Harley Benton MS-60 VW Vintage Series 5-stars Reviews

Mental for the money!

This is a gorgeous little guitar. I bought it because I couldn't afford a Mustang. The strings were a little high in the nut but 10 mins with a set of Oxy-acetylene torch cleaning files (£2.50, Ebay)) sorted this and 5 mins with a file on the Whammy bar internals transformed it from a super little guitar to an amazing little guitar. I own 4 Harley Benton's and am blown away by all of them. Great materials and quality. I think the prices are so inexpensive because of the limited amount of actual human involvement in the set-up. You might be lucky and get a 100% one straight from the box but a bit of research and an hour spent fine tuning is so well worth it.

great guitar

Ive been a fender fan most of my life. I was very surprised right out of the box. No improvements needed.

great guitar

got this and had to work on the nut a little bit, but apart from that, great guitar. looks like a mustang but with a twist. pickups are too bright , but a swap would help.

My first electric guitar

I bought this guitar because three singles are too much for me. Great price, good quality.

Pros:

- Sounds good

- Good quality finish

Cons:

- Tuners not the best

All in all a very nice guitar for a very low price.

Nice little guitar

Harley Benton have really delivered the goods here, purely on lòoks alone it wins already straight out of the box.

If you have no experience of short scales and quirky bridge/tremolo systems then expect to do some on the job learning before you get it set up well. That is not a criticism of this particular model but any guitar with these features. If that scares you then check out the st or te range of Harley Benton guitars.

If you must have a 'stang and are prepared for the regular quirks then go right ahead and grab one of these. Because after a simple setup it really is a lovely guitar that has a really authentic feel.

Plugged in sound, firstly went through a Fender Champion and I had intended to replace the pickups...then I put it through a valve amp and changed my mind very quickly.

It sounds great for a number of styles from rock'n'roll to Nirvana to atmospheric doodling. It seemed to come to life through an amp with tonal character, I would say it has a more jag like tone than 'stang like...but no complaints there.

Will be grabbing a lefty version as soon as they are in stock.

Excellent 24” scale Mustang Inspired Guitar

The Harley Benton MS-60 is an Excellent 24” scale Mustang inspired guitar. It’s more beautiful in person than what the photos reveal. It’s short scale makes it very easy to play and it sounds amazing,

Nice jangly sound guitar

I bought this to see if I wanted a wiry jangly sound. It does all that but I found it a bit too suble for my Tele, Strat, Les Paul 335 style of playing. The trem works fine and it has a very light action and in the right hands would do a good Indie type performance. I sold it for little less than I paid for it. It looked and sounded the part and now has a more appreciative owner!

Excellent Mustang style guitar

Good balanced feel, neck is smooth and comfortable, and the tremolo system works a lot better than expected for a budget guitar, especially considering the general design has known issues even on high end guitars. All in all, an excellent beginner guitar and a great platform for mods for more experienced players.

Bang for the buck

Lost the whammy bar sadly, but I still love this guitar. The guitar flew in all set up ready to go. Fell in love with the short-scaleness!

The bridge pickup output is noticeably lower than the neck's output, which I'd say could be a downside. The fret edges could also be smoother, but hey, it can't be all perfect!

If you're still going back and forth about whether or not to buy this guitar, just order it and think later – that would be my advice!

This is an excellent guitar. The quality is excellent I didn't find any disadvantages.

Nice vintage guitar- the best one for its price

Hi guys! I've finally got this beautiful instrument and really want to share my happiness with you =)

Pros:

- A very nice freatboard, no frets stiking out

- Solid tuners, I'm impressed

- Neck pickup sounds warm and the bridge one is like a glass

Cons:

- pickups sound is rather quiet, will fix it with amp volume =)

- the bridge is really hard, not going to use it anyway

- pickups are a little bit noisy but they are singles so it's fine

Overall MS-60 is a great guitar. It can be used right from the box. No addtitonal fixes needed. I'd like to replace bridge pickup with another one in future but no rush for it.

The color of the guitar is not white as on a picture. It's lemon but I think it's even better - a true vintage look.

I'm going to use this guitar playing with my rock'n'roll band. Hope I could play it even during conserts.

Surprising

This guitar surprised me as I was not expecting such quality for the money I spent. I mostly play blues and the MS-60 can keep up quite comfortably. Pick-ups are superb, it keeps the tuning for ages and the feel of it is that of a more expensive axe. It also looks the part.

