Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style 4-stars Reviews

good thing

nice thing to do on a weekend easy to do and the manuall is good i only not got strings with it

Great fun

Bought this out of curiosity but it turned out to be great fun. It can be as simple or as complex a project as you like. Putting the guitar together is very simple. Setting it up can be achieved with a quick youtube tutorial for anyone not familiar with that process. Complexity comes from deciding how far you want to go with the finish/modifications. The wood has some sealant on it so it can be ready to go with no modification if that’s what you’re looking for. I went down a rabbit hole of learning how to paint and finish a guitar from bare wood but it was a good learning opportunity. For me the trickiest part was cutting and finishing the headstock to my liking but it can be done well. The hardware is as you would expect from the price but solid in terms of sound and function. If I could change anything I would like some better quality tuners but at this price point they are perfectly acceptable. Some small imperfections in where the holes were drilled on the headstock for the tuner screws - they weren’t perfectly aligned; a minor issue in the scheme of things. Frets needed to be polished prior to use but again no big deal really, easily sorted. Overall a fun project and would recommend for any guitar enthusiast who would like to learn more about the instrument they play while getting to build one to their own liking.

Worth it

Worth the price. The body was smooth and frets were not poking. Overall very well done. Only downside were the pickups.

Nice, but doesn't really stay in tune

Although it is a simple fix-just get some locking tuners

Nice base for a starter custom guitar

It is a nice product for a starter guitar, but the quality of some components leaves much to be desired.

I assembled mine a year ago. The result was a nice average starter guitar, nothing outrstanding, but good one. Since then I've customized the guitar a lot: replaced the tremolo with a 2-point Wilkinson, installed locking machine heads and replaces pickups.

After a year of ruthless exploitation the tone potentiometer started to scratch, and 5-way switch stopped working in 2nd position.

So if you plan to customize your guitar with aftermarket parts, I can definitely recommend this kit. If you plan to make this your one and only guitar with the stock kit components - think twice.

A nice kit, but...

Its a really nice kit to play with, i had a fun time making my first diy guitar and it turnes out great. The only downside of the kit is that its precoated with something that you have to sand it down, what takes a lot of time and effort.

Overall I'm happy with the purchase

The guitar is decent. The only thing I would like to change (and I have changed) is the tuners. Pick-ups are OK, the neck is good, the frets are not polished but for this money it's OK. I really loved painting and assembling and setting up the guitar. It was fun and a great experience.

Some issues

This is a great kit, but as many has said... the holes for the tremolo was not straight, and that is a problem. I would give this 5 stars if the holes were straight, because you get a lot of good guitar for the money in this kit!

An overall great product

There are few things I can fault with this model, great sound, amazing wood, it is a great beginners model for DIY, very recommended

Cheap but fun to play after some work.

Felt the need to get some experience in guitar tinkering. The price was the biggest selling point.

After alot of sanding of the body I put on a stain and clear laquer.

The neck is great but the frets needed to be filed/polished. Otherwise bending felt like grinding cheese.

Compared to a Squire Affinety the pickups are brigther and hum more.

Some of the holes for the pickguard were off and i would have preferet to drill my own.

Overall this kit was alot of fun and educational. After a string change and some basic setup it turned into something i enjoy playing.

Surprisingly great gift

What can I say for 75 EUR guitar? It just plays! I was playing it only at home on various HW like vox metal headset, boss gt-100 or mooer sd30 and i don't have any issue. for s-s-s configuration it can get really interesting sound for that money! we will see later after some months. not to mention neck and stuff seems quite fine, straight, i need to learn and set it up better but so far so good. i like that you can create own head shape and of course you can play with body finish. to learn how to assemble it's a small "ikea" no worries.

-the wiring is prepared, i had hard time to put cables into slots, but i managed. also i destroyed one screw head in tremolo, probably my fault but it was tough to mount.i would also welcome if manual says exactly which screw type fit where, because it's at least 3 sizes and you can really misplace the smallest ones on machine head with the standard ones for rest of the body. the big ones are clear where it fit, but also only based on their count :) so you need to count holes as well :)

Great diy for the money!

Overall a great and very easy build, but I feel the tuners and bridge could be better.

Good to tinker with

Are you consider this to get a decent guitar for very little money? Don't bother -- just buy a pre-built guitar. Do you want to learn more about guitar maintenance/repair and don't mind fixing any number of flaws in the kit? Read on.

Pros:

- Neck is very well made and worth the price alone. The only flaw was the slightly recessed inlay on the 3rd fret. That's an easy fix.

- While the routes on the body are a bit rough, there are no major flaws.

- Neck pocket has a nice, firm fit.

Cons:

- The screw holes for the tremolo were not in a straight line. These needed to be filled and redrilled.

- The tuners were junk.

