Harley Benton CST-24 Paradise Flame Reviews

HB CST-24 Better Than I Expected

I originally bought this guitar so I could use it to learn how to work on guitars, make repairs and modifications. Boy was I surprised by the quality. I did have to remove the strings, polish frets, oil the fretboard, lower the action, and adjust the truss rod but the guitar itself was great. The playability of this guitar is great and the pickups sound amazing through my Boss Katana MKII. If you're on the fence about this guitar, jump over and order one! I promise you won't regret it.

Love the Guitar but...

This guitar arrived with some quality issues. Fret buzz on the upper frets D to high E that bridge adjustments can't seem to overcome. It has a tinny sound that I'm battling as well. This is my second HB purchase. My first guitar arrived flawless. I love how the guitar feels and want to get it to a pristine state so I'll continue my quest.

Good value

Good value for the money. Plays well, pickups a bit unbalanced (bridge pick up has lower output and gain than neck pickup). Fretboard a bit dry. Neck shape is great, paint job and body wood really great. Maple top a bit flat but very beautiful.

Didnt come with d'addario string

I'm In Love

The most beautiful instrument. This is my 3rd Harley Benton. I have a 4th one on my mind. Thank you.

Longtime Overdue!

FIRST of all, I want to say that it took FOREVER to get this guitar!

Waited a VERY long time, agents DID NOT keep me informed of

when I could expect it in BUT, when it got here- right out of the box

it was very playable in tune, it just needed a slight adjustment.

Other than that, and believe me I was really surprised, it's a great

guitar! 24 frets, beautiful finish, great tonality, smooth neck & you

just cannot beat the price on this baby? For this price, you get so much. It turned out to be much more than I would even dream!

It has some really cool features too. I opted to get a case with it,

glad I did. Believe me, if you're looking for a really nice guitar with

longevity and can stand up to other higher dollar guitars with no problem what-so-ever, THIS is your axe!

CST-24 Paradise Flame

Tuning stability was an issue due to change in climate probably but after a few days was Ok . Some small imperfections but for the price paid, overall satisfied with my purchase.

Great Guitar for the money

Shipping took 4 weeks to Pittsburgh but worth the wait.

MInor adjustments and then played great out of the box.

Will definitely buy another Harley Benton.

A remarkable and beautiful guitar

A great sounding guitar with excellent hardware. I especially love the ability of the coil splitter similar to the PRS 24. For the quality, sound and price you cannot beat the Harley Benton CST-24.

Amazing Quality For the Price

I needed a hard tale guitar for non-standard tunings in the studio so the cst-24 hard tale was a perfect choice.

All it needed was a little adjustment and it plays amazing. I will for sure be a repeat customer as the quality of this is amazing. There is no fret sprout, not a ding anywhere or scratch, and after the adjustments it stays in perfect tune and plays like a dream.

Harley Benton CST-24 Paradise Flame

Great looking guitar although flame top isn't quite up to the standard of John Robson's in his You Tube review. Sounds great and plays very well. Pick up selector is very loose and will need replacing. On the whole, very happy with the instrument

Absolute smashing little beast

Using this guitar now for a year for practicing and recording and have to say she is doing amazing. Has a nice warm sound, humbuckers are well balanced and can be punchy. The coil split also comes handy if you want some Strat kind of sounding.

Pros: great value for money, stunning appearaance, comfortable & well balanced, extremely versatile

Cons: Fingerboard came dusty (black dust on my hands when first played), tail piece is not the best (does not sustain so well), nut has not been filed in properly

Overall this is a fine instrument and I absolutely love it and recomend for prety much everyone. If you care to spend a little time to adjust some here and there, turns out an outstanding guitar for your money.

This thing is a beast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't say enough about this guitar. The finishes are perfect, the weight and balance of the guitar is great, and lemme tell you, I do a lot of mods on my guitars, especially with tuners and bridges but guess what? No need to change either on this one because the sustain is awesome and it stays in tune just fine. I will admit I got custom wound pickups swapped in, but that was due to personal preference as the stock Roswells can handle high gain and perform just fine. I love this guitar and can't stop playing it....so much so I take it to work every day! Do yourself a favor and purchase one. You will not regret it.

