Harley Benton CST-24 Paradise Flame 4-stars Reviews

Good for the money, but not perfect!

Pros: - look - fretboard - pickups Cons: - frets - coil tap/split - pickups My guitar got damaged shipping, chipped head stock. But nevertheless: The flamed maple veneer looks stunning, the fretboard is very dark, and the bindings give extra class points! The neck is a bit on the slimmer side, no sharp frets, but the frets are definitely of poor quality… they sound like sandpaper while bending! Guitar arrived in great condition, action is a little high, and of course there are no buzzing. Have not spent time lowering it so I can not promise what happen when you do it! The electronics works perfectly, the knobs, output jack, pickup selector feel sturdy and durable. The humbuckers sounds great for clean, crunch, all the way to classic rock. But no more! With more metal oriented sounds they become muddy and lack definition! The coil split actually does something, but it is not great at all. Definitely does not sound like a single coil. All in all is a really good guitar for the price! For a beginner is all you need. For more experienced player is a solid foundation to build your spare one/side project!

Good guitar

Very good guitar obviously some cosmetic problems but other wise all Good

Guitars just price shouldn't be this good

Can't afford a high-end guitar that looks exactly like this one? No problem. This guitar plays looks and sounds just as good as the original from a more expensive company. Only downside, I did need to have the frets filed, they were sharp and bit me, lol. Otherwise this thing rocks!

AMAZING! (after a few adjustments)

Pros:

The body of this guitar looks amazing. The neck feels (and plays) great. Humbucker tone is very good, especially if you roll off the tone and volume a bit. Split sound is fairly good as well. The quality of this instrument for the price is incredible. I would place the overall quality at almost double the price tag.

Cons:

I had to tweak some things pretty much immediately upon receiving this guitar. My neck pickup kept cutting in and out. Also, it was playable but definitely needed a setup. I lowered the action and re-soldered a wire and it plays and sounds amazing.

Very impressed.

Required a fret polish for smooth bends.

Action was great right of the bat.

Bridge might need replacing since it produces a wolf-tone on the D string from time to time.

Overall, if you take the time to take it to a luthier it's a wonderful instrument.

Nice guitar - color off a bit

Guitar quality was much nicer than I thought it would be. I've gigged it out over a dozen times now and it's rock solid.

I was planning on changing out pickups but the Roswells are good enough that I am not swapping for now. The Roswells aren't top-notch... but they are pretty decent.

I Will likely change the tuners, but haven't yet because they aren't bad.

THe only grip was that my color didn't match the picture that well. I have an amber bursting to red... but the red is not very deep so it has more of a brown tiger effect than a sunburst effect. Pretty enough on its own but... not what I expected. However, the grain on the flame matched up the two sides much better than I would have expected.

It's very playable and holds tune well. Sounds nice.

I might change the pots out... they are the only weel point... they taper harshly.

Overall it was a fantastic purchase.

I bought one of these because I wanted to get a guitar with a humbucker, and this one seemed to have the features I wanted at a decent price. I can confirm that it did!

The build quality was incredibly nice, it had a very good weight and shape to it and the finish was quite beautiful, albeit perhaps not as bright as the picture led me to believe.

The sound was also really good, it handled both clean tones and more gainy stuff too thanks to those humbuckers.

Overall I think this guitar is worth your purchase. At this price range, there are barely any faults to find.

A lot of bang for the buck.

This was my first HB purchase, and I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Very good playability right out of the box. I did end up polishing the frets a bit, but other than that it was fantastic. I'd been looking at local music shops for over a month and this was much better than anything I had found in that price range.

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

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

AWESOME BUY

I would highly recommend this guitar to anybody.

Best bang for buck out there.

Good guitar for the money

This very good guitar for the money. But like low priced product there are also cons - the nut is complete garbage and there are some fretboard cracks (not big). Both are repairable – the nut I replaced with TUSQ black one (almost direct fit). The cracks on the fingerboard are not big and maybe caused by the wood died out. For now it is treated several times with lemon oil and maybe later I’ll decide if there is need to fill them with rosewood dust + superglue. Other than that the guitar is amazing and nice. No complains for this price.

More than expected !

Insane good for the money ! I think on of the top instrument for the Harley Benton brand. I just used lemon oil for the fredboard cause it was too dry and change the strings with some elixir 10s !

Buy it !

Good guitar for the price point but required significant 'setting up'

The guitar came very well packaged. Out of the box the guitar has a few blemishes on the finish due to some 'bleeding' through of the lacquer but nothing major. The action was extremely high and the neck had a significant back bow, however this was all easily corrected by lowering the bridge and adjusting the truss rod on the neck. There were a couple of high frets causing buzzing and 'fretting out' these needed filing down and crowning.

In all, out of the box this guitar was okay, however after setting up and filing and crowning the frets the guitar is excellent. Really pleased with the sound and versatility of the Roswell pickups.

If this is an average example of this model and you are able to do basic guitar set ups and fret work, this could be a great guitar for you with no added cost other than your time. However, if you are new to playing guitar or unfamiliar with doing basic set up's and basic fretwork you would need to have this done professionally which would add significant cost.

I'm in Paradise

As this guitar is my first electric one, maybe I'm not entirely objective, but at the same time I can provide good information for people like me.

I was a bit skeptic at start, but reviews gave me confidence that I'm getting good instrument for reasonable price.

Combining CST-24 with Peavey interface and software on PC is a big joy. I'm using it mostly with distortion and overdrive (rock music). Also playing on amplifier gives me satisfaction (more then to other family members).

Guitar is gorgeous looking, plays well and gives me no rest.

Recommended!

Amazing value

Amazing value comes to mind to describe this guitar. Not the best in the world but a lot more than I would expect at this price point.

Use

It feels great to play. Nice neck profile and easy to play high up the neck thanks to the double cutaway design. The action is high but the intonation is perfect right out of the box, at least on my guitar. The pickups are decent and on the hot and bright side. They sound good with heavy distortion. I would have preferred a mellower sound but that?s personal preference. I?m also not a huge fan of the chromed knobs but again, personal preference. The finish is very impressive and the binding looks nice.

pros

Price. Mahogany body and neck. Shielded and grounded pots cavity. Good pickups. Nice finish. Nut seems to be of good quality. Intonation perfect right out of the box. Nice new set of strings.

cons

Ugly fretboard (I would have gladly paid 20 pounds extra for a nicer fretboard). Frets not leveled. High action. I have a visible chip in the veneer maple top, under the clear coat.

Worth mentioning

Not necessarily cons but worth mentioning that unlike the Grovers, that you have to spin several times for half of tone adjustments, small adjustments on these tuners translate to significant tonal changes. I prefer not having to keep spinning the tuners when tuning but they might be less precise. Also, both the bridge piece and the tuners seem to be coated with a chrome layer. I might be wrong but that?s how they look to me. It?s worth noting how well they hold up in time. The pots are tiny.