Harley Benton CST-24HB Tortoise Flame Reviews

Good if you can finish it off yourself

I have made this into an excellent guitar and, if you have the ability, it is an excellent buy. If not it is a bit disappointing.

I have an HB Strat copy which cost a bit over £100. That has an excellent finish, a really good sound and is generally very good quality but needed a fret polish and a bit of setup. This cost very nearly £200. Again it has an excellent finish, a great sound, looks fantastic for the price and is mostly of very good quality. However it not so much of a bargain.

The problem is that although I'm fine with polishing the frets and doing a bit of setup I'm not so happy that, for quite a bit more money, I'm having to file and recrown some frets. When I first received it it was buzzing halfway up the fretboard. I let it settle for a few days and did a setup. The action was very low so raising it and tweaking the truss rod for a little more relief sorted out most of the buzzing. But the second and fifth fret were still causing problems and I had to do a bit of work on them.

The guitar looks great. OK, there isn't the depth to the veneer you would get on a PRS but I think it has some depth, so it's not a photo print. And as soon as you step back from it it looks amazing. The sound is warm and versatile, though the coil split doesn't add as much as I'd hoped and it doesn't have as much of a hollow body sounds as a 335. The tuners do the job, even if they don't feel particularly inspiring. All in all a great addition to my collection, now that the frets are sorted.

As I said, it is not a big deal if you have the skills and the tools but I could see it being a big problem for newer players. I guess the real problem is that my first experience with an HB was so good it set the bar very high. Having spent more money I didn't expect he quality to be worse. That said, now that it is sorted it looks, feels and plays brilliantly. I'm glad I bought it and would buy it again.

I just wanted to sound a word of warning to less-experienced users

LONGER TERM EXPERIENCE

I've had this for about ten months now. For most of that time I didn't use it. Every time I went to it it needed setting up again. It seemed that the wood needed to season a bit more. After about eight months (having tried it in between) it seemed that the neck had finally settled down. I have set it up and not needed to change it since.

I'm playing and recording with it now and It's a comfortable and versatile guitar. It's a great intermediate step between my big semiacoustic (Vintage VSA500) and my solid PRS SE II Santana. Very pleased with it now and intend to keep it and use it more.

Great guitar ...but

This is a great guitar for the money. Mine did require some fretwork to knock down some high frets. I replaced the metal knobs with gold Epiphone fluted speed knobs. I think the aluminium bridge lets this guitar down. The aluminium fad is i think a mistake, you need more mass in the bridge on a wrap over stop bar design. I replaced the bridge with a similar but heavier Wilkinson bridge. Even though this is die-cast zinc alloy, not brass or steel, I think it sounds better.

A terrific bargain, but expect to spend some time setting it up.

This guitar has six excellent sounds, is very attractive, and is light and well built. It was delivered in a timely manner. It has a few small finish flaws, but from 3 feet away, is a real eye catcher.

Pros: The sound and playability are excellent. The fretboard is practically flat, if you are looking for that, and the neck is a little thicker than usual. This guitar can support a very wide range of sounds and playing techniques. It ships with a tool kit for adjustments, and I needed them. The unusual bridge seems to work just fine. I really like the Roswell Pickups.

Cons: As received, it was not set up, at all. No neck relief, intonation a half step sharp, very high string action. Several frets were too high, I was able to tap them in. A few other frets are too low. These will require a bit more work. The D string was bad, it buzzed like a sitar. With new strings, problem solved. The nut is ok, although some of the strings are a little high. Fixable. Pickups were not adjusted, adjusting them really improved the sound.

The tuners are lousy, surprisingly so. But these are easily changed.

****EDIT: The tuner paddles are held on with small Phillips screws. I discovered these were barely finger tight. After tightening the screws, the tuners work fine. So this is a ding on quality control, not the overall guitar. ****

After setup, it is playable and a very enjoyable guitar.

The guitar does stay in tune, has balanced sound over the whole range, and is fully stage worthy. With a fret leveling and new tuners, it would be right up there with my Les Paul or Stratocaster. At just over $200, you can't beat this guitar.

Broken in Transit

Arrive with broken headstock and pieces rattling around in hollow body. Probably shippers fault not manufacturer. I will be returning. I looks really nice but I did not even plug it in with the obvious damage.

Quality Guitar!

This guitar would still be quality if they charged twice the price!

Finish was slightly different to the photos, more of a sunburst than the dark wood shown. Apart from that, I have nothing else bad to say about it.

Does not feel cheap in the slightest, great build, great neck and nice rich pickups.

A great living room guitar as it looks fab just sitting there and due to it being semi-acoustic, you can just pick it up and fiddle at any time.

Best Harley Benton I have bought by far. Now if only they would make some Thinline tele type guitars in a more classic style.

AMAZING!!!

