Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style 5-stars Reviews

Surprisingly good

I was really surprised by the quality of this guitar considering how cheap it was. Especially the neck, it's very well made, so much better than some "brand" guitars of lower price range.

Assembling the kit was really straightforward. I didn't even look at the instructions booklet. It needed very little setup, just some truss rod adjustment and intonation. In less than 2 hours I was playing the guitar :) And let me tell you, it plays really nice.

The harder parts are cutting the headstock and painting the body. I didn't had any prior experience so it was quite some work.

If you don't have painting experience I would recommend to practice on some other piece of wood first. That way you won't have to go by trial and error on a real guitar as I did :) Also take your time and let it dry completely before moving forward.

All in all this was a great project which resulted in a great guitar which I definitely would play a lot. I highly recommend this kit!

Great price value

It's not a 300 or 500 euro guitar, so was not expecting much. Changed the snares. Tuners could be better. Did not paint it, just oiled it, looks great. For the money you are paying you get a real bargain here. A great strat looking guitar that's fun to play with. Changed the head to my liking with a saw.

Stunning kit

Really really enjoyed building this plays great. Only one niggle machine heads arent the best but other than that superb

A must have if you're serious about electric guitar

I'm a beginner guitarist - started to learn during the first lockdown in Spain - and never played an electrical guitar before. I bought this as an entry path into the electric guitar playing, mostly to learn and understand how the sound comes out.

The package came just in time for my birthday, no damage, scratches or missing parts. It took me about one and half hour, with breaks, to put everything together. You need a good screwdriver and a key (that's for fixing the tuners in place), other than that, nothing, everything is already wired and soldered in place.

Be extra careful when you fix the bridge, as it will be connected to the whammy bar later on, and it will affect the tension in the strings. Expect a few trials and errors. Also, be aware about the truss rod, if you happen to see the strings coming too close to the fretboard. You can adjust the tension in the neck - to the point of making it concave or convex - thus adjusting the distance between the strings and the frets.

The white pickups board has a thin film on top of it, again, be careful when you remove it, as it may get stuck, or you may have leftovers around potentiometers.

After I tuned it and connected it (you even get a cable, so no need to buy an extra one) the miracle: there was sound coming out and I could play an instrument. Don't have too many expectations in terms of quality, this is perfect for practicing (probably even singing for friends) but if you look for stage-ready equipment, be ready to do some upgrades. Which is exactly what I'm going to do: I will disassemble it, properly paint the body, shield the inside (to reduce hum) and, if I can squeeze in some new pickers (humbuckers) I will add them too, making this stage-ready (or so I think right now).

If you have no idea how an electric guitar works, especially a Stratocaster, then this is by far the easiest, cheapest way to understand it. And you get a real, playable instrument. It's also fun.

Excellent service

I received this kit in 5 days delivered to the middle east and was exactly as described.

Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit

I bought the Harley Benton Guitar kit as a simple project during Covid-19 lockdown and finished painting the this week. The product is well designed and fits together perfectly. I have tuned it and it plays well, I will need to play with the setup but all in all its a great product. It a great way to understand how the guitar is put together and being able to paint it yourself is great fun. I would recommend the product.

Very fun project

I've bought this strat kit after having a positive experience with the Harley Benton Telecaster kit. This strat kit is no exception. Although I've seen some youtube video's where the guitar bodies showed some imperfections, the body I've got delivered however is of very good quality. It consists of three pieces of basswood with a nice grain figure. Unfortunately not all screw holes where aligned perfectly for the bridge, so I'll have to adjust them in order so let the bridge sit straight on the body. The neck is very good manufactured and really doesn't need any work. Nice rounded fret edges, no high frets.

If you're looking for a fun project with a nice sounding guitar this is a no-brainer!

Happy owner

Ok, 3 months since I assembled it, so I can finally give full review.

First of all, its not an IKEA shelve, you will need more that just a screwdriver. I had to shut down 1 hole that was screwed wrong and make a new one, and internal cavities on a body needed some care, as they were really rough and could damage wires. Really, it looked like cavities were done with dull tools. The rest of assembly was easy. Neck is really well-made, has satin finish that feels nice in hand and doesnt slow you down at all when playing. I would say its worth getting this kit just for a neck, if you need one for a project. Worth mentioning that when it came, fret sides were perfectly smooth, but after 2 weeks in a dry climate they started biting, so I had to sand them down a bit. So if your neck will come with frets sticking out a bit, don't blame the factory right away. Electronics are soldered well, but pickguard needed some adjustment to make space for neck and tremolo. Can't say anything about tremolo system itself, as I blocked it right away, Eric Clapton style, to increase sustain. Body surface needed just a bit of polishing, it has natural finish which I kinda like so I left it unpainted for now. To drop the string action I had to remove the nut and sand its bottom down, but it allowed me to get strings down to 1.2-1.5mm above 12th fret(from thinnest string to thickest). Overall it was a lot of fun to assemble, and I definitely bonded with my guitar after that. It makes me pick it up and practice more. It has nice glassy sound that strats should have. After 3 months still everything is fine, neck is straight, guitar holds tune well. That's all about my experience with that guitar kit, but be wary that all kits can't be exactly the same. Mine wasn't perfect, but good, and all problems were solveable, so I rated it 5/5 considering the price.

awesome kit

hardware was sufficient, but most people get new pickups and pots. This is a great kit for new builders like myself!

ST Kit, Excellent Guitar

I have Just completed my ST build,

I shaped the headstock to a more traditional shape,

spent several hours shaping and sanding until it was as I wanted,

Finished the body in clear lacquer as the wood was blemish free,

I fitted everything that came in the box,very good fit, if you take care ,

The Neck is really good and straight as an Arrow

I Fitted Ernie ball strings ,the guitar plays well and sounds brilliant

Anywhere I can post pictures ?

