Harley Benton ST-62 BK Vintage Series 5-stars Reviews

Brilliant deal

It's as good as they say, certainly amazing deal for this price. The tuning pegs are the only part that isn't great, but they are workable and again for the price it's hardly an issue. I'm very happy with this purchase.

Really low price and good quality

Bought it as my first electric guitar ( i have an acoustic one). Just perfect! Feels great, plays even better and easily, it is very easy to get used to this guitar. Using it with my usb interface and amp modulators on pc. Ripping this guitar all day all night and the guitar stays strong. I am definetely happy with the purchase.

Bargain

I bought this guitar for my nephew (10 years old) as he's got the music microbe already! I also play the guitar for 15 years, therefore I was suitable enough to pick the equipment for him. The available budget was pretty tight, as anyone's at his first steps. So, while my brand options weren't plenty, I decided Harley Benton could be the one, although I hadn't played any model before. I was a bit wary, but when the goods arrived and I plugged that beautiful, quality finished guitar in, my doubts vanished!

There's no way that guitar costed us so little! It's more than a decent piece,quality construction, great neck feel, and satisfying tone. A great Strat-like alternative. For new players is more than enough to start learning and practicing, but is also a decent alternative for experienced players. I highly recommend it!

Never seen such great guitar for this low price in 40 years.

This is my third HB strat, and it's the best sounding one indeed!!

It rings like a bell and growl like an churchorgan ....

After a setup this one plays like a dream and again keeps in tune like no other! These Roswell pickups outclasses singelcoils with a price of this whole guitar!!

Now a little wishfull thinking here....if these guitars would have a full bodied tremoloblock and tuners kinda like Wilkinson....people with the right mind would never buy a USA S type again!!!

Great guitar for virtually no money

Bought this guitar on the strenght of a youtube review. PLayed wonderful straight out of the box. Nice Fendery tones and well setup. Tremolo is no good if you want to stay in tune. Quality is definitely way better than a beginners guitar. For this price you cannot go wrong.

A Lot For Not A Lot

First I would like to thank Henning Pauly who did a great job of reviewing this guitar on youtube. If you are considering buying one of these check out his video as well as reading owner reviews.

By way of background, I have owned and played professionally a 70's hardtail Fender Strat, a 90's Strat Ultra and a Tom Anderson hollow drop top Classic. I have sold all of these as I was leaving the UK to work abroad permanently and for the last fourteen years I have been using modelling guitars exclusively for work. Coming up to retirement I decided to build up a collection of guitars for self amusement and have picked up some amazing instruments, many at smile - inducing low prices. The only Strat I had was a Vintage V6 with maple fingerboard which is a worthy instrument but as all my expensive Strats had rosewood or Ebony boards I decided after seeing Henning's video and the pricetag to Give the HB a try.

The bridge and Jack socket plate look cheapish and the scratch plate is sitting proud at the treble horn. The tremelo block looks very thin but I am keeping it hardtail so cannot comment on it's worth. Remember the price and read on. The rosewood board smells strange but I have this on another chinese guitar and once cleaned and oiled it should even out, however the board itself is one of the nicest pieces of rosewood I have seen on a guitar, It goes from dark brown to an almost Rickenbacker orange in a nice marbled style.

Out of the box the guitar plays beautifully and sounds like a Strat. The rosewood board is like an old friend to me already. The Wilkinson pickups look like they may be less expensive than the ones on the Vintage guitar but both sound great. The controls work well and I love the pickguard which is almost flame like and on arrival there was a double layer of protective plastic covering it! The neck is poly coated but still really smooth under your hand. I love the weight and at 3.3 Kg it is one of the lightest and most comfortable guitars I have played on a strap. It sounds and plays better than my 70's Strat, sounds more Strat like than my Ultra with Lace Sensors and while not as good or flexible as the Tom Anderson, it didn't cost two and a half Grand!!! I would be perfectly happy using this instrument live!

Summing up, anyone who plays guitar and is looking for a Strat-a-like has an incredible range af makes and prices to choose from but unless you are looking for a unit with a quality Tremolo Bridge for dive bombing you should give it a try and if you don't like it, at this price hang it on a wall as decoration.

Harley Benton ST-62 RW BK Vintage Series

I bought 3 of these in different colours to try, thinking "hey, I'm surely going to get a decent one out of the three" I was wrong, they were ALL flippin' decent. Really great guitars for the money, and this Black one is defo my favourite - it looks fantastic. All 3 guitars were pretty well setup and playable straight out of the box - amazing considering the price. If you want a convincing Strat sound, but at a budget price point, forget Sq***r Bullets or Affinity's and get one of these - they're much better, (and cheaper).

