Harley Benton ST-20 WH Standard Series Reviews

Not sure what to say ...

Bought this as base for a modding project. I only needed the main things to be aligned (neck, neck pocket, neck heel, body, bridge etc ...) Pickups and electronics would be changed and so would the tuners, nut and even bridge saddles.

But as of late Im not having any luck with Harley Benton! The neck pocket is routed too wide for this neck. Sure I can make it aligned but you have to be precise when tightening the neck screws.Any way ... I will keep this guitar and play God of Mod with it and hope it makes a decent player at the end.

This body is routed for HSH pickup configuration. The paint is very thin which is good for "relicing" if one fancies such things.

Not sure the fretboard is rosewood ... could well be the roasted maple ... I have a G&L Fallout with rosewood fingerboard and it sure feels more solid in feel and also has those shades of rosewood colors. This ST-20 rosewood is uniform very dark brown.

Frets need slight leveling with rubber hammer and filing a few sharp fret ends.

All in all, I would not buy this to a beginner. Im sure the ST-62 would be a better choice.

Incredible quality for price

Buying the Harley Benton ST 20 WH Standard Series was one of the best things I did ever! Why I am saying this? Because the quality of the guitar is really good, the shape is really ergonomic, light but not too light to be easily move when holding and not being able to move on the neck correctly.

Visually it is also on par with much more expensive guitars from other brands, but much cheaper. I have to say I couldn't recommend it to a professional guitar player, mainly because of the guitar pickups, but for a beginner guitar player, the guitar could be the perfect guitar due to its versatility, being an SSS pickup formation style guitar and also because of the many types of music someone can play on it. Also even though the tremolo block doesn't seem to thick, I didn't had any problems with not staying in tune, while using the tremolo bar for light to medium pulls and pushes.

The wood is basswood but it's a solid guitar and the reverb that it creates can last quite a while.

Pros:

The overall quality is great for a beginner guitar player that wants a guitar to learn to play on it various styles of music.

The sound and tone of the pickups is really good! Of course it can be improved modifying parts on it, but it is unnecessary for someone that is a beginner.

The guitar stays in tune, taking into consideration that the tremolo is not used excessively and with excessive force.

Cons:

There is a bit of humming, maybe more than expected on a guitar, but at this price and for a beginner, I think it is excusable.

I would have liked the tuning keys to be more precise, but fortunately I do not have to tune it often.

Good Pickups.

I bought this with the intention of upgrading the pickups.

But after 30 minutes of trying to get a "bad" sound out of the

guitar I gave up and decided that the whole sound was

as good as any of my other single coil pickups !!

They have a character of their own but all the sounds are useable and indeed Strat-u-like !! Amazing quality and sound

at this price point.

Basic use

This was bought for my 15 year old son who is just trying out different types of guitars, self-taught, to see if he prefers acoustic, bass, etc., or will stick with piano! So it was the best deal at the price and is fine for him to mess around with.

Great beginner guitar

This was my first guitar I bought so I could start learning. The build on the guitar is solid (and very heavy) and surprisingly quite well made. I do have to say that the sound from the pickups is not the best but for a beginner it is excellent!

Bargain!

Very impressed with the quality and tone. Bought as a gift for relative, but checked it over first. Build quality was up there with £200-300 squier starts I've played. I am now considering the classic version for myself.

Good for beginners

I bought one of these within a pack (amp etc) for one of my guitar students when they wanted to move from acoustic to electric. For the price its a great guitar and while its not a US made Strat in quality, the sound is close enough for a good copy. Materials used in its construction are obviously cheap and cheerful but for someone who is thinking of taking up the guitar and doesn't want to spend too much then its a great start.

Not a big hit

This guitar was a disappointment. Lots of problems with the frets.. not a surprise with the cheap price. The body of the guitar seemed to be hardened pulp with laminate on top. The guitar was not very sturdy, it could not handle thicker strings(.012)

Ok, if you know how to use it

First of all, why did i bought this, while i have a fender american standard strat?

Because i want to have a guitar of which i do not have to take care!

Features: it has everything a guitar needs! Only the stringsaddles can't be set to reduce or increase the scale. but luckily it has a quite well intonation.

Sound: I know, i can't compare a guitar costing that much to a fender model, so i rate it considering the price. And for that it sounds well. Not surprisingly good, but neither surprisingly bad!

The same counts for the quality, but the guitar really is playble, eventhough i am not quite happy with the feeling of the neck and the frets. And the first thing to do with this guitar is change the strings!

But if you know how to use that guitar, for small concerts for example, it does the job.

But i think, that only experienced players can get something out of that guitar, nothing for beginners!

Harley Benton pull one out of the bag!

Got this as a cheap alternative to other products for a pupil of mine. It's great! Really nice piece of kit. Tone and intonation are pretty good, small bit of tinkering needed (but you get that on all new guitars). It's playability is excellent and is not too heavy either which is often the surpise with some electrics. Beginner or intermediate - if you rubbed the name out at the top you'd be surprised at a price tag like this!