CST-24 BK : Fantastic PRS Style Guitar

This is my 4th Harley Benton guitar, the previous 3 have been incredible value for money and this one is no different.

The specification is similar to a PRS SE guitar: wide neck with what I would call a medium thickness, 25" scale, dual humbuckers, mahogany body with maple cap and black gloss finish with wood grain binding.

I bought this guitar mainly for the 25" scale which allows you to down-tune while still remaining tight and responsive.

It arrived with a few blemishes in the finish and a very dry fret-board which soon moistened up from my fingers once played. It came set-up nice and low and has stayed that way upon installing my own Elixer strings (09-52). The compensated bridge although not entirely adjustable can be tweaked forward or back and intonates well when set-up.

This guitar is very thick sounding and sonically reminds me of an Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty that a friend owns.

The only real issue I've had is that the B string can buzz against the frets when struck hard. Normally this is an easy fix. However, because this guitar features a PRS style compensated bridge you cannot change the height of a string individually. So the only way to fix this would be to raise the entire bridge, therefore raising the action which I wasn't prepared to do. So I have just lived with it as it is not audible through an amp.

At this price point, the only competitors rivaling this guitar are other Harley Bentons. If you want a guitar that looks this classy and has a branded name it's going to cost in excess of £500. The one thing I would change is to give it a normal bridge with a whammy bar, as individual string adjustment would be a great feature.