Harley Benton CST-24T Ocean Flame Reviews

Мy copy didn't come out very well

The appearance of this model is simply mesmerizing. Tiger stripes add chic, the fittings shine. But if you are looking for versatility and a cross between les paul and Stratocaster in this guitar, then this is clearly not your choice. This is a stand-alone guitar, it will not replace everything in one and will not be universal. Buy it with an understanding of this. Also, unfortunately, my copy was, to put it mildly, not perfect. The first string did not want to stay in the nut, and the neck rings on some frets. This nuisance has overshadowed my feeling of this guitar. There is always a chance to get such a thing from any brand, you should understand this. My English is as imperfect as my copy of this guitar. I'm sorry about that.

Who needs PRS SE

Honestly, perhaps a polish of the frets and fret ends. And that's only if your perdantic. But other than that a great guitar for the money

A little work and it's a jewel!

The Good: Received it 5 days after ordering (2 of them Sat/Sun) in good shape. Beautiful top and neck. The intonation was almost spot on. The Bad: The nut was cut way too high.. Had to take it to my luthier and he fixed that, adjusted the saddles, and slightly re-intonate ($60). It now plays like a $1K guitar, w/ amazing action and feeling and great sustain. The pickups are OK, but I'm sticking a Duncan JB102 and a Jazz in it and that will solve that issue. It's a KEEPER for sure. I'm sure the nut was just that 'bad one' out of the batch. Every other HB guitar I've bought were cut good.

Daily Driver

Moderate weight comparable to a PRS-24 at ~8 pounds. Minor paint bleed/fuzziness on transitions like the faux binding but overall pleased. No humming 😁 this took the place of my strat as my daily driver for it's versatility. Tuners are great. Flame top isn't AAA but it's still quite beautiful. The comparable guitars in the price range are basswood 😅 I don't use the coil split often because it cuts the volume and my sound guy hates me for it

Absolute bang for the buck

Guitar arrived in a pretty neat condition, plays and feels nice.

The setup was alright but could have been better. had fret buzz on the first fret and the tremolo was very tight. also, pick-up switch can sometimes not work for one of the pickups. but those are all very easy to fix.

otherwise this guitar has been very fun to pay with

Blah Blah Blah....So I decided #11 was going to be Harley Benton...

I really thought a replica CST 24 was going to have to have some sort of blemish, torqued neck, something that would explain the ridiculous low cost.

I spent at least 20 minutes trying to pick it apart, I couldn't find a single flaw.

The finish was phenomenal, no noisy electronics, string height, intonation... It was set up perfect. I was actually a little disappointed that it didn't need some tweaking.

I'm playing it like 7 months now and still can't believe this thing. Now I want a Keith Richards TE-53KRBL. I'll trade you for a "99 MIM Strat.

I Love to play this guitar

Nice build and plays well. Very good price too.

Good guitar

Good made guitar. The C shape neck is wonderful. Ift needs some tuning. But that's normally.

One of my favorites

I bought it with the intention to test if I like the touch of the PRS-like guitars and didn’t have big expectations, but this is actually pretty good guitar. Along with my Fusion-II Roasted FNT the CST-24T is now in the first places of my favorites list in my guitar collection. The flamed maple finish is killer, I really dig the roasted jatoba fretboard and the fretboard radius is exactly how I like it - shreddy and slick! The Roswell HAF pickups are surprisingly good. And that sustain… I love it! :) Totally recommend!

This is worth more

You will not find a better looking guitar for this price. Arrived swiftly and in perfect condition, not to mention playable out the box. It's insanenly comfortable to play and sounds great. What a steal, what a name Harley Benton is making for itself. Do not hesitate to buy this guitar. I'm selling some of my current flock of guitars to replace them with more of HBs range. Very impressed

Good guitar for a low price

I have no comments for this price. Unlike some people who don't like this

Roswell pickups, I would say from my experience that they are reasonably good, at least in combination with this guitar they work great.

A lot of guitar for the money

Bough this guitar as a second CST24, first one was P90 made in Vietnam model.

This one made in Indonesia has a bit chunkier neck, but is allround a great guitar. The stainless steel frets are well polished and rounded, the finish on it was flawless.

I got used to the neck after a while, but it still is a lot bigger in hands than for example the Custom Singlecut model one and the made in Vietnam CST24.

If I had to rank it, it would be below Singlecut necks, but above other cheaper HB necks. The frets are more than making up for the size, as I noticed I play better with the jumbo frets than smaller ones.

Pickups are classic Roswell, they are ok but if theres one thing I would replace then its those.

