it)
- input jack and controls are a bit hard, not smooth
- neck is really thick( but that is really a personal negative thing)

I always intented to mod it and I did:
- sanded the neck(makes so much of a differenc, it playes easily)
- polished the frets (again, improves bending by a mile)
- changed the nut for tusq(improves the sustain, G string problem solved)
- changed the string trees (again, improves bending, guitar stays in tune, because of the nut and string tree changes, no need to change tuners)
- sanded the inside of a guitar and shielded it with a copper tape(eliminates the hum, not completely but it is almost gone)
- changed the scratchplate from white to black
- changed the nobs from white to creamy ones
- changed the whole wiring(potentiometers, wires, condesator, 5 way switch, input jack), now the nobs are friendly, more sensitive to changes, pluggin in the cabel is much easier
- changed the pickups for new vintage ones(guitar is quieter, much clearer, I liked the sound before,but this is just much more clearer and connected)

Most of the modes I purchased at Thomans and they all fit very nicely.
From a GOOD guitar, this is now an EXCELLENT guitar, easily gigable.