Harley Benton CST-24HB Tortoise Flame Reviews

floored by the quality

This was my first Harley Benton guitar and I was not sure what I would get.

I was shocked at the quality I was expecting much less. It has a beautiful finish and the overall quality is very good . I have since purchased a cst24 solid body black cherry and I wish this had the same neck as the solid body . It is not bad but not as playable . It sounded very good right out of the box but I changed the pickups to seymour duncan and it really sound great now. I have a vintage jackson custom shop,, a vintage strat and a new tele american made and a ibenez gb-10 , since I am no longer touring I could not justify paying $4 to $5 k for the PRS that I wanted this guitar is not a PRS by any means , but for the money it is fantastic PRS type of guitar to experiment with pickups and electronics on ,sort of a PRS project guitar . I could not be more pleased

Great Instrument, Great Value

Incredible value for money with this guitar.

Set up was good, could not detect any issues or blemishes on the finish.

Tone is great. Pickups are decent

Again, for the price, very very good quality for what you are getting.

Nice guitar!

I like this guitar but it needed to be adjusted for having high action. Of the guitars I purchased it is not one of my favorites.

Worth Waiting

This guitar took three weeks to go through US customs. I thought it might be lost, but arrived today! The build quality is good - two minor finishing flaws no one will notice, and the nut is rough at the edges ( I can fix the nut). Volume pot is stiff, tone pot has no friction at all, but they work. Coil split is effective and snappy. Clean sound from both pick-ups is fuller on the bass end, but not muddy. Overall a beautiful guitar equal to my other HB purchases. Very happy this one finally arrived!

Classy looking, decent playability

A gorgeous body finish and very fast neck/action combo. Mine had some tiny bubling on the side of the bridge and pick-up output drops dramatically using the split-coil. It is really light and time will tell if it maintains its overall integrity because it gives me the impression you have to be gentle with it .

Amazed!

This is my third HB guitar and again I am so impressed with what those guys in Vietnam have built.

Like anyone who buys guitars over the internet there is a bit of caution when the delivery van draws up at your door. With the current virus scare I was especially nervous. Quick spray of the external box opening to kill any bugs was my first step. Careful shift into the garage where I unboxed my treasures and returned to the house to wash my hands ! On unwrapping the guitar I was so so delighted to see a beautifully finished guitar that matches the web site photos and description.

Cons? Hahaha. If I have to nitpick ..... When I next change strings I will "finish off" the end of the fretboard where it almost touches the neck PUP as I can see where a dab of my model paint will tone it to match the fretboard playing surface. That same paint will be used to coves a couple of very small areas inside the guitar where (I suspect) the dark paint was eased off when installing the wiring.

I need do nothing else as it was delivered almost in tune - I was impressed with the tuners and after an afternoon of trying it out it has stayed very close to being in tune.

Did I say it is gorgeous??????????????

Love it!

In reality looks really great! Like an expensive guitar. Fretjob is good - no sharp ends. Was able to play without any adjustment (just tuned and thats it). I recorded two songs with it with (IMHO) great result! (Check links below). So, I love the sound, no complaints here! Good sustain and lot of warmth.

But now things I did not like:

At close look there is a place on the fretboard (from fret 20 and above) that looks like repairment job. Looks like narrow piece of wood was glued to the fretboard later.

Bridge is wrapover and has stupid construction, namely - You cannot adjust the intonation of each string separately, you must move the whole bridge and rely on the factory adjacent for each string. In my case I could not get satisfactory D-string intonation. You probably cannot hear it from the records because I dont go to high positions, but after 12th fret, it becomes increasingly sharp. I ordered another bridge with adjustable saddles.

Tuners are ok, but not smooth.

Bottom line - this was for sure a very good investment I made. One of the best spent money in my life. However - don't expect the same quality as in PRS. Just a great workhorse for any guitarist on a budget (not only a beginner) and as a backup instrument.

Here are two songs recorded with this guitar - first is mine, second is jazz-standard I found in a book.

Great Semi-hollow guitar

Great sounding guitar with a lot of features, it sound great through my 65 Princeton Reverb.

Pros: Great value for the money. Finish is excellant

Cons: I am a fan of bigger frets, it would be nice to see medium jumbo fret, versus medium frets

Wow! Unbelievable guitar!

Get one of these now! I own 16 Harley Benton guitars and basses that I have bought in the past 6 months for my musician wife and myself (I'm a beginning bassist). This one I bought for me but my wife has commandeered it from me and nicknamed it "Badass", and it truly is. She loves it's size, appearance, sound....everything about it. The first time she took it to an open mic, the guitarist who was playing and singing at the time saw her uncasing it and forgot the words to the song he was singing he was so distracted by it! It looks that good! Great tone versatility with the coil splitting push-pull function. This might be the best $205 US I've ever spent! We love all our HB guitars but this is probably the favorite. Just buy it!

In Love

Played great out of the box! Very Pretty Guitar!!

