Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley 5-stars Reviews

Had this guitar for some years now and still good

can't compare to a Gibson

Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley

just like the model its based on but prettier. It quacks like an st70,plays like an st70. So it must be an st70. HSS configeration. no complaints here

I love this guitar!

The finish on this guitar something I would find on a $800-$1000 guitar,and sounds incredible

Amazing guitar for the price!

Looks great, no flaws. Plays amazingly right out of the box. Pickups are decent, love the sound with the selector switch in the 2nd position.

Very nice guitar at any price

I have some expensive guitars in my collection, but I have been buying Harley Benton guitars and they always surprise me with their quality. I was going to "upgrade" this one. But there is no need. The pickups sound great. Not "like" Fender. Different but not really worse.

It is also easy to upgrade this guitar if you want a true Fender sound. Just buy new pickups.

I will keep this one, no question. And for this price ??? Just buy it. You will not regret it.

style and substance

ok so its a gorgeous Smokey paisley finish, on a start style guitar.

pickups are great for what they are, though I rewired the guitar as soon as I got it, I prefer G&L style PTB wiring on a strat and reversed the wiring on the coil split so its single coil standard.

but those were personal choices not the guitar needing them.

however I did have to install locking tuners, the stock ones are workable but not for performance.

Просто красивая перв

This guitar is beautiful for its price, and it's also the color of Grandma's carpet

awesome

just as good as my fend performer usa strat at 1/10 the price, i dont like glossy necks so i always run a - damp scotchbrite pad - to remove the gloss finish,2 minute job.

Love this Guitar

I mainly play in my home studio and I have 10 electrics including this one, but I must say this has quickly become my go-to guitar. the sound and quality are great, feels good in my hands. I wish it would have come with locking tuners but that is a simple enough upgrade. If you are thinking about buying this one, go for it, you won't be disappointed.

Nice looking guitar

Thought I'd try my hand at the St-70 after readings lots of reviews. Mine came with a few problems, the first was that the tremolo spring screws were bent so as I adjusted the screws the tension plate made an elliptical motion which caused the plate to sit higher than the back plate. I straightened the screws but found that the plate was still high due to the screws being put in a little too steep. After quite a while of messing about I managed to get the Trem set up for my lighter gauge strings and all was well. I then noticed another problem, the neck had been screwed on with a slight tilt to the right which made the top E string run off the edge of the fret board, hard to see how anyone could have missed it at quality control. I re-drilled the holes in the body to clear the screw thread so that I was able to move the neck back into the correct position. After these corrections the guitar now plays and looks great. Apart from the teething problems this is an excellent Strat copy, I can highly recommend

For the money - fill your boots

I am an ageing guitar player/collector and own quite a number of guitars, sadly these days all played solely at home. As I am now on a limited income I have to be a bit careful with my funds.

Very recently I bought a Harley Benton EX-76 Classic AN and was overwhelmed by the build quality, playability and value for money so I decided to have another dabble.

I already own a number of strats but have never had a Paisley one and, feeling nostalgic about the 60's, decided to scratch the itch so to speak. I ordered a Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley (at roughly a seventh of the cost of a similar 'branded' guitar).

The guitar was delivered on the promised date, very well packaged with no damage suffered during transit.

Upon opening and inspecting the guitar I was surprised by the quality (it isn't quite on par with the EX-76, but is in a different price range). Running my hand down the edges of the fret board I expected a few sharp edges at this end of the market, but was delighted that the sides were smooth and polished.

The guitar certainly looks the business and the heaviness of the product adds to the feeling of quality.

A thorough inspection of the guitar revealed no scratches, blemishes or imperfections.

The guitar was a little difficult to play at first and I assumed it was the fact that it was fitted with 10s in the string department, where I normally have 9s on a strat. However, playing a while longer I decided to drop the action by adjusting the bridge saddles, and it transformed the playability of the guitar.

The Roswell pickups perform very well for house use, the neck pick has a particularly pleasing tone.

Pros

Nice, heavy, quality feel to the guitar.

Lovely finish.

Visually pleasing.

Excellent value for money.

Great sound.

Cons

Guitar arrived with quite high action but this was rectified relatively easily.

The die cast machine heads are far from top quality but a replacement set won't break the bank.

The "Amaranth" fretboard is obviously dyed at the factory as whenever I am finished playing, my fingertips are covered in a dark coloured dye, however, I am sure the more that I play, the less there will be to come off.

The coil tap switch for the humbucker is quite low quality, but for playing in the house it will suffice.

