Harley Benton ST-25TH Firemist Reviews

Good quality for price

I received the guitar and I tested it for two days. Didn't like the sound at the end because I've been playing for more than 11 years now and I was looking for something better so I retourned it.

Would recommend for beginners or intermediate guitarists with a tight budget.

Firemist , Unbelievable!

I got mine yesterday and it was fantastic out of the box, couldn't actually put it down! I showed it to.my Guitar tech and now hes ordered the same! Gigging with it this Saturday instead of using my Strat Plus Deluxe , never expected to be saying that!

Best Harley I've owned.

I now have 5 Harley Benton's. For over a year I'm been searching for a ST style guitar and even thought about building my own super ST. Then I seen the coming soon Harley Benton video and decided to hold till I seen what was coming. So glad I waited. I couldn't build my own and even come close to this quality and price. You can tell they took extra special care of the 25th series guitars. To my shock the steel frets were even polished and I own a Fusion, HP42 and they need a little work and I love those. Why the 5* even though if sound is 4/5 well for the quality and price I would give 6*. Hats off good work you earned my repeat business, even if I do stare at it more than play it. Piece of art is added bonus.

Great product feature-wise, but entirely unplayable

First, the good: The neck is beautiful and fits snug in the hand. Very comfortable to hold and it appears as though there has been some minor fretboard edge-rolling. The locking tuners look high-quality and the stainless steel frets are a great appointment (had I not encountered what will be discussed soon). The pickups sound fine. The finish is quite nice too. Excellent price. You won't find another guitar like this for what is being asked for.

Now, the bad: The strings above the 10th fret buzz (and a couple below) rattle like crazy. I counted up to 14 high frets when tested with my fret rocker, which explains why the amount of fret buzz and choking that this guitar gets is unbelievable. I have never experienced such negligence from Harley Benton before and am stunned how this could have ever passed quality control. I looked to see if the frets were possibly popping out of their cavity and they are all seated properly. In addition, the action is not low and the truss rod is properly tuned. The issue is clearly with the leveling of the frets, which makes it practically unplayable. I tried raising the action, but in order to adjust it to the point in which the buzz sufficiently disappears the strings are so high off the body that the instrument cannot be played in a way comfortable to the fingers. I am very disappointed with the state that this instrument arrived in. I want to love it, as I do my other Harley Benton guitars, but in it's current state and for the current price I cannot come to bring myself to give it more than 2 stars.

I ordered the TE version in the same order and have encountered no such problem with that model, so I suspect I got unlucky with the ST.

I have bought many Harley Bentons, some being pretty good, but this is by far the best one I have ever owned, and the first that's compelled me to write a review. Some things to know: the color is almost like a copper more than a gold, but I also find it really unique being that color. The pickups are pretty decent, but if you are picky about pickups, you may want to change them (I almost always do). Also, I am not sure if they are all going to be this way, but the flamed maple neck on mine was ultra flamed, more flamed than I've seen on any other guitar in person before, but I probably got somewhat lucky getting one with such stellar flamed maple. The stainless steel frets are crazy smooth and shiny. I've gotten stainless steel frets before that were still scratchy, but these are not like this, Harley Benton seems to save their best materials for these.