Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit CST-24 Reviews

Great value

I decided to add this kit to my order of a fretless bass because it was inexpensive and I could better value from the shipping costs. I was sceptical about such a low priced kit but I'm really impressed with the result. I found it easy to assemble, plug in pickups eliminating the need for soldering and everything fit together well. The back cover plate had some screw holes that didn't line up but that doesn't bother me. Bit concerned about the fixed bridge that doesn't allow for intonation adjustment but the intonation seems fine, I might replace it with a cheap aftermarket bridge but happy with it so far. I'm amazed at the action, it plays like butter with no fret buzz with a low action and smooth edges on the fretboard. Really happy with the sound. It's comparable if not better than more expensive instruments. My only complaint is the pore filler on the wood which you have to sand off to stain the wood so I left it as is, I don't mind the raw timber look anyway. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase and consider it good enough to go with.

Much Better than expected

I bought this kit for £77 because I couldn't afford the ready made guitar at £220. I was giving my mind a treat about my abilities to stain and finish the guitar though. I didn't sand the sealer off enough so the stain applied unevenly too late to fix so I just went with the resulting Cobalt blue satin.

The quality of the components was nice - the best being the neck - the frets are amazing no sharp edges and no tooling marks and it feels fast and smooth(I didn't paint it or do anything to in case I spoiled the feel). Everything fit together perfectly and worked first time(except I put the Volume and Tone pots in the wrong place-but I like it so I left it that way). I changed the supplied wrapround bridge for a slightly better wrapround with individual string adjustment £10 from Ebay. The action and intonation were incredibly almost perfect on first set up. Beginners luck I guess. I don't know what make the pickups are but, wow! I just love the sound - they have a definite quack to them and the sustain is great. The finished guitar weighs just 5.75lbs so on a par with a Strat nd the belly scoop means it feels really comfortable as well.

To sum up - wow I love this guitar - it's right up there with my Epiphone Les PAul Standard which cost 8 times more. Very happy.

Got 5 Harley Benton going for the 6th they are so good

Best guitar you can buy for the money I have bought five so far and all arrived in perfect condition keep up the good work

Great guitar for the price

I bought the guitar for my wife to carve on it and make a fully personalized guitar. Really nice guitar for the cost. I recommend.

Make it your own

Similar design to PRS body, and neck and body matched perfectly easily assembled perfect for the amateur Luthier to get started on seeing how guitars are put together.

Start a new hobby

want to start a new hobby building guitars? This is the kit for you. With easy to follow instructions and simple assembly. Building this guitar will help alleviate fears and anxiety of building a guitar. Also the price is right.

Wow!

Turned out better than expected! I mean wow!! I turned this into the 6-String of my dreams without dropping $3+

Pieces missing

The nuts for the tuning keys are missing so i can t really test the sound of the guitar yet :) Also, the holes for the tuning keys are too big. The neck is finished nice though

E-Gitarre Selberbauen relativ einfach

Ich wollte eine spezielle Farbe und im Prinzip auch mal eine E-Gitarre mit "CST" Scale ausprobieren. Die Beschreibung ist hier aber widersprüchlich. Ich glaube es sind auch 628mm und nicht 635mm, aber ich habe eine andere Bridge verwendet, daher bin ich nicht ganz sicher.

Das Holz vom Body ist relativ weich und kam auch schon mit paar kleineren Dellen ( klein in den Außmaßen aber sicher zu tief zum Schleifen ). Für mich noch im akzeptablen Bereich, aber wenn kein Selbstbausatz dann hätte ich es eindeutig als B-Ware bezeichnet. Dafür ist die ganze E-Gitarre relativ leicht ca. 2,8 kg besser geht's nicht :-)

Wenn man nicht von Bausatz abweicht, ist die E-Gitarre denke ich in 1-2h Zusammengebaut. Für die Wartezeit zwischen dem Lackieren sollte man aber insgesamt paar Tage einplanen.

Bindings am Hals gefallen mir nicht, aber gut. Bünde sind auch etwas kantig, das wird noch etwas eigene Feinarbeit brauchen der Hals an sich ist aber gut.

Ein Schnäppchen, wenn man was Individuelles will und nicht sofort nach dem Auspacken losspielen will natürlich.

good, but not great

The kit is valid as usual and has some very interesting features, just a little perplexing the fact that they always use the same combinations of woods. In this case it came with a slightly wide neck cutout. I don't like how the top is shaped, but these kits are easily modifiable. The pickups are a placeholder, but in short, the kits are made for customizing.

