Harley Benton CST-24HB Tortoise Flame

Nonniin, otsakkeen mukainen kitara tuli taannoin tilattua hyvän vaikutelman HB:n kitaraan (ensimmäinen tilaus) saatuani.
Ja eipäs ole tarvinnut katua tätäkään tilausta, hyvä sointi humppareissa ja puolitus potikka hieno lisä näin kerroksittain rakennetussa talossa majailevalle. Minulle kaula passeli, tosin kitara kohtalaisen painava mutta eipäs haittaa kun soffalla (istuen) soittelen. Pientä sanomista voisi olla bodyn viimeistelyssä, mutta ne mielestäni sivuseikkoja kun kitara toimii hyvin!
Olen rämpytellyt monen moista gendreä ja tuntuu passaavan kohtalaisen hyvin kaikkeen. Kitaran kaula aika herkkä säätilan muutoksille, mutta helppo säätää.
Suosittelen, jos joku tällaista puoliakustista halajaa - ei mene rahat hukkaan!

Ensimmäinen HB minulle ja yllätyin positiivisesti. Pari seikkaa oli kuitenkin viimeisteltävä tässä minun yksilössä. Ensiksikin lakkaus otelaudan reunassa oli vähän irronnut ja ruman näköinen. Sen sain pienellä hionnalla ja kiillotuksella kuntoon. Toinen seikka oli 2. nauhan korkeus 1. kielellä. Kieli kantoi 2. nauhaan ja sitä piti hieman viilata.
Muuten kitara oli hyvin säädetty soittovalmiiksi. Mikrofonit kuulostavat minun makuuni yllättävän hyvältä. Paria pikku seikkaa lukuunottamatta aivan loistava kitara varsinkin kun hinta ei päätä huimaa.

I have made this into an excellent guitar and, if you have the ability, it is an excellent buy. If not it is a bit disappointing.

I have an HB Strat copy which cost a bit over £100. That has an excellent finish, a really good sound and is generally very good quality but needed a fret polish and a bit of setup. This cost very nearly £200. Again it has an excellent finish, a great sound, looks fantastic for the price and is mostly of very good quality. However it not so much of a bargain.

The problem is that although I'm fine with polishing the frets and doing a bit of setup I'm not so happy that, for quite a bit more money, I'm having to file and recrown some frets. When I first received it it was buzzing halfway up the fretboard. I let it settle for a few days and did a setup. The action was very low so raising it and tweaking the truss rod for a little more relief sorted out most of the buzzing. But the second and fifth fret were still causing problems and I had to do a bit of work on them.

The guitar looks great. OK, there isn't the depth to the veneer you would get on a PRS but I think it has some depth, so it's not a photo print. And as soon as you step back from it it looks amazing. The sound is warm and versatile, though the coil split doesn't add as much as I'd hoped and it doesn't have as much of a hollow body sounds as a 335. The tuners do the job, even if they don't feel particularly inspiring. All in all a great addition to my collection, now that the frets are sorted.

As I said, it is not a big deal if you have the skills and the tools but I could see it being a big problem for newer players. I guess the real problem is that my first experience with an HB was so good it set the bar very high. Having spent more money I didn't expect he quality to be worse. That said, now that it is sorted it looks, feels and plays brilliantly. I'm glad I bought it and would buy it again.

I just wanted to sound a word of warning to less-experienced users

LONGER TERM EXPERIENCE

I've had this for about ten months now. For most of that time I didn't use it. Every time I went to it it needed setting up again. It seemed that the wood needed to season a bit more. After about eight months (having tried it in between) it seemed that the neck had finally settled down. I have set it up and not needed to change it since.

I'm playing and recording with it now and It's a comfortable and versatile guitar. It's a great intermediate step between my big semiacoustic (Vintage VSA500) and my solid PRS SE II Santana. Very pleased with it now and intend to keep it and use it more.