In conclusion, for this type of money I expected to have to replace a few items on the guitar to get it up to standard, but this isn't the case. If you are considering one of these guitars then take the leap, I certainly haven't been disappointed.

Best Sounding Strat Style Pickups

I have had 5 different Strat’s including a 1993 MIM that I bought new back then and still have. I put in a pair of Fender noiseless into that one, and still didn't like the sound. My Squier Vintage modified even though it came with Seymour Duncan designed pickups still didn't sound as good as this one. The tone in these Roswell’s are just right. I love having the humbucker in the bridge position with the split coil option. Strat’s are known to have a feeble bridge pickup, this one doesn’t yet maintains that clear tone when it split coil mode, and gives you that extra bark and bite in full humbucker when you really need it. The extra high gain in the humbucker really makes your pedals come to life.

This guitar stays in tune really well as long as you don't use the tremolo bar, unlike my CST-24T which appears to have the same bridge but gives you a perfect tuning even when using the trem.

Clapton is famous for putting a wooden block in the tremolo cavity because he wanted to maintain that unique sound a Strat style guitar has, while maintaining rock hard tuning stability. The springs in the tremolo really enhances the unique Strat tone.

When doing bends playing leads the guitar stays in tune, and does so especially well if you tighten the trem bar in the back all the way tight, and tighten the 6 screws holding the trem bar down on the guitar.

I was surprised to get a guitar with a fit and finish done so well for this kind of money. I put it on a stand, and it looks so good, I can't help but pick it up when I walk by and play it.

It took some setting up however. Unlike the CST-24T that came superbly setup right out of the box, this one took some tweaking to get it right which is usually standard fare with any new guitar.

The frets are smooth but using a fret rocker showed me that several of them were a tiny bit high next to the others. Consequently, I could only get the action with zero fret buzz very close to the 2/32" gap I prefer between the bottom of the string, and the top of the 12th fret. I mean it was only a hair over that. Of course, a fret leveling would perfect that because the fretboard itself was perfectly flat; that would make this guitar a rocket ship, and for the price you could afford to even have it done and still be way ahead of the game. Very few guitars come without at least one or two frets a tiny bit raised.

I love the design of the headstock. I like it even better than the ones on my OEM Strat’s. So overall, the fit and finish are superb, it plays wonderfully, and stays in tune really well, and that is saying something because I am checking it with a Peterson Stroboscopic tuner. I love being able to make full note bends for example on the E, B, and G strings and it comes back perfectly in tune.

Considering the price, this is a mind-blowing guitar. I have been playing it more than my CST-24T and I don’t know why. It's currently my pet go-to guitar out of my entire collection.

Far better than expected

Excellent guitar. Far far better than what I expected. The action was perfect. Came almost perfectly setup out of the box. The only issue I had is with the tuning pegs but they are just fine and does the job. Swapping them is a luxury. In my opinion the guitar was heavy and had a bit more darker tone to it when compared to standard Strat which I liked a lot. Awesome guitar. Undoubtedly excellent value for money. and most importantly, the Black Paisley finish is beautiful. Completely satisfied with the purchase.

Nice Guitar for my Studio

Just to have an additional tonal expression I got this Guitar. The Humbucker (switchable) in the bridge extends the classic sound of the Stratocaster design. De paisley design is a bit fade but still nice. The playability is quite good. I had some struggle to get the neck adjusted but now it plays well. The finish is nice and accurate. Overall I can recommend this guitar.

Great guitar

I play on this guitar about one month and very like it, awesome sound and design!

buy this

I bought this guitar as a whim of curiosity.

I am extremely impressed with it and recommend it to both novice and professional. The tuning heads could be upgraded but they do hold their tune but are a bit cheap feeling and there's a bit of play in the keys on a couple of them. The neck is well made, well dressed and the bridge and pickups are very nice. It's well worth the purchase.

Very Unique and awesome Axe!

