Harley Benton CST-24HB Charcoal Flame 5-stars Reviews

Hard to beat for the money

I'll keep it short and to the point here.

Pros:

-Everything works fine with no issue.

-The guitar looks nice.

-Sounds nice and loud enough even unplugged.

-Setup and fretwork is good.

Cons:

-The pickups are honestly a little weird for this particular model and the neck pickup is so powerful compared to the bridge that it might be worth swapping the bridge and neck to compensate the volume difference.

-On very close inspection there are some minor imperfections to the finer details of the guitar but nothing that affects playability.

Great Guitar

Good tone and balance guitar

Pickup is enough

Great value for the price.

Is this a PRS? No. Is it close for a fraction of the cost? You bet. Nice fret work. Low action. Wonderful slightly dark tone from the Roswell pickups. I'll say it again: great value.

Very good

The design is perfect and the sound is great. Price is good

Better than I expected

I actually bought this guitar before I read any of the reviews or watched any videos about it on YouTube. I am pleasantly surprised. This thing looks incredible, and sounds just as good. It came perfectly set up, the pickups sound great, and it just stays in tune. Definitely recommended.

This is the complete package!

Awesome Neck : Check

Great Pickups: Check

Classy Looks: Check

Light Weight: Check

Awesome Instrument

Aside from a high fret around 13/15, great guitar! Was not surprised by the high fret and the pickups are literally almost dead on the 85/15's that were in my PRS SE. Overall great guitar for beginners and a great guitar to mod for the player.

Amazing quality for an Amazing Price!

I play in a 90s rock/grunge cover band and wanted something akin to a PRS but semi-hollow without the insane price tag. After watching countless video reviews, reading numerous opinions on forums, and talking to plenty of people in regards to this model, I pulled the trigger. Oh am I glad I did! The shipping was quick, the service fantastic, and the product? Where do I begin?!

The finish is gorgeous. Beautiful flame top and mahogany back. The gloss is smooth and mirrored with no flaws that I can find. The only, and I do mean only, issue with the fit and finish is some small black flecks of paint on the binding around the F-holes, but it's almost inside and impossible to see.

The feel of this is phenomenal. The balance is just right with a neck that's just comfortable. It's a cross between a nice speedy ESP neck and the slightly wider string spacing of a PRS. I can play fast when needed, and I don't feel heavy handed when I slam power chords.

Tone is beautiful. It's clear, clean, and smooth. The pickups are by no means high output or designed for high gain, but those tones can be coaxed out if you really need em. I ran it through the full range of tones that I use (sparkling clean to crunchy solos) and it performed beautifully.

Basically, if you're looking for a pro-level playing and sounding instrument with an extremely reasonable price tag, this is your answer. Resonant and smooth, this is the guitar I've been waiting for.

Great guitar for the price!

For reference I have been playing guitar for 15+ years. I used this guitar together with my Line 6 Helix LT.

This guitar is a lot of fun to play. Both pickups have a very distinctive sound, and on top of that the coil split gives you even more options to play with. I found myself using the neck, bridge and bridge split the most.

As for the quality, the stock pickups will be good for most guitar players: I have been using it for jam sessions and a couple of live performances since the guitar is SO light and so versatile. However, when I connected this guitar to my DAW for recording I realized that the bridge pickup is a bit fragile on the high end compared to my Fender Telecaster (I hadn't noticed before while playing "live"). But hey, we are comparing a 200 € guitar to a 1500€ guitar... This is not a fair comparison!

All in all, you get a semi-hollow guitar, with a great set of sounds that you will be able to use in 90% of the situations, very good sustain, light, great looking and with good hardware.

Looking for upgrading this guitar? I'd go for the pickups and tuning machines. But don't do it straight away! Firs familiarize yourself with the stock guitar, be able to "control" its sounds and features and then think about this upgrade, since the original package is already a bliss.

This is great

I was looking for a PRS style semi hollow guitar without the cost, when a friend suggested this. Looking at the price I thought why not? Well it's beautiful and plays like a dream once I lowered the action. I have Ibanez, fender and les paul and I have to say this is one of my favourites.

Amazing quality and sound for the price.

To get some context, I own a Gibson LP and a Ibanez RG, and I have played for ten years. I have experience with live shows, and gigs, I am not a pro, but I can say I am not only a bedroom musician. So, I moved to a different city, and I wanted a practice guitar since I could not bring mines. I choosed this mostly for the look (and the price), but since I got it I am quite amazed. It's really well constructed, and plays really nice and loud (because of the body type probably, since it my first of this type). Its feels more like the Gibson LP than the Ibanez, but it has 24 frets.