Superb value

I bought this guitar out of curiosity. Maybe I could recommend it to students. Well, I am stunned! This is just as good as a fender stratocaster, believe me.

I'm rather shocked by the quality of this guitar. I've played other far more expensive S-type guitars that haven't played this well, some very big name guitar manufacturers quality control is substantially lower than this... Back when I started playing a £80 guitar would have been at best fire wood and at worst made of so many sheets of plywood that it would've been toxic if burned... this however is a nice piece of resonant Basswood, I ordered this after watching an online shootout video between this the real thing and a custom S-type and was still slightly dubious of the glowing review, but I needn't have worried. My last S-type was also a good cheap guitar but even that still cost about 3 times what this cost.

Excellent guitar and not just for the money.

ST 62 is quite nice guitar used to pratice and save your expense ones

I am quite happy with the guitar, this will be used mainly to pratice since I have many types of guitars and I don't want to use my expensive ones this is affordable solution for me. I have none complains about the guitar. for this price range why should I complains? The only think I am thinking change is the trem block for a much better sustain.

5 Star Guitar

This guitar was to simply be my "Black Strat", but once again Harley Benton delivered way beyond my expectations. Although I purchased a black scratch plate at the same time I have yet to replace the Tortoise Shell one because it has rather grown on me! Out of the box no major issues to grapple with. No rough fret ends, nice action height, intonation needed a little adjustment, but that is a simple fix an done in a few minutes. I normally play 10's and this guitar came fitted with Daddario 9's which are a little light for my clumsy fingers, but they give the guitar a very comfortable loose feel, like it's been tuned down to E flat, which Strat's are very happy with. I have not engaged the tremolo arm as I am sure it will suffer the usual cheaper guitar problem on tuning. Playing without it holds it's tuning no problem. The Wilkinson pick ups perform really well and in the fourth position with the tone rolled off a little is a great sound! You can pay a lot more for a lot less than this guitar delivers. No hesitation in saying buy one! In fact I think I shall order one of the Sunburst models with the Maple neck!!

Really Impressed!

I ordered the ST-62 based on a number of reviews i had seen on the web. I expected to receive a decent guitar which would probably require a certain amount of setup and adjustment to turn it into a playable instrument, boy was I wrong.

The guitar was perfectly playable straight out of the box, just needed tuning!

Setup was almost spot on.

No issues with body, neck or fretwork.

For €111 this represents amazing value, it plays really well and sound great.

If I have a criticism it's the protective plastic on the scratchplate, really annoying to remove.

Only question is which colour to order next time!

Highly recommended.

Consistent Quality = Great Value

My grandson was so impressed with my sunburst ST-62 that we ordered one for him. Just like mine, the guitar arrived in excellent condition without any shipping damage. As it turned out it required only a minor setup procedure (no truss rod adjustment was necessary). Please note that these guitars ship with the tremolo locked down so be sure to adjust the springs (or not should you prefer a hard tail setup) before intonating it. This is a solid, well-balanced guitar. The fit was almost perfect having a slight warp in the pick guard causing a minor gap with the body. As for the finish it was spotless. The color of the maple neck unlike the Squier's almost white-look, is a rich, seasoned brownish yellow. The only downside to the black body is that it shows fingerprints, smears, etc., but that is the nature of 'black'. However, I liked it so much that I almost wished I had ordered one instead of sunburst. My grandson reports that there is no comparison to his Fender Squier. According to him the feel and sound of the ST-62 blows the Squier away for the same price! The Wilkinson pickups deliver a richer, hotter sound than the Squier which now has become 'wall art'.

ASTONISHED :)

Honestly, I don't really know how this is possible. I bought this as an alternative to using my Fender American Strat in certain situations, but primarily as a project guitar that I can pull apart and upgrade over the next few years. My original plan was to replace the pickups and machine heads, based on my assumption that it couldn't possibly be decent at this price point. Having received it, let it settle for a few days and having had a good look over it, I have to admit that it is such a brilliant buy. I used it live last night for the first time and everyone was amazed at the tone and the fit and finish. The neck feels great (still going to sand the lacquer off though) and it held its tune on a par with the other more expensive guitars on stage. Honestly, this is the ideal guitar for everyone - a brilliant starter guitar (for the same price as the 'Rockwood' I bought over 20 years ago) and an excellent backup/base for a project. I suspect that i'll be buying more of these :)