Harley Benton R-457 Active SBK

Solid entry choice for 7 string guitars

Fir the price they offer this thing for, you get a lot fir the money. 7 strings, active pickups, a matt black finish and a comfortable neck to play on.

The pickups aren't the best and I'll be changing then out for some nazguls soon, but the rest of the guitar was definitely not a regret as a 7 string.

The b string delivers on the extra heavy crunch promise without fail every time.

If you're wondering about getting a 7 string guitar but aren't sure of spending too much money, this is your best choice. HB should look at switching the pickups to fishman or SDs, but overall a very good product

Brilliant

This is brilliant to learn seven string on especially as the price is so low!

Affordable, Heavy Chugging Riffage Covered

Yeah, it would be an easy assumption that this is being reviewed in the realm of one of those guys that likes to layer grotesque levels of distortion and gain, nearly making any notes being played as an aside to the general visceral assault on the listener's eardrums. But, I assure you that's but one mere facet of the capabilities that this well crafted guitar has to offer.

I honestly truly enjoy the feel of the slim neck and its comfortable fret board layout. I would say that for lead work it would require some rather dexterous & nimble tiny fingers, but I am a bass player with the opposite of the aforementioned phalanges. It does still feel rather comfortable to play on, unlike some other guitars that make me feel more like Tiny Tim rocking a ukulele.

The active pickups definitely give the edge to the tone which helps with the overall tonal definition when playing a dizzying flurry of notes, but it manages a nice level of sustain when more subtlety is called for.

The neck pick up selection brings a smooth warm tone which is surprisingly rich, yet not too domineering in the low-end spectrum, which too often tends to create a steaming pile of audio excrement when not put in check.

All in all, you simply cannot find anything at such a price that will give you as clear and nuanced of tones, well constructed & at a price that makes you second guess whether or not you are reading the numbers correctly.

not worth it

the neck pickup just stopped working after a week and the electronics have a lot of interference and buzzing in general

Other than that, the fretwork is pretty decent and so is the tuning stability. Since there are other options in this price range, I would not recommend.

Excellent

I have this black beauty for 1 day now, so we will get to know each other more in the future.

The Good:

-very comfortable for playing both standing and sitting, no neck dive at all, good balance.

-made for metal, I agree with others that this is a bit too much for progressive, definitely does metal with no stress.

-Beautiful satin finish complete the feeling of metal guitar, be noted that satin finish cannot process your sweat like gloss finish so i immediately put a shinning spot on guitar body, which I'm fine with.

-Excellent quality control, I received the guitar in brand new shape, it survived shipping, no problems at all with electronics or body finish or truss rod or frets or neck, everything is functioning as it should be.

The Bad:

-too hot pickups, I mean more than what you can imagine, I didn't yet open the electronic plate, but I suspect the guitar is equipped with 500k pots which are too much for active pickups. the best way to play this guitar is to have the volume at quarter, then you will get good balanced metal tone. can live with it, maybe will swab it later with Seymour Duncan invader.

-the blackwood fretboard is too dry, i will try to lubricate it with lemon oil.

-Guitar tune stability is a bit concern to me, out of the box it was out of tune which is expected, but after a day of playing you need to re-tune it, not a big issue as it is fixed bridge and takes few minutes to get it back in tune but consider changing the tuners if that will annoy you.

-Definitely you will need to change the strings which I was prepared for and got myself GHS 58-9 and tuned it to dropped A with no issues.

Conclusion:

So, is it good project for mod? yes. Can you still use it the way it is? still yes, but it comes down to your level of perfection needs. for me, I'm happy with this guitar more than some other 800 Euro guitars and totally recommend it.

Pleasantly surprised

After reading some bad reviews for Harley Benton guitars I wasn't sure what to expect but I love it. The finish was perfect and the frets are all good. It does come through quite loud but that's exactly what I wanted it for, who buys a 7 string to play pop covers?

Great budget friendly introduction to extended range guitars.

