Harley Benton CST-24 Black Cherry Flame DLX

Ik heb deze gitaar gekocht als avontuur. Nieuwsgierig geworden door de positieve reviews op internet/Youtube heb ik de knoop doorgehakt: "Een veelzijdige gitaar voor zo'n prijs? Dat wil ik wel eens meemaken. En valt het tegen, dan was het een leuk experiment".
De aanschaf was dus niet omdat ik hem nodig had. Ik heb al een PRS SE 245 en een Fernandes JS-90 Rhoads.

Bij een gitaar voor deze prijs mag je verwachten dat de afwerking niet perfect is. En dat is ook zo, maar wel bijna perfect. Op de rand van top en binding ontdekte ik een heel klein putje in de lak en in de halsbinding zit een vlekje, maar dat is dan ook alles.
De hals is recht zoals het hoort, de snaren rammelen niet en de frets zijn keurig gelijkmatig aangebracht en haken nergens. De mechanieken doen hun werk goed, maar zijn naar mijn mening wat aan de kleine kant. Bovendien draait de ene wat lichter dan de ander. Ik ben van plan deze binnen afzienbare tijd te vervangen door locking tuners van Schaller.

De gitaar was bij aankomst uitstekend afgesteld en speelt heerlijk comfortabel. De twee humbuckers met coil splitmogelijkheid in combinatie met het grote bereik van de tone-potmeter maken hem zeer veelzijdig. Ik had verwacht dat de pick-ups van matige kwaliteit zouden zijn en dat ik ze snel zou vervangen, maar voorlopig heb ik die behoefte helemaal niet. Ik speel met onze band voornamelijk Amerikaanse heavy rock á la Van Halen / Extreme / Alter Bridge en daarvoor is deze gitaar heel erg geschikt.
Door de gelijmde halsconstructie is de gitaar heel stabiel en voelt echt aan als een instrument uit één stuk. De gewelfde flame maple top ziet er fantastisch uit, hoewel er niet zoveel diepte in zit als bij een PRS, maar daar is de prijs ook naar.

Pro: mooie look door arched top met flamed maple veneer. Veelzijdig door de humbuckers met coilsplit en goede tone control.

Con: de tuners zijn aan de kleine kant en draaien niet allemaal met dezelfde weerstand.

Conclusie: de Harley Benton CST-24 DLX is een hele goede gitaar. Als je de prijs in acht neemt, is het zelfs een fantastische gitaar. Voor dit geld kun je geen betere krijgen!

The Harley Benton CST24 in Black Cherry Flame ... Where should I start? Let's start with the Pros because they outweigh the cons definitely. It's a great guitar for the price. Finishing awesome, playability good. That was the short version.

Pros: Beautiful instrument that feels way more in value than you pay for it. It was properly packed and just minor tuning needed (although making the way from Germany to the UK). The sound out of the box is way better than any other instrument in that price range I have played so far and can hold up with Fender Mexico versions or Epiphone Custom Shops. The intonation was almost spot on. No string buzzing or anything like that. Action was really low and the neck itself is really fast. Great.
Get one! Especially this finish is very beautiful.

Cons:
There are, as expected, a few issues that need to be addressed in an honest review. The tuners are not good. You can turn them and turn them and maybe at some point something happens. But replace them aftermarket with some Graphtech locking tuners and you are fine and it doesn't break the bank. The nut was in a weird angle and the cutouts for the strings haven't been done properly, so the high E-string almost popped off when bending a full step. the B-string ... similar. The fretboard is dry, but nothing that a bit of lemon oil couldn't fix.

Summary:
I wish that sort of quality would have existed when I started playing guitar 25 years ago. I had to deal with a Strat copy from our local dealer, that was more expensive, had the weight of a Jazz Bass and never stayed in tune.
What Harley Benton offers here is great value for money and specially as a beginner or someone that likes modding guitars - this instrument is a fantastic starting point.

Great Instrument for the money! I have sent this one back, although I prefer the look of it. I have a Amber Flame as well, that did not have the above issues and I will give the CST 24 HB a try as well. Let's see which one makes the cut.

The customer service of Thomann is outstanding and quick and the HB Team answers every question about the instrument before you buy and within 14 days (in the UK) you can send it back at no cost (if the guitar is not damaged by you) if you don't like it.

In general, it is a very well-built guitar for 1/5 of a price of an original custom SE 24 model - that was the main reason for me to try this instrument.
Out-of-the-box it wasn't absolutely flawless. Frets were not polished, several frets had relatevely deep notches, obstructing from bending the high E-string, seemed like someone on the factory in Vietnam levelled the frets by a hammer after the strings had been attached;-) Lacquer on the back side of the neck also was't perfectly polished with some hand prints on it. Fretboard was absolutely dry with spots of glue here and there... So before plugging the guitar into my amp I had to spend a several hours polishing frets, sanding and lemonoilng the fretbord.
Anyway, overall build quality of the guitar body and neck is really good, its nice to hold it in your hands. The body is just beautiful, the guitar is considerably lighter than a full-body LPs, all frets access is easy, neck is quite slim and narrow compared to mentioned above prs SE, very playable, I should say. Tuners are OK, they do the job.
If you decide to buy this guitar pay attention to a very 'specific' prs-type bridge setup: before you try to adjust string action by large coin-slot bolts be sure you fully unscrew small black mensuration-setup screws! And by the way you can't properly setup the action before you complete your scale length setup - when you move the bridge the string action changes. So the whole procedure of of setting up this guitar can take an hour of your precious time.
Pickups are not an absolute junk, they are quite decent, but sound a bit weak compared to traditional Dimarzio or SD humbackers, and for sure, being coil-splitted do not sound like real single-coils. The guitar gives you a lot of different intonations, a lot of room for experiments, but you can't substitute a LP and a Strat by this one guitar.
To wrap it up, its a great value-for-money guitar, reasonably priced - not only for beginners, with no real competition in its price rage. Just keep in mind its price and your expectations will be met when you receive it :-)