I own 25 guitars Gibson, Fender, Takamine, Taylor, US, Mex, Far-east and self made.......and I can say that for the price this guitar is amazing..... Maybe I got a lucky one..... but I have not found any, even tiny, flow. I personal think that also the pickups are great, very close to my LP. The feeling of the neck resemble a Gibson SG, but without that weird feeling of a "far" neck. The PRS body shape is very comfortable and the action is perfect, fretwork perfect. The tuners are not the top, but they are doing their job. If I would like to make it perfect, I would change: tuners, pickups, nut and electronics based on pickup selection. You can't find anything on the market with this quality at this price point.

Great guitar w/ minor QC issues

This is my first Harley Benton and, based on this guitar, may not be my last. First up, the positives:

- Great playability. Super comfortable neck and fretboard with no fret protrusion or popping

- Good pickups. Best described as inoffensive, I don't feel the need to replace them immediately but they also don't really inspire.

- Great tuners.

- Gorgeous top. Could have been a fluke, but mine had a perfect bookmatched top with a deep flame.

The flip-side:

- A lot of finishing flaws. Binding sanded completely off in places around the cutaway. Finish scuffing and scratches. Fretboard looks like it was lubricated last when the tree was still in the ground.

- The bridge. Don't know who on God's green earth thought having only 2 strings intonatable was a good idea, but they should be fired. Budget for a bridge upgrade with purchase.

- No backplate. Again, don't know how this sort of thing happens after all these decades, but unless there is a structural reason (with the MASSIVE centerblock I doubt it) why would you not put an opening on the back for replacing the components. Expect a few headaches replacing parts.

I love this guitar!

I had been looking for a semi hollow body with this shape and the companies i knew of were all outrageous in price. A friend recieved a different model HB and it looked fantastic so I went online to check them out and found this model, exactley what I had been looking for. So I had a little extra money and for the price of this guitar I was willing to take a chance. Let me tell you that I love this guitar. This guitar fits my style and is beautiful and stunning to look at, this guitar has brilliant tones with much diversity with the coil splitting option, the neck feels good to me and I can play all over this guitar and neck. I will be ordering another HB and these guitars will be my main gigging guitars and maybe sell some of the other guitars I have if i can bring myself to letting them go. I think I found what I have been looking for:)

Value and Tone Machine

After 40 years of playing guitar professionally and as a hobbyist I've owned well over 75 electric guitars. From the very top to the middle of the pack. I was intrigued by the online demos and reviews of Harley Benton guitars. I decided to pull the trigger and buy the CST-24HB. I was nervous that the trip over to the States would damage the guitar but when it arrived, the outer box was perfect as was the inner box. The guitar was set up nicely. No buzz and just the right amount of neck relief and string action. I fine tuned the tuning and plugged it in to my tube amp and the town was great. I couldn't put this down for at least an hour. Great feel, great tone, great value. I would definitely use this at a jam. I'm proud to own this guitar and to show it off. It was my first Harley Benton. It will certainly not be my last.

Not quite what I was looking for in terms of quality..

Upon opening the box, I was so delighted with the finish on this guitar, however this is where the problems started...Dont get me wrong its not a disaster as I decided not to send the guitar back as the finish on this one is superb. To start with the guitar would not tune up at all, so this got me wondering if we had a neck problem, so it was a strip down and an investigation....the neck needed to be set up as it had a bow in it from Robin Hood me thinks, and the frets were all out of kilter, some high, some low, and some just a mess, so I completed the task of leveling the frets, (once I got the neck sorted ) and once crowned and polished ( this takes a bit of time but its worth the efforts) its was a case or restringing and final set up...its took me around 2 days of fettling to do this and I am now left with a loverly Guitar that sits on my wall proud and looking like a piece of artwork.....The point here is, if you buy a guitar as inexpensive as this ( I will not use the word 'cheap' as it has different connotations ) then its worth putting the effort in to get it how you want it, if your not confident to do it yourself, then find a local Luthier who will help you, it transforms the guitar..Overall good buy.....

Simply cannot be beaten for price!

This guitar is fantastic as the action was very good, and straight out of the box was almost ready to go. the finish was stunning and couldnt flaw it, the body was lovely the wood looks amazing. If you are on the fence about buying this, just go for it because you wont regret it.

Amazing

Such a great guitar, love it to pieces.

Great guitar, not only for the price

It's a great guitar, and not only for its price range.

The real difference between this and other products in the range is in the feeling.

It feels exactly as a really good guitar should feel.

I'm very impressed about this.

Sounds good, action was a bit high but very easily tuned up to my preferences.

Take in mind that the wood needs a copule og weeks to adjust properly, so be quiet if you buy one, wait a bit and then run your adjustments.

Oh, my guitar has a push/pull tone knob which splits humbuckers. Very cool feature that was not mentioned in the description.

The color is brighter than in the photo here, it looks quite similar to a "desert burst" or a "violin burst".

Anyway the quality is stunning.

Go for it, for this price you really can't find anything better!

Unbelievable for the price

I was fairly skeptical when I purchased this, but for the price I figured it was worth the risk. To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was blown away.