All in all a beautifull guitar for not a lot of money, if you like bigger necks which still feel ok in hands, buy it.

Even Better than Anticipated - Love it

Was fairly certain I was going to really like this guitar, but it is even better than expected and I love it. Have an ST, T and LP style guitar (all HB) - and this just feels and plays better than all of them. Genuinely feels like a step up from all. Arrived in perfect condition and no cosmetic blemishes so speak of. Pickups, nut, bridge, etc. all great. Love the neck on this guitar. As expected from reviews I read, the tuners aren't great but I bought HB locking tuners. Anyone thinking about this guitar should buy it! Very happy with it.

Amazing value for the money

I'm gladly surprised with its quality, the sound it's beautiful and the playability is like a much more expensive guitar, the only detail I found was a binding imperfection in the top end of the neck, which affects nothing to the playability, and it's practically invisible, so, really good job for the price

Love it!!

Couldn't afford a PRS, well, didn't wanna pay for one anyway. I have several guitars and this is the best by a long way. Versatile sounds and I LOVER having the 24 frets. Great quality, from what I can tell.

Absolutely superb!

Guitar was setup perfectly, sounds great, and plays great. Well worth the money

The beauty and the beast combined

Been using her for a year now and i totally love my guitar!

Sounds awesome, looks perfect, has great playability and is an overall excellent value for the money.

The only thing i had to do with it, was to tighten the screws when it came because some were loosened.

The action was fine from the box and I don't plan or need any modification on her because she is perfect to me.

Buy it and you will regret not buying it earlyer.

Great guitars as you probably seen reviews all over the internet

Great guitar the neck is nice the sound is fantastic.

The 2 bad things is that the guitar is a bit heavy and my ocean flame color is nice I thought it is much prettier in realty.

Bottom line for the price - take it and enjoyed it

Beautiful with minor imperfections / Piękna z drobnymi niedoskonałościami

I've watched 3 guitars so I have a benchmark. The violin maker who checked the guitar, when he hear how much it cost, declared that he would buy the same one.

Any reservations can be made to the small details of the guitar neck. The frets of the guitar were stained with glue, the fingerboard was scratched unevenly in places, in one of the guitars the wood of the fingerboard was of worse quality, it had more small gaps. I was worried that the flames pattern would not be too pronounced as I saw a few guitars on Youtube and they were almost smooth. But all three examples I compared had a beautiful, deep pattern.

The sound is satisfactory, of course the disconnected coils do not sound like the Stratocaster singles, but the humbuckers sound almost identical to the PRS Custom SE 24/08. Some people think that even in PRS made in Indonesia you have to change pickups to made in USA and then this guitar becomes full value. I am going to replace the pickups with the CST-24T, so it will eventually be cheaper, and the final visual and sound effect will be at a high level.

The only thing I'm worried about is that over time, the mechanical components on the Harley Benton may wear out faster, the neck may warp, etc.

----- PO POLSKU -----

Oglądałem 3 gitary, więc mam punkt odniesienia. Lutnik, który sprawdzał gitarę, gdy dowiedział się ile kosztowała, zadeklarował, że kupi sobie taką samą.

Ewentualne zastrzeżenia można mieć do drobnych szczegółów wykończenia gryfu gitary. Progi gitary były zabrudzone klejem, podstrunnica miejscami nierówno przytarta, w jednej z gitar drewno podstrunnicy było gorszej jakości, miało więcej drobnych szparek. Obawiałem się, że wzór flames nie bedzie zbyt wyraźny, bo na Youtube widziałem kilka gitar i były niemal gładkie. Ale wszystkie trzy egzemplarze, które porównywałem, miały piękny, głęboki wzór.

Dźwięk jest zadowalający, oczywiście rozłączone cewki nie grają tak jak singe Stratocastera, ale humbuckery brzmią niemal identycznie jak PRS Custom SE 24/08. Niektórzy uważają, że nawet w PRS made in Indonesia trzeba zmienić pickupy na made in USA i wtedy ta gitara staje się pełnowartościowa. Ja zamierzam wymienic pickupy w CST-24T, ostatecznie bedzie więc taniej, a końcowy efekt wizualny i brzmieniowy na wysokim poziomie.

Jedyne czego się obawiam, to tego, że wraz z upływem czasu osprzęt mechaniczny w Harley Benton może się szybciej zużyć, gryf zwichrować itp. Ale dzisiaj jestem bardzo zadowolony z zakupu.

Unbelievably versatile

I was choosing between Fusion and CST-24, and picked this beauty, since i've been dreaming for PRS for a long time. I guess this one isn't THAT far from PRS. Not flawless though, but the best for the price.