- The bridge and electronics are not horrible, but I would actually prefer to be able to buy the kit without the hardware -- most of this stuff will just end up in a landfill.

- While some plastic packaging is no doubt unavoidable, the plastic pickguard (that will be full of scratches anyway) was itself both covered with a plastic protector and then packaged in a zip-lock bag. Unnecessary.

Absolutely outstanding!!!

1. If you are not handicraft eligible guy/doll, equipped with a good set of tools (screwdrivers, drills and so on...), keep from this one away.

2. Tuners, strings - piece of crap, definitely. I decided to install Kluson Self Locked tuners for 50 Euro and DAddarios 12-52 Halfrounds for 10 Euro. After that guitar sings SWEET!!!

3. SHIELDING! You need to cover all the body cavities with graphite lacquer (GRAPHIT 33). After that there is NO hum at all.

4. In the effect I have a Strat for 150 Euro sounding (for me) like instruments rated much more than 500!!! Really, I have checked it in guitar shop. May be they are looking better but Sound Matters.

Good value for money

Bought this kit to use the body and neck for some better parts I had lying around. Overall this kit is good value for money, but probably not better than buying a guitar for just a little more money.

The best part of the kit was the neck. While it had a little ding in the fretboard and a couple of hairline cracks inside the neck pocket, the neck looks and plays great. The maple is very hard, and the satin/unfinished back makes it wonderful to play. Fretboard looks very attractive, though the frets were a bit scratchy. Tip: Polish them up before you mount the neck.

The body is quite attractive, but the routing was a bit rough on the inside. Also, the wood is very brittle. Take care if you need to route out for humbuckers or some other custom setup.

I mounted the pickups and the rest of the guitar to an old body, and it sounded okay. Pots and switches were ok, but the knobs looked pretty cheap. Easy to mount with no soldering.

PROs:

- Good neck (polish those frets first!)

- Decent, attractive body

- Pretty easy to put together

CONs:

- Brittle body wood

- Cheap looking knobs

- Tuners and pickups ok at best

Overall a fun kit, good for the money and a great starter for a custom build.

All the basics you need, great for a project, but if you're looking for a cheap guitar, you're better off buying a readymade harley benton in the same price range.

Swapped out both the pickups and the eletronics so can't really comment on sound.

Neck is fair, frets are not perfect but they're playable, you get what you paid for.

Body is good, no complaints.

PROS:

Cheap, easy to assemble, great project

CONS:

Holes don't line up, takes a certain degree of crafting knowledge to get it right, cheap electronics

Create A Guitar To Suit You

Harley Benton Strat Style Guitar Kit

If you ever wanted to know how a guitar fits together this is the kit for you. The instructions are clear. You will need a few simple tools such as a screwdriver and a spanner to fix the machine heads. You can paint the body ; I used graffiti paints, Montana Black Purple Rain with twin Orange stripes.

I recently modified the guitar by adding an Artec hot rails style humbucker in the bridge position. I also installed a switch so I can use it in single coil mode.

I changed the tone control from the middle pickup to the bridge pickup, this was a simple mod. Further mods include adding a resistor and capacitor to the volume control to prevent treble loss when turning down the volume.

Pros

Excellent price.

Clear Instructions.

Body to neck join is accurate.

Fun to play a guitar you painted and assembled.

Cons

The first body had the bridge holes drilled in the wrong place. The replacement body was correct.

The pickups are a little harsh.

The body wood was a little rough.

The pick guard cannot be removed without loosening the neck, because of the 22 fret neck extending over the pick guard.

This kit is great for a first time builder. Even out of the box play for the price excelent. If you put some time and elbow grease into it you will get a nice strat for just a few punds.

Body is realy light made from 5 pieces of wood. Neck is made from one piece.

Before spray painting you should still sand the body since it is not smooth.

I changed all the electronics, tunners, tremmolo and nut. Now stays in tune perfectly. I also levelled the frets and crowned them.

Ordered some new cheap alnicos since the ceramic pick-up in the kit don t give the sound I want.

OK product for the price

I have built three of these Harley Benton sets, the P-bass, the Tele and now the Strat model. They are fairly easy to build and the instructions are comprehensive. The finished products sound OK. I have upgraded the pickups, which made a big difference. The main point of me getting this kit was mainly to get experience in building a guitar, but I have actually used the finished product quite a lot!

Fun little project

Don’t expect to build your dream guitar with this kit. What you can expect though is a very fun guitar building experience and a GREAT, risk-free exercise in setting up/finishing an electric guitar. The end result can be an enjoyable guitar with some effort and basic tools. Obviously not the best sound due to the cheap electronics and woods but great fun all together. No soldering required by the way! Recommended for what it is: spare-time project and learning experience. If you are looking for having your main guitar replaced, i’d look elsewhere. Harley Benton makes some great (finished) guitars if you’re on a budget!