Harley Benton CST-24 Black Cherry Flame DLX 5-stars Reviews

CST 24

For the money a very nice guitar especially for upgrading if you are into that sort of thing like myself. After a few weeks I was itching to change the pickups even though there was nothing wrong with the buckers it came with, so I put a set of Duncans in, sounds a bit better but not a drastic change in sound, now here is what really impressed me with this guitar... I put the Roswell humbuckers in a Epiphone ES-339 pro that sounded dull with no sustain but wow! what a difference those Roswell`s made... unbelievable how much better the epi sounds now, it is like the Roswell`s where made for a semi-hollow body guitar.

The best guitar for that price

I play guitar mostly at home and I've always imagined some kind of good guitar that will play pure tones as a strata and also have a stronger tone for heavy metal.

I changed more budget guitar because I'm not a professional musician, but none met the above criteria.

My choice however fell on Harley Benton 24 without any tremolo, because of its favorable price and its excellent appearance.

After two days of use, I can only say that I am amazed by the quality of the production and the tone that this guitar can play.

pros :

Excellent tuners, veary good pickups, comfortable neck, excellent electronics, push/pull: coil split, and of course incredible look.

cons:

Well, they do not have much, it may be harder for a longer gig, its weight is 4.38kg, but since I play most in the house, it's not a flaw.

They could have been better off polishing the frets.

I would recommend this guitar to everyone because there are so many options for both pure sound and distortion, a truly versatile guitar.

I know that some people complain about the quality of these guitars, but I can say that this is not the case for me.

I can only say that the guitar is phenomenal.

I am actually impressed

Guitar arrived in perfect condition, sounds awesome and feels amazing. Well there are few finish imperfections, but you really have to look for them very closely.

Harley Benton guitar

This guitar was shipped to California. It looks very beautiful with a high level of quality and craftsmanship. It looks like a much more expensive guitar. The box was dropped hard upside down in shipping which caused a small ding at the very tip of the head stock. I repaired the area with a matching color of women's nail polish using several coats to build the area up. It looks o.k.now.

Awesome starter guitar

Excellent PRS style guitar. Pickups are decent. Finish is really good. Tuners are solid and stable. Weight is on a heavier side. The only negative for me is saddle-less bridge, couldn't get exact intonation on all strings no matter what I did, would prefer 2 piece bridge construction instead. Overall good guitar, probably the best you'd get for the money. Recommended as a beginner or project build guitar.

way above average on a guitar this price

this is the best guitar for the price easy every thing from the tuners (which are perfect) to the bridge to the finish i would recommend this guitar to any body looking for a great cheep guitar

i drew on mine with a sharpie to make it look like Brad Delson's solider guitar and i am so happy with it

i plan on buying the black one as well cause i can have fun altering it and modding it to look like Mikes Shinoda's black with white and gaffer tape on it cause who? does'nt like doing that kinda thing

but yes i am not the greatest person at setting up a guitar but once id fiddled about with this (bridge height and intonation) it is a great guitar i hav'nt altered any thing it don't need any thing changing tbh a new nut wouldnt be a bad move tho but its all better than good in my opinion

for a cheep guitar id say 8/10

to get a ten it'd have to have better intonation but its not bad and a better cut nut (just feels like the note bends on the first fret)

but this is just my opinion besides these fixable issues id still buy lots!! more

a few in black and one of each colour

Harley Benson CST-24 Black Cherry Flame DLX

I have listened to and read many product reviews of this guitar before I decided to purchase one.

NO REGRETS - buy one !!!!

There are people who have written ridiculous reviews with the most unrealistic comments about tiny imperfection of the paint finish or glue spots and dry fingerboards - GET REAL you guys you are not buying a ¤3000 guitar - these guitars are real value for money - yes they are made to a price range - but the build quality and features exceed the price and represent a first class purchase - my only comments about the the guitar would relate to the pick ups - the hum buckers are a little wooly/bass and I prefer the coil tap position - but I would not be changing the pick ups - no need to with the numerous effects available

In conclusion - a lovely guitar played good out of the box - intonation OK - changed the strings to 9s - lemon oiled the finger board - NOTHING wrong with the guitar to want me to send it back - BUY ONE you will not regret it - enjoy

Great value for money

This was my first Harley Benton product. I was quite curious given how much they are talked and praised over the internet.

The guitar came well packaged and protected. First, the bad: the strings felt oxidized and stiff. Going over the guitar, the is a tiny imperfection where a bit of red paint went over the binding, on the cutway. That's it for the bad.

