Harley Benton CST-24HB Tortoise Flame 3-stars Reviews

4 oiut of 5 isn't bad

I must preface this to say I have 3 other HB guitars, and they're all fantastic playing. I ordered 2 of these (different finishes) with a buddy, his was Charcoal Black. Had to return this one due to a neck problem and the bridge was all the way down with the nut too high, couldn't lower the very high action at all. The one my friend ordered set up nicely for him he said. Both of us are competent at set ups, fret polishing, fret edging, etc. HB will no doubt take care of me, and I am ordering another guitar (different model) from them.

Not Bad With Proper Expectations

I ordered this hoping for more of a PRS look than what I actually got. Curves/carves were not as prominent as the pictures show, so the PRS aesthetic was lost to me. After putting those feelings aside and just looking at it from a quality perspective, it did look pretty nice, although there were quite a few glue drops inside the guitar, easily visible through the F holes. The F holes themselves looked okay if you don’t look at them from the side, as there was gunk visible on the underside of the top just inside the F holes.

As far as playability, it felt fairly nice. Nice thin neck, and the frets were in good shape. The tuners were pretty stiff, and there was a noticeable buzz on the G string that was not from the frets, so something in the saddle may have been loose. Pickups are not high output so they will need a bit of a boost if you want a heavy sound, but they sound decent clean.

All in all, it’s not a bad guitar. After tempering my expectations, I decided it was a nice guitar for the money, but not for me (though I ultimately couldn’t quite get over the difference between the pictures and what I got, subtle as it may have been, as I see that as false advertising).

Looks good, but workmanship could be better

Bindings in the f hole is not done properly. Some ugly overlapping, and some parts, the width of the binding does not match the thickness of the wood.

Extremely sharp fret ends, could easily cut.

The 2 piece flame maple veneer looks really good. Wish they could match them.

Good sound and usability but the build quality is just terrible :(

I've been waiting for this guitar delivery for a month and when it finally arrived, I was very upset when I saw in some places the lack of paint and sticking out pieces of wood on the body (it's a pity that you can't add a photo here), The sound and usability are not bad but the build quality very disappointing.

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.

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.....