A very good kit for the money

The price is very good, but the kit is not without issues. I got mine withj 2x 50mm pole spacing humbuckers and the bridge humbucker was also positioned a bit high so the high E string was not in line with the pickup pole. Fretwork was at best passable, but nothing a few hours could fix.

It a very fun project and with some time a a few upgrades this guitar is now very good. I did consider it a a project from the start and have had many hours with fun!

Excellent kit

Easy to assemble, lost of sand required if you want to stain. Very good value and a good instrument when finished.

Great kit

Put this together, liked it so much I upgraded to locking tuners, and hotter pickups. It is awsome.

About a CST-24 Guitar Kit

It really good,but it have:

+:Guitar sounds well,guitar is easy for assembling,price.

-:Bad material(Wood),pickups isn't good,fragile electronics.And a switcher has broken in a first day after assembling.(On pieces)

For a beginner guitarist it is very fantastic!

But for pro it naturally not good,as a beginner.

It sounds incredible,in all positions.And it isn't buzz,like a other cheap guitars.

I really like it,it's my first solid body electric guitar,and i impressed!

Excellent guitar kit with few minor issues

I've just finished assembling mine so my impressions are fresh.

The good:

- instructions are good and easy to follow

- the overall assembly only took me an hour and a half but I bet it can be faster

- Sound is great

- Looks are great!

- low action and very easy to play

The not so good:

- some of the holes are drilled badly and there are pieces of wood that need to be removed

- the pickups switch is a bit short and I've had to remove the inside nut other I couldn't install it (This might be a result of me being a noob)

Overall I'm very impressed with the whole package and I'm looking forward to ordering the next one.

Recommended!

damn good for that price but with its quirks

Overall I'm pretty satisfied, my biggest complain is that my kit was missing the truss rod cover.

Assembly is easy, some of the holes are slightly misaligned and require a bit of pushing/pulling to get the screws in but no major work was necessary to make it work. Took me 3 hours while taking my time.

The frets are pretty rough at first but after a bit of playing and bending they get smooth. Manufacturing-wise the neck is all good, no sharp frets or rough spots. The same thing can be said about the body.

As the title says, my biggest complain is the missing truss rod cover. Other than that, the instructions could be more specific, figuring out which screws to use could be a pain for somebody with no experience.

A thing that isn't mentioned on the product page is that you get TWO pairs of pick-ups; covered and uncovered humbuckers - it was a really nice surprise!

I don't regret my purchase and would buy it again because the guitar looks amazing.

harley benton cst 24 kit is amazing

i bought this kit with high hopes of it being my main guitar , it went togther perfectly.the bridge was verry easy to intonate and plug in pickups were simple and they sound amazing. after it was finished i put a set of ernieball super slinky strings and this kit build is now my main guitar over my guitars that cost 5 times more ,,,,, i recomend this this 100 %

Great base for a project guitar

I bought this kit with the intention of using only the body and neck. I replaced the pickups for a Seymour Duncan set and added inexpensive locking tuners. The supplied electrics were well soldered and worked well, but I swapped them as I wanted a push/pull coil split option (this is the only reason I reduced the 'features' rating from 5 stars to 4). Despite the body wood being quite soft and the bridge being quite light, it sustains well. The neck is beautiful. I didn't need to dress the frets or adjust the truss rod. I just cleaned it and added lemon oil. The wraparound bridge required only a couple of turns to set the intonation and the action is low and with no fret buzz at almost the lowest setting. I own 4 other guitars (all way more expensive) and this is by far my favourite. I was so impressed, I've ordered another, which I plan to paint and use the supplied pickups and electrics.

nice kit

Neck is straight.

Frets - nicely finished and no high frets.

Kit came with two sets of humbuckers - with covers and without them to match the picture presented on storepage.

Do not like the woodsealer on the body, it takes some time to sand it off and it looked like it was unevenly sprayed on the surface.

All in all great, compared to another kit ive previously assembled - very well made and thought through.

Too good to be true

From pros - yes,it is it - your ticket to PRS like guitar build. Due to choice of meranti wood for body it sounds incredible. Lets say - all is good, except:

- significant neck dive (light meranti body vs very thick maple neck) - incurable;

- tom stopbar was put in the kit instead of wraparound bridge;

- upper bevel cut made deeper that on a photos;

- brown protective sealant - I ubderstood why its there - to protect wood... but it takes so much time to sand it off that pleasure from kit almost vanishes due to it;

- scale length is 24 3/4, not 25.

Would I still buy it again - probably yes.