The good: the guitar looks great. On this color it's almost like Brad Delson's Custom 24. I put some black speed knobs on it, personal preference.

The weight and feel is great. Handling the guitar is feels like a quality, sturdy instrument that it is. Intonated easily and does not loose tuning even on drop C#.

The tone is good, the pickups are not your djenty type but they do classic/alternative/heavy rock very well. Not in a hurry to replace the pickups (I always do). Electronics do their job well and coil splitting is a nice addiction and makes for a versatile guitar. Pots and switch have a positive action and feel.

Overall this guitar is a bargain for what it costs. It rivals guitars costing double, and makes me want to get a whole lot more Harley Bentons. Much recommened.

Harley Benton CST-24 Black Cherry Flame DLX

I'm so impressed with the quality of this guitar, looks fantastic and sounds brilliant, plays really well....

For the price its awesome, its used for gigging and studio work.

Amazing guitar for the price!

i bought this guitar for songs that are in Eb tuning, all the hardware seems solid and the pickups are great with lots of gain.

the top is stunning and a lot of people thought this is a very expensive guitar.

there are a few finish flaws but you cant fault it at this price.

if you play anything that require more gain than blues then this guitar can do a very great job!

Nice

Either I'm incredibly lucky and got a prime specimen or HB upped their game a bit because by the looks of it, it's really nice and I don't hardly anything to complain on!

It has a birth mark on the lower left section but I don't mind! And the only other thing I noticed was a little bit of red left over on the binding, nothing much!

-Coil tap standard on the guitar!!! Even tough it doesn't say anything on the web page.

-Frets all nice and level, no fret buzz

-No glue or any other stuff left over on the fretboard

-Fretboard is not as dark as I tought it was gonna be looks nice and doesn't stain the fingers but is a little dry, nothing a little lemon oil can't fix!

-One solid piece of mahagony for the body, I can't see any joints or other pieces! :O

The guitar stays in tune really well, and as far as I can hear, no intonation problems at all! I initially wanted the trem version but I watched EytscPi42's review and decided against it. And also it's cheaper!

Taking the train to valuetown- choo choo!

I was looking for an upgrade from my 2004 Harley Benton Les Paul (which is still decent to this day) and was checking out guitars in the low mid-range, pricing-wise. I compared Epiphone SGs, Squiers, cheap Fenders and such, the only requirement I had was 1 humbucker, so fatstrats and the like were taken into consideration. After much research I found EytschPi42's review of the CST-24T on Youtube and came to realise that this guitar is about as good as you can get below ~450EUR (i was looking to spend more than this, originally), and that it's so cheap you could still upgrade the pups and easily stay within budget.

The model I received has 5 minor cosmetic flaws, none of which were enough for me to even consider sending it back: the saddle isn't perfectly flush with the neck (~1-2mm too short), a couple of fret-ends could use smoothing off, the center-line in the paintjob running up the middle of the guitar isn't aligned with the bottom strap-pin, the wood on the back is showing some minor damage underneath the paint (looks like someone put it down too hard before the strap-pin was attached), and there are two minor indentations on the tip of the bottom horn, it looks like someone stabbed a toothpick into the clear coat twice.

The Wilkinson pups seem pretty decent for the price (no buzz except some at really high gain) but will be replaced anyway so I didn't test them too extensively. The guitar arrived playable, but I will need to re-do the setup, seeing fret-buzz at the low frets and high action at the high frets, nothing extreme, though. This leads to the next point:

I would go against EytschPi42's recommendation and actually get the version with the tremolo, simply so you have a bridge that's easily adjusted. The wraparound bridge provided with this model is adjustable to a degree, but I suspect it's a large part of the reason this guitar didn't come set up as well as it could have been. I will update once I've re-done the set up, but for now let's just say that you could block off the tremolo and have an adjustable bridge, or you could buy this version and spend another 120EUR on a more adjustable wraparound bridge if you can't get the guitar intonated properly, I guess the choice/risk is yours- if I had to do it again I'd spend 40EUR more for the trem to save 120.

Lastly, I can't confirm what I've read and seen about Ebonol fretboards, mine isn't pitch-black, doesn't look plastic-y, it simply looks like really dry rosewood, which is fine with me. Mine also doesn't have any glue or other residue on it, only some minor scratches along the bindings (can't feel them, only see them if you look very closely).

All in all I am frankly ecstatic to have such a nicely made body to work with, I don't see how it could get any better at this price point.