Very recommended.

Pickup heights

This is an excellent guitar, apart from the pickup heights. The neck (on mine anyway) is very high above the body. Because of this the pickups at their highest setting is around 3/4" - 1.00" away from the strings. I like them adjusted so they "punch" and control the treble/ bass response. Because I cannot get them close to the strings overall the guitar sounds like a rhythm guitar, used for chords only. Apart from that...... excellent!!!!

Fabulous

What a lovely, 'small' guitar! When it arrived, within two days to the Netherlands, and unpacked..i felt that quit some fret-edges where kinda sharp . That was easely corrected with Göldo Fret Polishing Rubber...works great...the rest of this guitar is marvelous...intonation was almost spot on..build quality is very good...and it is so much fun to play...i love the slim neck...the little bit smaller space between the frets fits my hands...the pickups sound very alright! It plays light and slick....it keeps it's tuning.My second Harley Benton electric guitar is a hit aswell! Love it!!!

Great Guitar

Guitar came set up out of the box and plays and sounds great.

I play at home for pleasure and don't like to spend a lot on guitars. This is a great guitar for the price.

She's ruined my other guitars with her sweet quack and chime

I'd like to objectively rate this guitar and it has faults to be sure but I find them increasingly charming the more I play it. I watch 60 cycle hum on YouTube and was physically ill when a horrid cheap lunch tray replaced the beautiful pick guard it came with. Seriously I'm actually thinking of ordering 2 more to do mods on as like Billy Joel I wouldn't change a thing on "this 1" my baby. I can't believe how cheap this adorable little and to me fabulous sounding guitar is ( O like single coil pickups and surf rock). For those of you who aren't as easily smitten she did come in with a couple of dark smudges on the top pickup, some un-sanded spots on the neck and head stock. I only wish I looked and sounded as good as she does with such little maintenance since she stays in tune despite the tremolo. If your baby doesn't you can always watch 60 cycle hum and order replacement bridges .... Please don't deface this beauty with a badly cut lunch tray though you've already saved a fortune on a treasure in my opinion.😉

Great for the price

I love this take on the Duo Sonic, had to perform a couple of tweaks , polish frets, file the nut slots but nothing major, I changed out the bridge for a mustang copy, helped with the tremolo action, Pick ups are good at the price, a great guitar.

Great guitar, pickups need adjustment.

This guitar should not have staggered pole pieces? When you get the pickups close to the strings the g and d strings will give you strat idiss. These pickups are very good but you need to raise the a and b string pole piece just a tad higher and push the g and d string pole down. you have a gradual rise from the low e to the d string and a rise from the first string to the g string. The bridge pickup will not go high enough to the strings. you can remove the white cover and this will alow the pickup closer to the strings. If you want to us the cover cut off the two wings of the cover were the screw hole is sand it flush with the cover, put a few drops of super glue on top of the pickup and put the cover back on. I can now get my pickup 1/64 away from the strings and the pickups sound aw some with good volume. My model is new and i did not have to shim the neck and the trem stays in tune with the stock bridge. I have owned the squied vintage mod mustang, the Japaneses model and this the best of the 3 models. I could not believe how smooth the neck is no fret ends sticking out. my action is 3/64 at the 12th fret.

fabulous value - stunning looks

Always wanted a jaguar or jazzmaster. This MS60 caught my eye and fitted the bill. Now I have it in my hands I'm not disappointed. Flawless body and neck, action so-so (ie needed tweaking), still exploring the sound palette, but enjoying difference to my Epiphone 335, can't wait to use it in anger so to speak.

My wife reckons it's bright lemon rather than 'vintage white'

Jazz anyone?

I bought this on a whim. I wanted to try a short scale design and at the price it is hard to see how you can go wrong. To put it mildly I was gobsmacked when it came. This is a beautifully made instrument. The neck is chunky but nice to play, the fretwork is good, the tuners work well. As with all my Harley Benton's of the Fender style I changed the string trees to the Harley Benton roller trees which are much better than the bent tin design, they cost so little but improve tuning stability no end. The electrics work well, no problems and the pick ups sound good. I also fitted the Harley Benton strap locks, they are secure and it means I can use one strap for several guitars. In my opinion this is a very nice guitar at a crazy price!