Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit T-Style

It's hard to review this kit because as a finished guitar it has some flaws: notably the body is too light and the guitar headstock pulls towards the ground on a strap. This can ruin the feel of a guitar and it's such a dopey thing to lose out on. Also, the pickup selector switch is ridiculously stiff - a point that others have noted in their reviews. And that's all the bad points summed up in one go.

I set up guitars for my business and I bought this kit to see just how good it is given the amount of great feedback it gets. I also wanted to see just how good a guitar this could be with the addition of a really good set up (including precision fret-levelling) and some quality pickups.

The good points start from the moment you order the kit. First off, the price. It's cheap for a decent-sounding electric guitar but it's ridiculously cheap for a great learning experience in a box for your son, daughter, husband, wife friend etc that also ends up with a playable guitar.

Next the box when it arrives. Neat, well organised, everything in compartments.

Then the discovery that the kit has printed instructions!?! That's a first! And the good stuff keeps coming - namely:

? Clean, well-cut body
? Excellent neck with remarkably few uneven frets and no sharp edges. Pretty rosewood
? Everything there, nothing missing
? Snap together connectors so no soldering needed
? All holes where they should be
? Perfect neck body fit

The guitar is a doddle to put together and the whole thing could be done in under an hour easily. In my case, I cut a Fender-style headstock, put on my own brand logo and lacquered the neck with some vintage amber. I put some waterbased ink stain on the body and finished it off with Tru-oil. Very very easy. However, I found that the basswood not only doesn't take the stain very well it also doesn't seem to have a very pronounced grain, making the end result look like a slightly flat and dull colour but to be honest, I didn't expect much more for the price.

I also installed Tone Rider pickups before putting the guitar together which did require a tiny bit of soldering as I added the HB 'snap together' connectors to the Tone Riders. Because of that, I didn't test out the stock pickups but I've no reason to doubt they're perfectly acceptable, given everyone else's comments.

Joining neck and body together is extremely easy. I performed a precision fret levelling and full set up on this guitar to get the best possible action from it but before I did, I tried it out in 'out of the box' configuration i.e. after only adjusting the bridge saddle heights - which anyone can do. The result was impressive - a very playable guitar with a pretty good action.

I didn't need to use the instructions but I did read them and they ARE very well-written with some really concise general set up advice - another real plus, Thomann.

Once together, does the guitar work for me? No - because the neck-heaviness is something I can't personally live with. Is it a superb package for anyone wanting to get into guitar building or to have a playable guitar for very little money - hell, yes.

There's no doubt about it, building a guitar from a kit leaves you feeling very attached to it which is great. Because of that, this guitar would have definitely been a 'keeper' for me - if only it wasn't head-heavy. If Thomann could get the manufacturer to measure the balance and add the necessary weight at the body end (even if cost a couple of quid more) it would make such a difference.

So sadly I'm left with a guitar I probably won't play unless I can find a way to add some lead shot to the body to cure the neck dive. As I didn't need the experience of putting the kit together it's real value was to learn that it's not something I'm going to do again.

Having said that, I still give it 5* because for a young person or a newcomer to the guitar it's a superb learning experience - one that's worth far more than the £57 price tag.