First off the thing looks great, really nice matte black finish that looks and feels great, I tried to find imperfections and couldn't find any that I didn't make with my grubby hands, very easy to leave shiny marks.

The frets are all seated properly, no sprouting and no sharp edges, could use a light polish but that's to be expected. Full marks there!

The neck is pretty thin, my first thought was that it looked like a floorboard had been shaped into a neck but when I started to play it I was thankful for that thinness because it's wide but it's still really easy and comfortable to reach that B string (I'm a bassist primarily so that might not be true for guitar players looking to experiment with 7 strings, I find the B on this easier to play than the E on my 6 string) there is a pretty glossy finish on the back that I found kind of sticky, easy fix with some fine grit sandpaper or something like a scotchbrite pad. Mine arrived with a forward bow but that's an easy fix with truss rod adjustment. The only thing losing marks for this neck is the part where the headstock angles back is pretty thin, it's fine but I think for my peace of mind I might make a sort of volute that I can glue on to add a bit of support (that it probably doesn't need)

The bridge seems well made but the action on my guitar is still kind of high with the saddles all the way down so I may need to shim the neck to get it to where I want it, easy job and not something I mind doing on a guitar in this price range but might be an issue for beginners (though if you're brave enough to get a 7 as your first guitar you'll find the courage somewhere, it's a reversible mod anyway)

The pickups are... not great. They're REALLY hot, totally usable for really high gain playing, they aren't very articulate but the can be fun to bash out some of your favourite metal riffs (first thing i played on it was LoG walk with me in hell, the fun bit, not the hard bits haha) but they're damn near impossible to get clean tones out of, makes sense considering this is definitely a metal focused guitar but worth mentioning. I bought this with the intention of replacing the pickups anyway but I was hoping the stock pups would be a little better than they are, if I were more of a gear head I might be able to get them to sound much more usable but right now I feel like if a fly landed on the headstock I'd hear it through the amp which brings me to my last point, this thing is surprisingly resonant! I'm super impressed by how great it sounds unplugged, sustain is great too, I'm really happy with my purchase as I wanted to swap pickups anyway and I think this will sound great with my planned SD Invader in the bridge.

I would recommend this as an excellent mod platform or for someone who want's to start experimenting with extended range guitars, not so great for beginners (I wouldn't recommend 7 strings to a beginner anyway but this price makes it pretty attractive to new comers so worth mentioning)

Good Quality for the price

It's my first 7 st guitar but I've played some other 7 strings before (schecter, sgr, Ibanez) What I can say is that the fretboard is little bit dry, tuners are crappy, everytime I take the guitar I have to tune at least half step.

On the other hand, fretboard is really comfortable & thing (compared to SGR) tones are heavy. If you are planning to use mostly mellow and clean sound, you should avoid this guitar because this guitar is monster metal machine.

So I would recommend for metalheads, but prog guys, you should at least try & buy.

Value > Money

I bought this guitar a week ago. The guitar was delivered in excellent condition, no scratches, in tune (which was a big surprise for me), good string height. It has a wonderful neck and the body feels really comfortable.

The only "flaw" is that pickups are a little bit too hot and the sounds is really muddy if you add distortion. However a pickup change will solve all your problems.

All in all, this is a great option with a really good price and a great way to introduce yourself to the 7th stringdom.

I highly recommend this guitar for it's price!

Outstanding for the price

I was looking for my first 7 string just to play around with and see if I could get into them and I didnt want to break the bank, this was my first order from Harley Benton and it totally outperformed my expectations!

Out of the box it looks amazing, the finish is top quality, no noticeable imperfections. Setup right out of the box was great, just lowered the action a little but other than that it's perfect!

The pickups are reallllly hot, like other reviews have said, you wont have an easy time getting a clean undistorted tone out of this unless you turn the volume down to about 50% on the guitar, even when you want crazy distortion it's a little much, you'll need to dial back your gain on the amp or the volume knob on the guitar, but once you find that sweet spot it sounds amazing!

For the price of the guitar I honestly can't believe the quality, would definitely recommend!