Think I will try a T Style kit next

Well impressed.

Ideal kit for home diy project, amazing result, you will enjoy

The set arrived on time carefully packed with all the elements and parts. The quality of work is excellent, it can be assembled and used immediately. But still I will process the wood by sanding and coating (transparent dark shade) to be able to see the beautiful patterns of the wood. The neck is beautiful, smooth, precise, it fits perfectly on the hand. Yes, you can invest in better pickup's, but the supplied kit is also great.

I highly recommend it, my rating is pure five.

Great Guitar kit

The guitar that came out from this kit is one of my favorites. I used the pickups I wanted and changed the nut for a graphtech one although when I took out the one included one it was very resonant.

Great product, can yield a great guitar.

Flawless Product

It came with a safe package. All parts separated with the thick nylon bags. Also came from Germany to Turkey just in 15 days even in the x-mass period. Generally, I'm happy with the product but I must say that it has a wonderful neck. Frets are correct and no sharp ends. The body is light but it will be heavier after painting and mounting the electronics. I'm really happy and looking forward to getting another one.

A satisfying, straightforward, and decent sounding guitar project

After seeing videos on YouTube and varying quality (it appears the T-style kits are the best by far, which will be my next purchase), I was pleasantly surprised by the entire kit.

Firstly the body. Smooth and well cut, it could have been left as is but the sealant had to go so I could prime it for painting. Sanding by hand using 120, 400, and 600 grit sandpaper as I went, the sealant varied from very little along the back and front to seemingly truckloads along the belly cut. Still, when I couldn't get anymore out, it didn't look too different and I couldn't see any defects. Although the painting process would reveal some anyway (sanding and spraying over the two sections along the back resolved that).

The neck feels extremely smooth and shaping the headstock didn't take long (cutting by hand with a Japanese saw). The frets felt smooth enough out of the box that only an absolute perfectionist would be sanding and polishing them. More importantly, they're also level. Which happily saved me some work! :)

The pickups are decent ceramic ones without much in the way of breakup at the extreme ends. Functional and certainly on a par with guitars that use ceramic pickups from any brand that cost upwards of £200 (depending on how cheeky the brand is). If you want Alnico pickups, either buy a prebuilt Harley Benton (from £110+), a Kramer VS-211 (£109+), or buy a set of Alnico pickups either to immediately replace or later on down the line (set aside £20-£30).

The tuners are much the same as any inexpensive electric guitar. They work and, with the guitar setup properly, stay in tune. Although locking tuners would be advised at some point.

The same can be said for the strings, good enough for setup but I replaced them with a set of 9s I had laying around (budget Johnny Brook brand but they sound better to me).

The real joy though is having a guitar that you painted and put together without any need for soldering. Straight out of the box, you could have this all put together in about an hour or so - although if you're going to be painting this, obviously expect to add days to the build time to allow for adequate drying time as you build up the layers. Paint and lacquer (or clear coat if you go with that instead), expect to set aside around £15 or monetary equivalent for primer, main colour, and lacquer. Of course. if you have unused paint/varnish laying about...

Overall, I'd say if you're willing to budget about £50 extra to cover any tooling and materials you'll need, you'll have a perfectly playable guitar that will not look like any other and, provided you can play well enough, will impress all around you. Expect to tell the story of your kit build many times over! I built this for my sister for her to learn to play guitar on. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I get requests...

I give this kit 4/5 overall - but the enjoyment I derived from the entire project means it gets top marks 5/5 from me!

Nice

Really nice for learning about the gitarr and how it works.

Also fun to start building from.

Suprisingly good quality for the money.

Great kit

I've tried kits from other manufacturers and these are significantly better. The necks in particular show a level of care to the construction and finish that is way above the competition. Hardware is functional but at this price is obviously not great. Upgrading is very simple to do and still brings the guitar in at a very reasonable price. The telecaster model is a little more simple to construct if you're doing this for the first time but neither should cause any difficulty for anyone with a little DIY experience.

It sounds

...like a strat and it works...but! of course material is cheap...you?ve got what you have paid for...you can rebuilt it on your own and do what you want to, it is easy...this is what is this kit focused on...so why not to make something unique from this piece

My first own build guitar

To fill up the Christmas holiday I order the ST kit. Although I just starting guitar playing with some old LP I build the ST rapidly without problems. The result was astonishing for such a low cost guitar. I still improving the sound by tuning the action. Now I am awaiting my 3rd guitar, a HB CST24T. I am curious!

Fun project

I had a lot of fun building a guitar from this kit. Every component in the kit is usable, considering the price point. The neck is massive, I mean full on baseball bat and on the one that i got i had to do a lot of fret work (rolling the edges and sanding the fret sprout). Witch to be honest you should expect to do when you get a kit like this one. The fretboard is really dry and had a few crack, but nothing too serious. The body is super light, but it is a laminate of about 5 mm pieces of wood stacked on top of eachother and glued together. It's a fun project to build, but it is not worth investing in high end hardware and pickups in it

Awesome!

Got this kit today as a kind of early b-day gift from my wife, and what a gift!

I really love guitars and DIY hobbies, and this kit is just amazing!

Be aware that if you want to stain the guitar you'll need a good 2/4 hours sanding time.

Assembled it as it came and needs some work here and there but nothing much, as it plays quite well and the sound though it is not amazing (you can change the pickups whenever you want) it is quite nice, the entonation out of box was almost spot on!

Now I've already disambled it and started to stain, it's getting amazing!

If you enjoy customizing and having a good time, this is the perfect product for you!

Looking forward to finish this one and grab a LP kit :D