Electric Guitar Kit Single Cut : Fantastic value for money

Building this guitar was very straightforward. The instructions came in both English and German (which is ideal as my native tongue is English but I live in Austria) and were easy to follow.

All the holes were in the right places, all the components were there, and the wood was more interesting than I had expected for a guitar of this price. A minor complaint is that there were a couple of areas where I guess glue residue was left on the body which required lots of sanding before the wood would take a stain.

A second minor problem is that the bridge is very slightly out of position, so the intonation is not perfect even with all of the saddles at their longest extent. While setting the guitar up I compared the setup with my 1997 Les Paul Studio, only to discover that the intonation on the Harley Benton is better than on my Les Paul, which had been serviced recently by a professional!

I've just spent an hour swapping between this guitar and my Les Paul, playing through an amp with moderate gain and reverb but no effects. Can I tell the difference? Yes, but in terms of sound the Harley Benton is different - not necessarily worse. I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice the pickups sound. In terms of playability the real Les Paul wins, but I'm sure that as I play the new guitar, replace the cheap strings that come with it and work on the action - it will improve a lot.

Overall, a fun project to work on with a few minor hiccups along the way and a great end result. Bottom line is that you get a Les Paul style guitar for under €100, and lots os satisfaction - what's not to like?!