I own a variety of guitars ranging from cheap to mid-range, and from a play-ability and sound stance, this is among the best I own. Mine came fairly well set up with 10's, decent action, and pretty close intonation. I've owned more expensive guitars that were not as well set up from the factory, so nothing to complain about in that department as far as I'm concerned. I swapped the strings out for Ernie Ball Cobalts in 9's, lowered the action a smidge, and dialed in the intonation a bit better and WOW, this thing went from good to fantastic. A real joy to play and a sound that'll knock your socks off.

It's not without cosmetic issues (mine has a dot of excess clear coat on the top), but any blemishes at this price are acceptable. Go watch Henning Pauly's (EytschPi42) review on YouTube and you'll see what I mean about the finish.

All things considered, a fantastic guitar at this price point.

Such tone, such sustain...

I've had my CST-24HB now for three months or so, and really have got very comfortable with it.

It looks just wonderful, with a superb finish, god - how do they do it for the price is beyond me!

But what I REALLY love about this guitar is the stunning tone and outstanding sustain it gives.

If you are a lover of that Les Paul tone and sustain then you really MUST add this guitar to your collection.

At first I found the length of neck strange (I have a number of Epiphones) but after a short while I settled into the smoothness of the guitar without a worry.

Great guitar, great finish, great tone, great sustain.

Get one!

My new opinion on Guitars

Well I've always been a Gibson and Fender guy. Looked down on the cheaper guitars. Wow how that's changed.

After the guy on YouTube reviewing these Harleys. I purchased this on. Quality , set up, playability, tone wow, its amazing.

From here I've sold my more expensive guitars including my fender and Gibson. I now have purchased 7 of these different Harley Benton guitars, 2 x lps, Prs copys. all for the price of one of my Higher end Guitars.

Cant recommend these guitars enough. Don't think il ever buy another £2000 guitar again, I do own a Martin Acoustic which I love to bits , but have ordered the CLD D-41 Harley Benton, mmmm just curious how this compares to my Martin, That will take some beating.

excellent guitar.

My dream guitar is the much expensive brand name guitar that this is modelled after. But not being able to justify that much money as i make no money from playing i looked for a more accessible alternative. After reading many many reviews and review videos of the Harley Benton CST-24HB Tortoise Flame and seeing the great value price i had to give it a go.

The package was delivered promptly and safely packaged.

Out of the box the guitar was well set up and i just had to do a few personal tweaks. The quality is great and solid quality components have been used. I personally added a set of Harley Benton Parts SC-Style Speedknob AM and set up 2 micro switches so i can switch each pickup between humbucking mode and single coil, the Wilkinson MWCHB pickups that come fitted are suitable for coil splitting and i spent £5 on the 2 switches. (this is why i dropped 1 star in features as it could be done at the point of manufacture at minimal extra cost)

This guitar is such a bargain, well built nicely finished and has a great variety of tones (even before my personal mods) it is the price of a quality starter guitar but would stand up against many pro guitars in looks sounds and quality.

Beautiful guitar for excellent price

Purchased product to add to small collection of not so expensive guitars for home use (also purchased the SC-450 P90 GT).

Build quality excellent. Beautiful split grain top with a finish free of any imperfections (no scratches, etc.). Nice single piece back. Nicely matched three piece neck. Bindings nicely finished on top body edge and sound holes. Somewhat unusual inlays on fret board. Frets nicely finished with no sharp edges. Neck and fret board feel very nice. Only one flaw; the lacquer appears to have run a little on the lower cutaway, leaving a noticeable ridge. Not a big issue but could have been avoided.

Machine heads turn smoothly, as do volume and tone controls. Pickup switch has good feel.

Action very good. Intonation needed adjusting. Had to use most of the range of motion on the set screw located in the end of the wrap around bridge/tail piece to adjust intonation on low E. Should be ok, although the slot on the bridge/tail piece is now visible along with the set screw. The bridge/tail piece could have been more accurately positioned. Proper upward bow on neck and no truss rod adjustment required.

Humbucker pickups sound very good. No fret buss. Holds tuning well.

Beautiful guitar for excellent price. Highly recommended.

First Harley Benton

Ordered this guitar December 4 2015 and showed up today December 23 2015, quite a bit longer then they said but arrived here in Canada. The box looked like someone used as a football but the guitar was fine. Looks awesome and the setup is great. For the price these are hard to beat !

Awesome guitar!

I've owned several PRS guitars & I would say this is just as good as the SE Korean made models for the most part. Very well built & balanced. Fit & finish is very decent. Pickups are great & sound better than the ones in 2 of my SE models. The f holes look very nice. The completely adjustable bridge/tailpiece is nice. Tuners work well. Fretwork is great with no sharp edges. Binding looks ok. Actually like the look of the "morning star" inlays more up close. Really great workhorse guitar. Handles jazz, funk, blues, rock and metal with ease. Now the cons: 1. Flamed top was not nearly as figured and brilliant as in the pics. Said it was "AAA" flame, but it's barely "AA". 2. Setup was a little high. 3. Although the truss rod works fine, the cavity routing is a sloppy mess. 4. While wraparound bridge/tailpiece is adjustable, it's difficult to intonate. Overall a great guitar & worth way more than what I paid. Solid, reliable guitar that won't let you down