Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Black Flame Reviews

Pro quality

Totally sold on this guitar...it arrived in 4 days and does not disappoint. Well dressed frets, quality machine heads and a monster trem block that puts a Fender to shame. It has a great sound, mellow mid volume and growls when turned up and mine has excellent build quality. Don't be put off by the low price, this guitar is worth double and treble. It's comfy to play and has a finish to die for....I have Fender and Gibson's, but I'm definitely buying more Harley Benton's.....would have given 6 stars if there was the option....no bull.

Update - 3 weeks in and it's playing in nicely. I changed the knobs for black marshmallows (speed knobs like on a Les Paul) and it looks classier....I have hard-tailed the trem unit as I don't really use it and the saddles don't scratch my hand whilst playing muted style. The wood grain and colour of the back of the guitar is stunning....overall, I'm really impressed with this guitar...and I have now ordered a swamp ash HB strat ....

The Price and what you get is uncomparable

The guitar is very good, for not even 300€ you get an guitar that makes a PRS jealous ;-)

I highly recommend this Lady to everybody, from beginners straight up to semi-pro

Love it love it love it...........

Received earlier this week. Absolutely love it. Just getting settled in with it. Great tones and a nice guitar all around.

The only niggle I have Is that on the bridge pickup the bottom three strings do not cantrally cross the pick up pole pieces (they are offset by quite a bit). I have 5 other guitars and none of them show this offset. This is my first HB guitar and I like everything about it EXCEPT this. Not sure if it affects the sound in any way ???

VERY WELL BUILT GUITAR

I bought this guitar to expand my sound palette.

I've never tried a guitar of this price that was built and sounded like this.

Frets were perfect, finish was stunning (expecially the back), it played and sounded great.

I'm not used to P90, these Roswell seem to me too much high output but they sound great.

First harley benton... so far

fantastic in every way.

An amazing guitar, excellent.

Incredible for the price

The good

- Beautiful, well made guitar

- Great pickups (with some room for upgrades)

- Wilkinson bridge is a great plus

- Neck is comfortable, frets are smooth

- Besides the D String, the intonation was on point

The ok

- Tuners are ok, it's the kind of tuners you find in budget guitars

- Wiring works, but could be easily improved (but I wouldn't bother unless it would stop working or if I changed the pickups)

The bad

- The nut is catching on the B String when I use the tremolo

It is a great guitar, plays nice, sounds good, looks incredible and is comfortable.

The issues are so small and can be easily fixed with some pencil lead and a setup.

This is what I hoped for!

I wanted another P90, and than this model came about. No need to buy the black one and change the pickups :) When I had scratched together the money I ordered one. Reviews are good, as this one will be also.

But first:

A nasty little scratch on the back of the headstock and dirty and damaged looking fretboard startled me when unpacking. After just playing for a few hour the fretboard looks ok, even nice. Two things are important:

1 it’s so nice I played for three hours. Tuning keeps ok-ish for now, better tuners as on my old 2016 cts. Wood is more lively, like it responses more. Necks is nice for me and frets have no sharp edges. Sound is warm but present at the neck, bridge is a bit more nasal, bitey, but not too thin. Middle is more open. Good with chorus. Wilkinson trem is good as always. Looks nice ;)

2 Always play and perhaps clean first..... first view is not always the best way to judge.

Conclusion: such a nice guitar, weight and resonance of the wood will always be different, so I was lucky.

Might sell my other cst..... ** yep, sold it.

Sound is good, p90 is thicker as my singlecoil Teles and strat, bit warmer and less raunchy as my jazzmaster. Also more to my liking as the humbuckers a have and had. To me those pickups were all to “smooth”.

I will try 47 or 22 capacitors, to see what it does. It’s a bit woolly now with tone turned down. ** It became 22's. Strong lows, not woolly anymore. and us made pots. 500V and 250 T.

This CTS24-P90 looks as good as on the pictures. Even better in my house ;) Very very good.

Update 22 aug 2019: Installed nickel locking tuners a while back. Easy tuning and better looks ;). Gave nut some attention for smooth string action. Such a beautiful and nice guitar! Dynamics AND fast player ;) .

Update may 2020: put a tonerider vintage p90 in the bridge. Because I really balanced the Roswell’s 6 screws I didn’t think the sound would be better, but man... thight! Just like I remembered the expensive les paul I once borrowed a few weeks. The neck Roswell suddenly sounds more like a semi hollow guitar, compared. Still nice and balanced. When I get my hb35-plus, I guess I’ll have to buy the neck tonerider. So when that happens I’ve upgraded the cst for €150,- and it will be (is already) so worth it.

Great guitar for the money.

All in all, it's a really well made guitar. The strings feel a little dead but that's nothing a fresh set couldn't fix. The setup is really nice. Action is a little high but not unplayable. The neck feels almost exactly like the one on my SE Standard 24 and has an overall similar feel. The tremolo is super smooth and the tuners are decent.