Harley Benton ST-20 SB Standard Series 4-stars Reviews

The guitar came with a crooked fingerboard. I straightened it with a truss rod. Action was high and I had to take it down. There is a fret on the sixth string. I suggest the company to raise the technical control of its production.

Cheap guitar with cheap sound

The build of the guitar leaves much to be desired, but what can you expect at this price? After purchasing, it is worth modifying it yourself: File the frets, adjust the neck and scale. The guitar sounds very cheap, but for beginners and for children in general it is suitable. Accessories are also very cheap, a little backlash.

3/5

For its cost, the guitar is not bad, but there are some differences

It's good! Not perfect but good.

In my case:

- Neck: good, but frets the are slightly sharp;

- Pickups: work as you expected;

- Body: no issues;

- Tuners: work, but one slightly tilted, which happens in more expensive guitars. Not a big deal.

As a result this guitar is good. Especially when you look at the price. After ordering, you receive a product that you can use right out of the box.

I think this guitar can be a great starting point for beginners.

Awesome guitar

Its my first guitar, and its amazing. Playable, comfortable, good sound. I heard that the guitar doesnt hold the tune well, but all amazing

Better than expected

For this price point it would be a shame not to order one of these guitars. It's crazy to think that you can buy a guitar as affordable as this one and get more than you paid for. It's is very comparable to my Squer Affinity Strat.

Why should you buy this guitar?

- Affordable price

- Easy to play for a begginer

- No setup was needed out of the box, playable from the start

- Guitar looks great, no issues with the finish

- 3-ply scratchplate which some of the more expensive guitar don't have

- Leveled frets, nicely rounded

- Quality comparable to some other more established brands

Things you should be aware of before buying, but don't influence the playability much:

- Tuners are not the greatest, but they do the job

- Tremolo arm has a lot of play in it, but that can also be remedied

- Frets could be more polished. Lots of scratching when bending the strings.

Overall, great bang for the buck.

If you want to start playing, this could be the best choice in terms of quality and price.

Customer Service

The folks at Harley Benton are just fantastic. I have bought 3 guitars so far, and 1 of them had some minor shipping damage, and 1 had some fret damage. Harley Benton replaced the guitar, and gave me a voucher on the 2nd one. This is very considerate and flexible of them. They have won me as a customer for life. I will buy all of my future instruments from them. The options and pricing that they offer is also very unique and I will recommend them to all of my circle of friends who are musicians.

As basic as it gets.

Great strat style guitar, with little flaws as far as the neck and body go.

I would prefer better wiring and pickups for my standards, but i guess that is a matter of taste and individual needs.

BUT, even with an upgrade in electronics, the whole thing still costs about 100-120 euro and feels great in your hands!

Crazy value

I was looking for this style guitar for some Floyd/Hendrix/etc. that I was recording. Didn't feel like spending a ton and was ordering another guitar, so added this on to minimize the impact of the US shipping.

I've been incredibly impressed with this guitar, and have been using it almost nonstop (about 3:1 versus the more expensive guitar I bought at the same time). The build quality is extremely impressive at this or any price range. Guitar just feels great to play, sounds great unplugged or plugged in, and looks great. I wish I could've gotten a guitar of this quality at this price when I first started playing.

The main downside is that it just will not stay in tune (the G/B strings primarily go out of tune within a few minutes of playing). Basically have to stop recording and retune every couple of bars. Will look to pick up some better tuners in future, but for the time being, cannot beat this guitar for the price. The only other downside is that the frets are a little low for my tastes, but getting used to working around that so I can get the sound I need.

Another great Harley Benton purchase and I'm sure I'll be back for another in the future!

Great for the price

Nice sound (for the price). Detunes quite quickly but hey, it's cheap guitar, what would you expect. Overall: great value, perfect for beginners.

Good guitar for beginners

Hi,

we use every day this guitar. No problem. Maybe sound could be better if I compare this product with same price guitars. But for beginners is OK, quallity and features are very good!

My best recommendation.

Super good value

A very good guitar overall. I just can't understand how Harley Benton make such good quality products with those prices. A great guitar for a beginner, but also for a semi-pro or amateur. Intonation was good straight out of the box, and the strings were decent too.

Good for students

These guitars are especially good for students. They are a great price and with a little tweak they play well and have a good tone.

If you are on a budget I would recommend you try one or better still take the advantage of a beginners bundle deal.

For £68 you really can't complain, Bought for a friend's birthday present and was actually put together better than my 50's reissue MIM Strat. Ideal as a learning guitar so if it's not for you then you haven't wasted a ton of money on it.

The guitar arrived super fast, it amazes me how quickly it comes through the door.

Very well packed and protected. No damage to the guitar whatsoever.

My first impression is that for the amount of money spent its one hell of a good deal.

In general I would say the instrument is not a condition to be picked up and start jamming but investing a bit of time setting up you end up with a very playable guitar. Ideal for a student I believe.

The pickups are ceramic single coils, the sound is not bad but I am replacing these anyway.

The Tuning pegs again are cheap; they were loosely installed on the headstock! I I had to bring out a box spanner which sorted it in a couple of minutes.

The action and intonation were good. The bridge is again cheap but useable. The finish on the body I find very good.

This is not my first purchase from H.B , overall I believe they provide excellent value for money.

A professional's view

I'm a guitar teacher and professional musician. I've played hundreds of guitars owing to the fact that I also have a small shop selling vintage guitars. I bought this guitar as I needed a student instrument for people wanting to try guitar before finding and buying their own. This is superb value and here's why...

Thinking back to when I bought it my initial thoughts were how nice it looked; the grain of the body, the feel of the neck and the general finish. It's also quite weighty which feels reassuringly good. On a lot of cheaper guitars you can get sharp fret ends or cheap tuners. Also I felt the set up was pretty decent; it felt nice to play. Another big thing that I look at is tuners- the machine heads are very solid. This is so important for a beginner because tuning is initially difficult and out of tune guitars sound bad! I found that this held tune really well. A massive plus.

Looking at other instruments on the market, specifically the more famous manufacturer's budget models, I'd have to say it's a tie. But the really amazing thing is the price- it's just so cheap yet really decent quality for a starter guitar. I've since recommended this instrument to students who have bought it and found them to be consistent in what I've talked about above.