The greatest surprise was when I plugged into a sound card, and record some tones, I was really blown away. So I overdub some some tracks that I previously recorded with the Gibson and the Ibanez, and it really can compete with them. I had quite a variety of tones (it has coil split Wilkinson picks). By far, those do not sound like a "starter" pickups.

I have not played live with it, but after what I have used it, I think it can probably withstand a gig without further problems. It's quite stable for the tuning.

Pros

- Quality : Well constructed , nice finished.

- Price : For the price, amazing quality and features.

- Sound: Very versatile and quite variety of tones.

- The look: One of the most beautiful guitars I have owned.

Cons: (actually not so cons, but I would say details to consider)

- I had to slightly adjust the trust rod (neck) after the first three weeks, but nothing to serious just a buzz on the first string. Since, then I have not had any problems with it, nor intonation. (I think is not a Con, since my Ibanez need the neck adjustments every couple of months).

- It's heavy. I thought since it a hollow-body, it would be ligther than the Gibson LP, but it feels just like that. (Also not a con, just a tip to be prepared).

- The neck is fat/bigger. It's definitely in the zone of a fat LP neck, and even a little bigger. I would say almost like a slim electro-acustic. Anyways, it is really comfortable, but don't expect a Ibanez type ultra-slim neck.

Very happy with this

This guitar is very nice - after I fixed the sharp fret ends.

It has a less lively sound (than the CST-24T), but apparently it has the right sound for a semi-hollow jazz type guitar.

Great guitar for the budget

I like it very much,

versatile as it also features coil split.

Great value for the price

with some basic adjustement it turns out to be very playable.

It needed to adjust the bridge height, intonation and i also lowered the nut removing it and sandpapering it underneath,

to make it feel as i like.

Tuners are not so smooth, but they keep tuning pretty good.

In general i am quite happy for the purchase.

Some minor flaw here and there but i can't really complain about it

i surely recommend it for who is looking

for a good semi hollow body guitar with low budget.

Satisfied customer

Though I'm getting a replacement due to a problem with the nut, I am very impressed by this guitar already.

To state the obvious: it looks amazing. The flameburst looks clear though that can vary, inside the f-holes it's not painted perfectly, but that isn't noticeable from afar. Some minor things like scratches and imperfections with the inlays.

Playability is great, glossy finish on neck feels great.

Sound is very rich and there is enough sound difference between the pickups, which have quite the output.

The sound is great for bluesy genres as well as heavier rock, don't expect the best results with fast shredding.

The neck and bride are adjustable for correct intonation and action, I couldn't get this 100% right due to the nut problem though.

Fantastic value for money.

I bought this as a way back into the electric guitar and it has surpassed all expectations. I use it mainly for blues/rock and it has a pretty versatile sound. It arrived well packaged and pretty quickly too. Upon opening I was very impressed, The finish is good, its not outstanding but much better than I've had in other guitars that were more expensive. The action needed a little tweaking to get it where I like but was playable out of the box. The binding around the edge of the f holes is a little messy and the inside of the f holes is poorly painted but doesn't make much difference. I'd maybe have preferred no paint at all. The neck is of a nice shape and plays well, I'm no shredder but have no issues with runs up and down at speed. Pickups are wilkinson and are nice. If i were to replace anything it would probably be the tuners for a locking set, these do the job but aren't overly precise and do tend to fall out of tune quite quickly. It came strung with D'addarios which makes a nice change. Overall its a good guitar with very few issues out of the box that stands up well under scrutiny. Compared to cheap guitars when I started playing its a totally different beast. Its cheap, looks good, sounds good. What more could you want! I think the updated version also comes with coil split pickups.

How do they do it

Ok, I ordered this after seeing reviews on the CST range and to be honest expected it to be pretty but average in all other departments.

Well I can happily say I was wrong in most!

Firstly, don't get me wrong, it's by no means perfect and buyers would benefit from a little experience in setting up guitars.

I, for example removed the nut and took off about 1.5mm to lower the action at the headstock end, then lowered at the bridge. No fret buzz and an action the equal of any fender or Gibson guitar I've owned and still own.

Sound wise, no complaints with the Wilkinson humbuckers, but an upgrade to say Seymour Duncans would obviously improve that, but then it would defeat the fact that this is a budget guitar, and one helluva one at that.

Hardware, good quality.

Finish, fret polish will be my next move, and the flame top is not great but tbh agai, I bought this not expecting it to be AAA.

I would recommend these for beginners and more experienced players alike. I have 40 years experience with guitars, and way back when I was first learning this quality, at the relative price back, then would have been a dream. In a word , playability. Buy one , you won't be disappointed!