Harley Benton ST-59HM Fiesta Red Reviews

Excellent guitar

Great guitar, lovely to play the sound is fantastic compared to an original fender Stratocaster

This Guitar, Fcukn Sh*t Hot

Amazing, first Guitar I bought two years ago was Amazin, the one I bought as a gift for My Dad couple of weeks back, is even more fikin AMAZINGGGGGGLY AMAZING.

Also, honestly, the Guitar 🎸 is Amazing.

I'm Happy Yipeeeee!🤪

HB ST-59 HM Fiesta red

No Fender by anymeans. But hey, for the price it's good. The neck on these guitars feel better than my Squier, and sound very much the same. It's a feel good look for beginners.

The Quality Was Mind Blowing

I last purchased a guitar some 7 years ago (the thing was unplayable out of the box), it cost maybe 5x what the ST59HM did. I wasn't sure what to expect at this price range.

Apart from a slight blemish around the neck pocket, the finish was flawless. The Fiesta red colour looks pretty authentic to me, in general the attention to detail is very pleasing.

My experience here tells me that this would be an ideal guitar for a beginner as all that was needed in order to start cranking out some Hank Marvin stuff was a slight tuning.

An experienced enthusiast on a tight budget would love this guitar, spending a little time, no sophisticated luthier tools to end up with a guitar that looks and feels more expensive than it is.

Starting with the neck relief, it just needed a slight loosening of the truss rod, I went with .009 inches at the 8th fret based on the radius, the truss rod seemed nice and smooth.

The vibrato plate was flat against the body out of the box, I wanted it to float a little, that trick with 'Post It' notes in combination with a small amount of adjustment to tension of the springs got my desired 1/8th inch vibrato plate height above the body easily.

A little string height adjustment was needed, 2mm and 1.5mm was easy to achieve on the bass and treble sides respectively, although I've had to order some shorter grub screws as the stock ones protrude too much with the lower saddles.

The intonation was pretty much spot on out of the box, just the high E string being a little sharp.

The frets feel comfortable, no sharpness encountered at all, I gave the frets a good polish and lubricated the the nut etc. (I lost the high E string during the process, a replacement set of 10-46 strings ensured the previous changes were unaffected) Other than that there's nothing else that needs doing with this guitar.

The ST59HM is the least expensive in my collection, but could well end up one of my most played guitars.

Good stuff

The one I got has sort of a thick , soft V neck, I LoVE it. The body resonates beautifully. Pickups are ok, but nothing special.

I also bought the ST 90, the ash body , rosewood neck one.

Changed necks between them and I think I struck gold ( evaluating myself a genius for the move)

So the alder body of this one, the rosewood neck of the other, Tonerider pickups …. and….. BINGO !!!

Get lost Fender … you and you’re price tags.

I have been making guitars for over 30 years

The reason I bought the ST59HM was of the good reviews. but the one that I got was not up to speck. The quality of the guitar is very poor in my opinion for the following reasons, Not a one piece flamed maple neck it was a two piece plane maple and not made very well, frets not fitted very well, the nut was a cheap plastic thing cut to low had fret ratel, the neck had a back bow in it, the tuners would not stay in tune. the string trees were cheap things, the neck pocket was poorly fitted, Bridge Pickup was not working. the intonation was way out, Playability was none. so I set to work putting It right. Changed the tuners for good ones, changed the string trees for rollers changed the nut for bone, repaired the frets, repaired the bridge pickup, finished the off, fitted all back together put new strings on, then give it a setup, now its all working. I think that I got one of them Friday afternoon ones. But what do you expect for £162.00 (up date) on stripping the guitar down and scrapping some paint out of the pickup pocket the body wood is not Alder as stated Its Paulownia or Basswood.

Exceptional value and excellent quality

I bought this guitar to take to performances to save my old Fender from damage and am very impressed with the quality of the finish in all respects. Some minor set up was needed to get a nice floating tremelo. The tremelo arm is more comfortable to use than my fender and tuning stability is very good indeed. The fretboard is a bit flatter radius than a fender STD Strat but not a big issue to me. The bridge pick up is a little harsh and trebly through an amp but is really good for direct recording of Hank guitar tones. Colour and finish is excellent and the Gold Hardware looks great and to date shows no sign of discolouration or pitting. The White single ply scratch plate is the only thing that lets the appearance down and I would upgrade this if changing pickups. The Neck and frets are perfect. I am a delighted customer.

Buy It and Play it

It is a wonderful guitar, playable, clean & crystal sound.

5 pickup position you can find useful sound,

I really love the Alder body, not too heavy and belance sound.

cons- few minor cons you have to know before buy

1. there's a pit hole at guitar back body, maybe caused by hitting I watch other people bought this guitar have the same problem,

it is not a problem for me, but depend on you

2. You have to do some minor adjust ,

it is fair you buy a quality guitar online at low price, so you have to learn to adjust string action , neck curve for your playing style, I strongly recommend you buy a guitar gauge and tool set

3. the maple fretboard is super smooth and beautiful, but it is too slip~ really too slip...sometimes I can't hold a chord very steady.