This guitar is awesome. I just bought mine this year and I love it! I researched it as much as I could before buying it. The neck is glossy so if you like satin you’ll have to deal with that, but I just love the skunk stripe. It is thin with a C shape profile which can fill your hand a lil, but the board is rather flat (12 inches) compared to the small radius of a vintage Strat, but very, very, quick for chords and soloing. The tuners are nothing special but they do hold a tune especially if you tighten the screw in the center of the knobs. However, that’s the first mod I would/will make with probably some locking tuners from Grover. The neck is amazing in terms of the fretboard (not rosewood, much darker looking, almost ebony, and looks dry out of the box, but that’s just the type wood it is) and the frets, although they didn’t come shining, were perfectly cut along with the nut which is perfect in terms of height and cut. Frets will need some polish! The nut may need some graphite here and there as it is plastic I believe. Eventually I might change it down the road but it’s not a big deal. The bridge is absolutely beautiful with a slight hint of gold brush on the saddles (very slight). I have it floating and it is just great for a good tremolo sound when you need it. No dive bombing though, but the block on the trem is one of the thickest I’ve seen. Note: the trem bar has a little tiny screw behind the bridge that you will need to tighten to keep the bar from falling out of its hole (took me a minute to figure that one out bc it doesn’t screw in like most trem bars... lol). There’s a tiny Alan screw provided with the guitar to adjust that. I want so bad to change the pickguard to either a light translucent green or a milky metallic cream white or gold to enhance the colors in the beautiful paisley finish. Any type of gold accents on this guitar would really enhance it! And believe me it really is beautiful! The paisley pattern is truly amazing and one of a kind that doesn’t really look like anything else to me that I’ve seen. In terms of overall color though it has more black on the body than I anticipated. Headstock is nice. The guitar feels very solid, a little heavy though at maybe about 8lbs - you will notice that if you like light guitars. But this guitar is not fragile at all to me. It will last for sure! Comparing this to other guitars from about $500.00 to $1,000 at my local guitar center, it truly shines imho. Just as good if not better than any Strat, Schecter, Gibson, Squire, or PRS in that price range in terms of quality and sound. You never feel like you’re holding a cheap guitar in your hands. I would not change the pickups either! To me they’re perfect for this axe. They have that glassy Alnico V pickup, Strat-like tone, but at the same time there’s something unique about it’s tone that I haven’t found in any other Strat-like guitar. It’s really subtle, but you can hear it when someone else plays it! There doesn’t seem to be any shielding which is really a bummer because there is truly a 60 cycle hum to these PUs, so get ready for that. That’s my next mod along with the tuners is the shielding! That’s about all I can think of right now. I wish I could have found a review like this about it before I bought it, but I’m very very happy with it! Overall this is a great guitar and I love my purchase. Still making up a name for her. Lol. If you like fender Strats, you will love this axe, trust me!

Stop Nit Picking Guys

We All Know that Pickups, Strings Machine Heads Knobs ETC. Can be improved so Go And Spend 3 Grand Then. and there will be something you don't like on that one as well. Trust me I know , That's the way Guitars are, we are all different people with different Tastes in things. some people like low action others High, some people like a chunky neck, others don't, All im saying is for the money guys you cant beat it. If you have a few skills in setting a guitar up then theres no problem ive been playing guitar for 40 years. I Bought this for Home use Only In My Studio and was very impressed. Straight out of the box the Action was very good, But I did tweak it a little as I like really Low Action. Id like to see a Smaller Neck some Day on these Guitars about a 40mm Nut with a Softer C Shape profile ( That's just my preference ) The Quality of the build of the guitar was Insanely Fantastic Overall for me Just Fantastic value for the money Coil Taps As Well

Perfect guitar for daily use.

I've been playing this guitar every day since I got it a couple weeks ago. I keep it right next to my desk, ready to pick up.

So far I'm still impressed with the quality. The fret ends are smooth, no sharp edges. The finish on the neck and body are great, no flaws. The tuners hold tune but they aren't the most responsive. You can turn a couple mm before the actually engage but they are a lot better than on the cheaper Epiphones like the express and junior series.

The sound from the pickups is good enough. I prefer my humbuckers a bit hotter but they're ok. Especially at this price. A loaded 'brand' pickguard costs the double of the entire guitar.

Setup was decent out of the box but I had some small tweaks done to get it just right. The D-string however keeps generating a buzz, even after adjusting the thruss rod.

Overall I'm impressed with this Harley Benton. So much I bought a 2nd HB ST today. In my opinion they're are on the same level as my MIM Fender which costs 5 times more.

Dig the Paisley, man !!

The first thing i check out on this guitar was THE PAISLEY PATTERN..Classy. The next was the bridge Humbucker. Powerful, but not over-powering and "splitable" A nice addition to the usual "Strat" tone, which are well reproduced by the Roswell's. The Ovangkol fretboard was new to me, and had a couple of dark patches, which looked like grease marks, but i think that's in the wood. It gave it a worn-in look, which is fine. This a very comfortable instrument, with a lot of tonal variety, wonderful Paisley Artwork, and is a joy to own.