Great Craftsmanship

Looked over for hours just admiring the style and finish. Can't find any imperfections. Only thing was the fretboard was dry. Fixed.

Don't hesitate!

My CST 24 HM TF arrived within 7 workdays!

Well packaged. It was much more beautiful than expected. The fretboard was dyed black and presented well. However, the were some small areas that were not and which will be easily remedied with a felt tip pen. The guitar was immediately tested. Everything was spot-on!

Beautiful.

Beautiful looking and feeling guitar. Took a little setting up with the action, neck relief etc but aside from that it's easy to play. The sound is amazing too, considering the price and hardware.

If you're in the market for a PRS type guitar, perhaps give one of these a try first, you might save a lot of cash.

Better than expected.

About me:

Been playing for over 35 years, average at best. Mostly a 70s rockhead, Stones, CCR... I can play anything if you don’t mind it sounding like Chuck Berry….Ha Ha…

I have about 20 guitars (only 1 acoustic..) Some good - USA 72 Deluxe Tele, PRS SE Custom 24 Exotic Top, Ibanez S series, some not so good – the wife has a Hanna Montana Washburn… crazy woman…

I recently brought the HB CST24HB and TE-70 Paisley.

Review of the HB CST24HB:

Pros:

This guitar looks amazing.

It has a slim neck that plays fast. The action is low, <1.5mm@ 6th.

The coil split is very usable and the tones are excellent – full to grit.

Very versatile guitar that handles cleans through to JCM800 very well.

Cons:

Probably not for hi gain (metal, thrash…), but we knew that.

When comparing this guitar against the PRS SE Custom 24 Exotic Top:

I love the PRS, the quality and feel.

I love the HB, the quality and feel. Lighter than the PRS.

The HB has a slimmer neck (think almost Wizard II) than the PRS but both feel excellent.

I think the HB has a better tone range, the coil split on the PRS is something I do not use (just does not work for me). The PRS handles Hi-Gain quite well.

The PRS tremolo works very well; the HB is a solid bridge. I’m not really a trem guy.

Both stay in tune very well.

Conclusion:

100% recommended.

If I knew how good this guitar is, I would never have bought the PRS.

Is it a better guitar than the PRS SE? Hard to say, they are both excellent instruments. The price makes it an easy decision though.

Two friends have just bought HBs after playing on mine. I am about to buy 2 more – HB CST24 and HB TE-90QM.

harley benton rocks

very nice guitar , well built , would look better with a dark fret board, and the star inlays, like the youtube videos show, that's really my only gripe.

Very impressive instrument

This is my second Harley Benton guitar. I bought this guitar for two years ago. I am a part time musician who plays a dozen parties a year and teaches some students. It is a very good playing and sounding instrument. There were a few small finish bubbles where the neck joins the body, but they do not hurt anything. They did not get any worse with time. I have made no modifications, and none are needed. I have full confidence in this guitar performing any time I play it. At this price point, I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. I have just ordered another Harley Benton Guitar.

No regrets, she's a keeper

It's true, you will need to do a little set-up on your new Harley Benton. Guitar is beautiful and is overall very good quality. Very pleased with the value. She plays good, neck feels good, PUs sound pretty good. She is my #3 guitar now (out of 8) which is great considering #1 and #2 cost well over $1k.

Fantastic guitar for the money

I bought this guitar as an alternative to my telecaster, didn't want to spend to much but wanted something with humbuckers and a hollow body. Always wanted a PRS but for the money I had to spend it was not an option this guitar filled the gap perfectly. Neck profile is comfortable and there were no jagged fret wire, pickups are good but leave a little more to be desired and the addition of coil splitting is nice and gives the guitar some different tonal possibilities. For the price you'd be hard pressed to find better value for your money. I have handed this guitar to all of my fellow guitar playing friends and they all seem to over estimate the price and are blown away by the quality and sound of the instrument for the price.

Pros:

- sounds great with well rounded tone from both pick ups

- looks great

- plays great

- great value for money

cons:

- some very minor imperfections with the finish and painting of the inside of the body

Truly awful

I see so many people here with great things to say about this guitar. I wish I had the same experience.

It showed up with the absolute worst finishing job I have ever seen. The sides of the fretboard have been sanded down so aggressively there are chunks missing. I get not wanting to have rough fret edges, but it looks like someone took a steak knife to it.

There are also corroded frets, straight out of the box. I have never seen that on a new guitar, ever. Top that off with a couple of dents, a fretboard that isn't stained properly and a top that looks nothing like the photos listed here, and you have one of the worst excuses for a guitar I've ever seen.

I understand that at this price point there will be imperfections, but this is just baffling. I will be returning it.

Great for the price

Only a few issues, some cosmetic. Neck pickup not aligned with strings or other pickup. The neck star inlays are not centered. It will need some fret and truss rod attention but that was expected. I would still buy another of this type and recommend this one with the understanding of normal issues that are easily overcome after delivery.