ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series : For the price I'm impressed

So this is the first Harley Benton I've bought and I bought it for my son who took a liking to my Fender Strat. At this price point I wasn't sure what to expect. Out of the box I was immediately impressed by the feel and finish and the weight and balance, this doesn't look or feel like some of the budget strat copies I've seen and played in the past and actually felt and looks really good.

Clearly some effort has gone into the setup as the intonation was quite good and the action very playable out of the box, no fret sprout or sharp edges along the neck, fit and finish is very good.

So although on the whole very good I do note some small things that needed some attention. Unfortunately the first time we put a strap on the front strap button just came off the guitar and it almost was dropped as a result, it wasn't a case of just screwing it back in as the screw hole was way too large for the screw so it had to be plugged and glued and then the screw had something to bite into and it attached fine and now feels secure. The frets themselves were dull and a bit scratchy when bending strings so a fret polish would help solve this. The only other thing I noted was the tremolo bridge was hard against the guitar body along it's back edge and not "floating", again a quick and easy adjustment.

The pickups are surprisingly good for this price point and the output clear and crisp with no undue noise on high gain settings, all the controls and the 5 way switch felt good and again no nasty crackles or pops when switching positions.

So overall this is a lot of guitar for the price that was very playable out of the box, yes it needed a few tweaks and the strap button repairing but nothing that would be beyond the scope of most players. If you're looking for a budget guitar that’s actually pretty decent then look no further, I've seen much more expensive guitars not be close to as good as this is.