Harley Benton ST-20MN LH CA 5-stars Reviews

GAS for red Strat

I bought the guitar purely for its appearance. I wanted a Candy Apple Red Strat but could not justify buying another expensive guitar. However it turned out to be very playable and sounded great.

The guitar was delivered quickly and arrived in overall good condition.

The body, pickguard and neck were flawless, The neck had a comfortable feel and the intonation and action were spot on.

The guitar sounded and felt very much like my Fender Strat, at a tenth of the price or less.

However there were a few faults which QC should have spotted:-

The small screws at the back of the headstock, holding the machine heads in position, had not been fitted. There were not even guide holes drilled. Luckily I had the screws and drill to sort this out.

The strings were dirty and corroded and had to be replaced.

I replaced the pickups with a Wilkinson MWHS set that I had available. This did not make a lot of difference. Not surprising as the guitar sounded very good as supplied.

Later fitted MIM Fender ceramic pickups, which did make it sound even better.

Bought this beautiful guitar

And the finish on my guitar is absolutely beautiful the neck is almost perfect and that’s it for the cons everything else is wonderful…

Boght it to be a project guitar, but good enough to leave as is.

I bought this guy with the idea that I would have to switch out a few things, or what have you.......but i cannot really find a need to. it just sounds and plays great!

Harley Benton ST-20MN LH CA

Looks great on the wall.

A great bargain

I bought this as I've a few Harley Bentons, and was looking for something just for gentle Shadows/Dire Straits type stuff.

The bridge pickup is low output, but as I was using it for a specific purpose, it's just a matter of increasing the volume on those patches.

The frets needed a quick polish, and a set of Daddarios, after that it was good to go.

That maple neck, ok, that feels fabulous, it has to be said.

If you're looking for something with a fierce sound, this will not be the guitar for you, but for all the nice, shimmery stuff it sounds just fine.

At this price it's a steal.

We who are about to strat salute you.

Starting off I've been looking into buying a cheap strat for a while having previous bad experience with two other brands which I will not mention names.

Firstly, straight out of the box, a quick tune and instantly playable with smooth fretwork and a comfortable neck and have managed to get the action a little lower which was really low out of the box. intonation was almost perfect. Literally 15 minutes and this guitar was fantastic.

Secondly the pickups. What have you put in this little gem, there wonderful I have played expensive strats and they don't sound as good as these. I've run cleans to crunch to driven blues to hard Rock and these pups really hold up well no squealing etc...

In conclusion I love this guitar I can't believe the price. Its always a pleasure to pickup and play and captures the tone,feel and essence of what a stratocaster is with quality underdog vibes. Great product for a beginner or an experienced player like myself (29yrs) who's gained quite a collection of axes over the years.

My only negative point would be that the machine heads are a little bit rough but provide great tuning stability nonetheless.

no whammy bar

there is no whammy bar..put in an enveloppe and send me please

Brilliant Build, Sound, Quality

Unpacked, did a few tweaks on setup, but could of played out of box.

Briliant

I love this guitar

This is my first electric guitar and I love it. I was worried it was going to be a low quality guitar, but that is a really good guitar. The fret work is good, I don't scratch up my hands like my acoustic which costs twice as much. I definitely recommend it.

Great guitar to get started

Loved the single coil sound. Fretboard very smooth.

Wow. A truly superb guitar.

Brilliant guitar. Looks like a strat, plays like a strat and sounds like a strat.

Solid build and decent sounds.

Cons: Tuners are average. Nut is ok. Neck need some adjustment along with string height, But it was still playable out of the box. Frets a little sharp, but nothing major. Tremelo is a probably a no no and tuning stability is ok, but nut and new tuners would probable help. Perhaps better string trees too.

Pros: Well built. Cosmetically great. The finish is amazing, a sort of metal candy apple red, that has some sparkle. Intonation was super. Neck feel was lovely. C shape satin style finish.

Sounds are astonishing for the money.

Overall: For £71 this is an amazing guitar. Totally playable, but made great with a few adjustments. Wow.

Can't fault it

Amazing guitar for the money. Looks, feels and sounds better than my affinity strat.

Also, so refreshing to find a lefty guitar in a decent colour.