I'm keeping this one.

I had some problems with my first HB guitar and had to return it - but this one is staying with me.

Pros:

Looks great.

Stupidly inexpensive.

Sounds good.

And... (almost) everything is straight and level.

Cons:

A couple (well, 4) pretty damn minor cosmetic flaws - which I'm more than happy to live with.

The fretboard is dirty & dry - no big deal there.

And... the action at the first fret is high (i.e. the nut needs adjusting.)

The first fret string height is the only really troubling matter, but it's not out by a huge amount - I have guitars I've paid ten times this amount for and had exactly the same issue with. Lots of players don't ever check the nut end - which is weird because it's easy to do (play first fret both e-strings - both should get an F on your tuner - if the note is high, so is slot in the nut.)

The guitar has been delivered with a decent degree of neck relief, and an entirely playable action (2.5mm at 12th fret I'd say) and there are no buzzing frets. Bends don't choke out and sustain is good. I haven't done a full set-up yet so the intonation is off, but I can't see that offering me any large problems either, so all in all - it's a keeper.

Well done HB - I'll buy more from you in the furture, based on this one.

UPDATE: I found another quite significant cosmetic flaw - dirty brown mark along half the length of neck - all along the binding - it's under the finish so I can't clean it off. If it was on top of the neck and therefore visible to me while I was playing, and not underneath it, this one would be going back too - dropped from 4 stars to 3 - sorry HB. You keep making silly little mistakes that should be getting picked up in Quality Control checks - I didn't order or pay for a B-Stock item, so please don't deliver me one.

Punches above it's weight class

This is just a great guitar, for the money. The fit and finish are very good, and playability is as well. It even came with a pretty decent setup out of the box. The neck profile is very much PRS-ish, and feels great in my hands. Tuners are functional, and pots are not at all noisy. For the negatives, the tone is just a little bit thin. A set of good pickups would fix that. And the "flame maple" top is really just some kind of photo/litho/imprint thing. It's really deceptive to advertise it as "flame maple" and not disclose that it is a simulated design. I had to knock off a star on quality for that.

Just got this and its perfect

After reading all the you tube superstars and having bought 3 GB prior which I love,I pulled the trigger and glad I did.it is a beautifull guitar and I have over 70,looks wise, this is right up there with my 6 to 25 k stuff. Out of the box, nothing to do,action and intonation perfect. No free sprout or any issues.i cant find any flaws,people say its heavy, but it really is light to me.i like the very flat radious to and the fretboard is fine. Plays great and is really stunning. I may sand the neck a bit,but that's the feel I like. Coil tap is a cool feature if you like that stuff. I'm super impressed.it came in double boxed and headstock protected.that impressed me.i will do nothing to this guitar but play it and change strings when I have to

Really nice.

I guess the only downside is that it's fairly heavy. Other than that, nice finish, good sound, fantastic playability. Nothing negative else to say.

Excellent looks, playability and sound

I was very impressed with this guitar. The fit, finish, playability and tone all exceeded my expectations given its price.

I did need to tweak the truss rod, polish the frets a little, and rub down one slightly sharp fret end. I've had to do this with Fender MIM guitars costing 4 times as much so it is not really a criticism at this price point.

Very happy with this purchase, recommended!

AWESOME BUY

I would highly recommend this guitar to anybody.

Best bang for buck out there.

Excellent

Looks, sounds, and feels outstanding.

Watch out for color change

They send me a guitar from Germany to Malaysia. I picked the guitar for it's beautiful color. Paradise flame. And paid full price plus freight and import duties to find out the color was TERRIBLE. When i complained about it they said Slight changes in color can happen. It was almost mud green. Shame on them, because retuning the guitar was an expensive option. They did step up to make it it up. Just let me down.