Overall it is a wonderful instrument, you won't regret

the st-59 is a pretty good tool for its cost.

A very Beautiful Hank Marvin Strat type Modle

with Alder Body, Maple Neck and fretboard,

Roswell pickups, all golden Hardwear, everything was good out of the box,

why spending money on an eqvivalent squirer or even some MIM fenders,?

i am an average Gigging Guitarist, my style involve s lots of Bendings, its stay in Tune!!!!

its the5th HB guitar i have,WEll done H Benton

if i was a CEO of Fender/squire or Epiphone, i would have been deaply worried(improvement is the word!!!) as H Bentone produces better guitars and... at incredibly reasonable Prices.

Использую для обучения. Гитара доехала целой - упакована была надёжно. Общее впечатление от инструмента приятное.

Что не понравилось: 1) На накладке есть древесный рисунок и он выглядит как грязь если смотреть издалека. 2) Цвет не такой как на фото и в обзорах, не красно-оранжевый, а просто красный. Не смертельно, но впечатление хуже ожидаемого. 3) потенциометр громкости заметно фонит. На максимальной громкости всё в норме, а когда убавляю громкость - звук стихает , но фонить начинает гораздо сильнее. Это уже серьёзная неприятность, её придется исправлять. Эти мелочи весьма испортили впечатление. Потому что во всём остальном инструмент прекрасный.

Да, сравнивал его с Cort G250 BBL У Сort фурнитура по-хуже, но фонит он гораздо меньше , и потенциометры сильно приятнее. В звуке отличия есть, но описать их я не могу.

Инструмент приехал отстроеный по мензуре, с маленьким прогибом на грифе. Я опустил струны ниже, до 1,5мм на первой и 1,7 на 6 струнах. Ничего не звенит - лады ровные по высоте.

Excelent guitar

Incredible sound, good sustai, the tone is fantastic

all the componets are very well

the body of alder, have a very resonat

perfect guitar

I am very pleased with my purchase.

The main reason for buying this particular guitar was because it has the look of the guitar that Hank Marvin is most known for using in the Shadows Band.

Love this guitar

This is my 4th HB. I bought this for the Alder body. Can't buy the body for what their asking for the guitar. Had to do some work on it before it was playable. Bad buzz on the fret board. Took it to my tech. Had to have the frets dressed and a set up. Replaced the electronics with Bill Lawrence and Demarzios. Removed one of the springs from the tremolo. Got the guitar back. After having the work done I must say that this guitar is very much worth buying. I LOVE this guitar! I like it so much that I can even live with the Red body.

st-59hm guitar

guitar is absolutely fantastic quality finish is great action perfect sounds as good as a much more expensive guitar When delivered the outer box was in really bad state feared the guitar would be damaged but all was well Thanks for your excellent service Will not hesitate to purchase from your company in the future KM

Fun Guitar! Not just for Beginners !

For context, I have been playing guitar for over 10 years and this was a great addition to my collection! All the fun "stratty" sounds on a price that makes sense. With a little set up and after intonation it feels and sounds great!

The pickups are adequate but leave room for improvement. Build quality is great with the exception of some stain marks on the headstock.

This is a fantastic guitar, especially for the price!

The pickups seem to be late '50s inspired - low output and plenty of top end. The electronics seem solid and are installed quite well. The knobs turn pretty slowly, which you may like or dislike.

The trem is your standard 6-screw, which is set up very well out of the box. The only real issue I've had is the springs creaking loudly when pulling up on the bar, but that may have been a result of my questionable setup skills.

The neck has a pronounced V profile (very cool to see in this price range) and is finished in a smooth satin. The 13.7" fingerboard radius is an odd choice, but it doesn't subtract from the playability. The fingerboard and fret ends are nicely rounded, though the frets 'grind' a little bit with bends and vibrato.

The finish is actually more of a Hot Rod Red as opposed to Fiesta Red (or at least mine is). Not accurate, but probably cooler if we're being honest ;)

I absolutely recommend this guitar to anyone who wants a fun and authentic Strat experience.

The fit and finish are wonderful and looks of this guitar are awesome! If you ever decide to add a light blue, such as Lake Placid, Daphne blue to this model I will buy one in a heartbeat.

Not exactly as shown

Pros: The guitar came in perfect working condition and was set up well. Fit and finish was good. Sounds like a ST style guitars. Pick up were good sounding, bright and twangy. Potentiometer are full size. Switch was a 5 position import type. Vibrato block was heavy and full sized. It appears to be steel. Neck was a very soft V. Pickup cavity was coated with conductive paint.

Cons: Guitar tuners are not the split Kluson style as is shown in the pictures but are the a non-split Kluson style. Bridge saddle are not bend steel as depicted but a solid cast zinc alloy and well finished.

Great looking for this low price.

Body finishes is good.

I purchased this guitar for the 57 V neck, feels like a 57V.

I upgraded the hardware and the electronics.

It player ok but I like a specific tone.

Good beginner guitar, can't beat the price.