I'm a relative beginner but my tutor was very impressed and also amazed at the price.

The most affordable guitar

If you want to buy your first electric guitar or to try a strat, this one is a good choice. It doesn't make you feel uncomfortable while playing: it has no sharp fret ends or issues with electronics. Candy apple finish is awesome. I don't record my playing and for me the sound is good enough.

For lefties it is not easy to find a cheap and suitable guitar, and I'm glad that I discovered for myself Harley Benton.

Can’t believe the price and quality

A great guitar and played straight from the box with only a basic set up I can’t believe believe how they can supply this guitar at the price they do I have much more expensive guitars that cost 10 time the cost of this guitar and don’t play anywhere near as good as this one . Don’t take my word for it just buy one you won’t be disappointed and and at the price around £70 pounds it’s not much of a risk

How do they do it?

First of all I didnt expect much for the price but what I received has blown me away! The finish was perfect, a little tweak on intonation and away I went. Its very playable and the sounds form the stock pick ups was spot on. I normally install warman pick ups in my guitars but on this occasion I dont think I need to as Stock are great. I have a PRS Custom SE as my main guitar, is this as good? Simple answer No BUT it is right up there as my now go to guitar, it exceeded my expectations and some. 4 Days Shipping from Germany to remote Scotland as well is an added bonus. Get one you will be impressed!

Outstanding guitar for the price

Summary: This guitar exceeded my expectations and was a pleasant surprise in quality & sound. Well finished, a great modding platform.

Background: I've been playing guitar 15 years,and I've owned several S-Style guitars.

Review: Right out of the box, the fit and finish was great. Neck is straight, no sharp fret ends, no blemishes; the guitar was well set up. This instrument is about 7.5 lbs, light compared to your average S-Style; for me this is a plus (I'm a small guy and I don't like heavy guitars). Neck profile is comfy like a modern "C" but a bit thicker, yet with the flatter radius it feels easier to chord on.

Sound: Most surprising were the pickups. Neck pickup is nothing special, but the middle and bridge positions were very pleasant tonally. I've used them for recording with good results. I did upgrade the electronics & hardware with stuff I already had on hand, but you could get away practicing/recording with this on a budget. There are some minor nitpicks I'll mention below about the component quality, but frankly those are to be expected with a guitar at this price. Don't kid yourself. The wonderful thing about this model is that you can upgrade those components rather easily at your preference.

Pros: Great finish, neck well set up, comfortable and light, pleasant/usable tone.

Cons: Undersized import tremolo block (I upgraded to a full-size block and it fit but you'll lose some tremolo movement), mini-pots (I upgraded to full-size pots and they fit but you'll need to ream out the pickguard holes a bit).

This was my first guitar from this company. I was very pleased with the overall quality and affordability of this instrument. The finish was beautiful and the guitar was set up nicely. Frets were leveled nicely and no sharp ends. Great job!

Unbelievable value great action . Got a USA strat and obviously for the money it’s not going to sound like that but it sounds good and as Mark knocker once said,I always wanted a red guitar.

Great price, high quality!

Looking for a bargain priced, high quality Stratocaster-style guitar, then this Harley Benton is just right. Fit and finish are great. Minor drawback, the neck is unfinished natural wood. I would prefer if it was finished with polyurethene to protect the wood from body oils and discoloration. I may poly it on my own as a DIY project. As others have pointed out, the pots are not left-handed proper and the knobs are righty. This is typical for left-handed budget guitars. I'd pay a bit more for left-handed pots and knobs and poly-neck.

Astonishing

So, recently i found out about harley benton guitars and after many thoughts and reviews i decided to buy one. Its the first time buying an electric guitar so i didnt know what to expect. Ordered this red beauty since it was a left handed model. i bought it with an HB-20R b-stock amp. when i first played it today i was amazed on how this low priced guitar can sound that good on the clean channel. I still havent tried much the overdrive channel because of the neighbours,but till now i've been satisfied.

pros:

beautiful

awsome sound and nice model

cheap

cons:

till now not any cons, just the amp might lose a lil bit of distortion when put in high levels buts its not a big deal

tone controls dont give that much of a change, but volume surely does!

All in all, i would recommend this guitar because its perfect for beginners and its ahead of its price :)