Harley Benton HWY-25BKS Progressive Series Reviews

3+

The weakest sides of this guitar are:

Finish – it's made so poor that it holds your fingerprints (even if you washed your hands twice) and it screws the look of the guitar really bad.

Tuning – it's pretty unstable, always need to tune it after a couple of tight riffs, but okay, manageable.

Frets – they are rounded not that good too and scratch your fret playing hand, not to cut off it, but not that comfortable too.

The strong side is sound – it is pretty solid, no doubt there. Clear sound without noises, sounds good on distortion, really nice.

Overall – okay+ value for 100 euro + shipping.

If you want a budget metal guitar this is for you

Needed a really good setup, truss rod adjustment and action etc set, up, bridge was a bit loose but it is 90 quid.

Once set up plays just as good as any mid ranges guitar and sounds better than the Emg hz series pickups which I have installed in another guitar.

Looks great, neck is nice and thin and plays brilliant. No issues with fret buzz frets seem nice and level.

Would be comparable to the Ltd super strats.

Wow

Purchased this for my daughter this year for Christmas. Its her first guitar and I didn't want to spend a ton on a first guitar. First of all this does not look like a $91 guitar. The matte black just looks menacing and nasty in a good way. It really looks much better in person than in the pictures.

This is a legit amazing guitar.

You might have read that the knots are to cheap and it cannot be in tune for long. Let me tell you. You dont need to change the knots or the lock if you dont want to. You only need to tune the guitar and TIGHT THE LOCKS and it will stay tune for a solid amount of time. Its your decision, but mine works flawlessly. I had to fix some intonation issues, but this is normal and it takes no more than 5 minutes to do.

Microphones are very reliable and the actual feel of the guitar and constructions looks completely solid. i think this guitar should cost much more that what it does.

I use it every day and Im 100% satisfied.

Recommended 100%

well assembled

sound is one dimensional and a bit dull, so a let down for me, but the quality feels there.

Might be worth a change of gears, bridge, pups, etc.

As is the case with these cheap instruments, the neck will be chuncky.

Fun Guitar

Stays in tune even after using Wammy bar, looks as nice as it plays, Not 1 complaint, and ... no sharp fret ends as you would find in most guitars at this price point.

Might be the best guitar in its category and price range

Guitar arrived in perfect condition; no high frets, no scratches, no broken electronics or anything. Matte black finish and satin neck, what is there not to like here?

The fretwork on mine was an amazing surprise- the frets were crowned and polished, something I have never seen at this price before. The action was high, but lowering it didn't cause fret buzz.

As someone else noted, the pickups are passive with the active look and actually sound OK for most genres, no need to swap them immediately.

The neck is kinda thick, similar to a Schecter (IMO), not the "Modern D" I expected.

Some cons would be the cheap small pots and the tuners that don't hold tuning well. Might want to swap the nut first though. Also, I blocked the cheap unuseable tremolo, it probably has to be swapped if you need to use it.

TL;DR - Best bang for buck "metal guitar" under ~140 euros that Harley Benton has; also suited for leads (24 frets).

Black is Beautiful.

After waiting 10 weeks for it to arrive (out of stock) it was a pleasant surprise to finally have it in my hand. But, wait is this the same guitar I ordered ? A quick check confirmed there had been a change made. The neck was now completely Satin Black, and not natural as shown in the photographs, apart from that everything else seemed as it should be. The whole guitar is finished in a very cool Satin black and feels very comfortable. The two humbucker pickups have textured black covers, and sound SWEET. There is a single volume and tone controls which work perfectly well. It came fitted 10 gauge strings, and mini Grover tuners, which maintain the tuning even after a vigorous bit of whamming. The fretboard is Treated Maple, but looks more like Ebony, and matches the Satin finish perfectly. My only reservation before purchasing this guitar was The Reverse Headstock, and after using it now for a few days, I have to say I can't see the point of reversing it. Tuning becomes a bit awkward and it does nothing to enhance the instrument. Overall this a wonderful guitar that looks great and plays effortlessly, with great tone. This a good buy.

bad guitar and bad service the nick for guitar damage

bad guitar and bad service the nick for guitar damage

Great Value

I purchased this guitar with the intention of modifying it. It had a nice sleek look to it. From the moment I purchased it, everything was processed very quickly, and was shipped out the next day. I received it maybe two weeks after ordering it.

The guitar itself was in great condition. Packed very well. Came in tune. Setup really well. It had some rough frets, but easily smoothed out with playing. The guitar is light weight, but not to the point where it feels like a toy . It feels really well built. Hardware was decent. Nothing to complain about considering the price of the guitar. The pickups also sound fairly good. I did have an issue with the bridge where it was off center by a few millimeters. But the issue was cleared up by customer service.

Overall the guitar is worth it. It's pretty great on its own, and it's also a great modding platform.

hey that pretty good

i got this guitar as it was cheep not expecting much but when i received it i was surprised in a good way,pretty light weight and the other things impressed me. i would be happy to pay more for it as its very well built

Amazing guitar for the price

This guitar I got for only £85 brand new!!! I couldn't believe it either. But this a great guitar and the lefty head stock makes it feel good, I don't know why but i like that feature.

Even though it is amazing for the price. There are only a few flaws with the guitar I got.

1. The volume knob didn't work right. It only was full volume or none at all which is kind of annoying, but it's not that bad.

2. There is evidence of filler for the fret board where the grain is quite wide, but has little effect on playing.

3. Some of the frets had dents in which catch the strings when trying to bend. It's kind of annoying at times when I'm trying to solo and it just nicks the string and makes it twang.

Overall this is a great guitar for the price. A great first guitar and the Trve Kvlt matte black finish and fret inlay make it amazing to look at.

got a couple of them

I have no idea how It is even possible yet alone profitable to build a guitar for this price

Like with other Harley Benton guitars the HWY-25BKS needs some work. After leveling the frets polishing them and dressing the frets and ends properly. Then setting the guitar up to my preferences.

I have nothing to complain about, even the pickups are not bad.

I could not build a guitar myself for this price and as a starting point for a customized Guitar this is perfect.

I have guitars that are many times as expensive and don't sound as good when set up perfectly

Sensational Stealth Guitar

I own two HB guitars and a bass and I have to say the quality at the pricepoint is beyond belief. This cost me £83 and I wouldn't be disappointed if I'd paid £250. Honestly, the knurled metal pots are probably worth more than £83...

The finish on my guitar is flawless, an anti-radar matte-black which suggests quiet menace. The reversed headstock adds an angular, sharp look and the predator fret marker is beautifully executed.

Out of the box, set-up was fine, though I've lowered the action a touch and tweaked the intonation to compensate. It's very playable - I'm no virtuoso, but my fingers zip around the neck and nothing seems like hard work.

The two humbuckers have plenty of throat, lending this guitar a rock/blues/metal character; I can't see it being the best for folk, jazz or funk. This is industrial when you want it to be, but not without finesse on lighter amp settings.

My one gripe is the whammy bar, but this may be partly my fault: I've slackened it off to enable extravagant dive-bombs, but when it returns the tuning is hopelessly destabilised. I'll try re-tightening and I might swap out the machine heads...

All-in-all, you simply cannot go wrong with this guitar: you're getting pro aesthetics and playability for beginner's money.

Why the terrible name, though? Harley Benton? Sounds like a steak-and-kidney pie and it's NOT cool on the headstock