Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Black Flame

I was waiting to the CST-24 come with P90's and here it was! Out of the box its was set up properly, with good intonation and action, almost in tune. The frets are perfect, even polished! Nut well slotted! The overall finish is fantastic!, Well crafted guitar indeed!

3 negatives though; The Roswell P90's are Ceramic pickups and very thin sounding, they lack warmth. I had the Wilkinson P90's in the TE-90QM and they sounded dynamic, fat and warm. So far Im not fascinated at all by the Roswell pickups (I tried most of them, ST, FLT, Humbuckers, TE and now P90).
The tremolo block can not be bent sharp because its mounted too close to the cavity wall. One can only bend flat which in my case is all I need. Otherwise, the trem works fine.
The soldering is done badly in this exemplar. It sure works but the solder looks cold and not so tidy.

All in all a very good guitar for modding. I would go with new pickups and new electronics. I ended up returning it because the neck is a bit too thin for my taste and I can not live with that.

Due to circumstances over Covid-19, last year I had to sell my beloved Ibanez JS1 (one of the first 500 made). It was a beautiful instrument and probably the finest axe I will ever own. Someone got a bargain and I wish them well with it. With finances a little better this year, and missing not having an electric, I wanted an inexpensive instrument to futz around with some ideas and get playing again. Having always gone for Strats in years gone by the JS1 Floy Rose wasn't my favourite personally. I also always liked single-coil clean tones but didn't want a Strat neck after having the Ibanez for so long and thought I'd take a gamble on the CST24T P90. I reasoned that as long as the neck is okay I can always upgrade hardware as finances allow.

Well. The CST24T P90 has come as a complete surprise. It arrived detuned by a semitone or so, brought it up to pitch and the intonation is pretty much bang on! It most certainly doesn't look like a ~£200 instrument and played fine straight out of the box. The pickups sound good to me, pots are nice and firm. The nut wasn't cut very neatly but fitted correctly with no snagging. The vibrato seems fine and am confident it will float okay when I get around to it. The tuners do their job and are the only thing I am considering upgrading at this point but will do for now. There were a few 'imperfections' on the binding but no big deal. The JS1 had its 'flaws' as well. In fact, every instrument I have ever owned has no matter the price!

The frets could do with a dressing but nothing major and I wouldn't have been disappointed if the tuners/trem needed replacing immediately but this will more than do its job for a good while which is a result. An absolute bargain. Pleased as punch!

I wanted another P90, and than this model came about. No need to buy the black one and change the pickups :) When I had scratched together the money I ordered one. Reviews are good, as this one will be also.
But first:
A nasty little scratch on the back of the headstock and dirty and damaged looking fretboard startled me when unpacking. After just playing for a few hour the fretboard looks ok, even nice. Two things are important:
1 it’s so nice I played for three hours. Tuning keeps ok-ish for now, better tuners as on my old 2016 cts. Wood is more lively, like it responses more. Necks is nice for me and frets have no sharp edges. Sound is warm but present at the neck, bridge is a bit more nasal, bitey, but not too thin. Middle is more open. Good with chorus. Wilkinson trem is good as always. Looks nice ;)
2 Always play and perhaps clean first..... first view is not always the best way to judge.

Conclusion: such a nice guitar, weight and resonance of the wood will always be different, so I was lucky.
Might sell my other cst..... ** yep, sold it.
Sound is good, p90 is thicker as my singlecoil Teles and strat, bit warmer and less raunchy as my jazzmaster. Also more to my liking as the humbuckers a have and had. To me those pickups were all to “smooth”.
I will try 47 or 22 capacitors, to see what it does. It’s a bit woolly now with tone turned down. ** It became 22's. Strong lows, not woolly anymore. and us made pots. 500V and 250 T.
This CTS24-P90 looks as good as on the pictures. Even better in my house ;) Very very good.
Update 22 aug 2019: Installed nickel locking tuners a while back. Easy tuning and better looks ;). Gave nut some attention for smooth string action. Such a beautiful and nice guitar! Dynamics AND fast player ;) .
Update may 2020: put a tonerider vintage p90 in the bridge. Because I really balanced the Roswell’s 6 screws I didn’t think the sound would be better, but man... thight! Just like I remembered the expensive les paul I once borrowed a few weeks. The neck Roswell suddenly sounds more like a semi hollow guitar, compared. Still nice and balanced. When I get my hb35-plus, I guess I’ll have to buy the neck tonerider. So when that happens I’ve upgraded the cst for €150,- and it will be (is already) so worth it.