Harley Benton ST-62DLX VW Vintage Series

Even though I had read and watched several reviews on this guitar before I ordered it, I was (and still am) amazed how awesome it is.

It looks amazing and has a bit of weight to it.
Flawless finish across the entire guitar.
The neck and fretboard are both coated with high gloss lacquer.
Most of my instruments have satin finishednecks but this one feels great with no sticky sensation at all. (At least for my sweaty palms).
The neck is a bit chunky (in a good way) and the fretboard is perhaps flatter than you would expect on a "60's" strat, but it feels great.
The guitar came perfectly intonated.
The frets (medium jumbo?) had no sharp edges at all which is rare even on more expensive guitars.
If you want frets with mirrorshine, you probably need to give them a light polishing or just keep playing with alot of bends,
The guitar came perfectly intonated.

The tremolo was set so tight that I could barely push it down. I actually managed to bend the tremolo arm while trying.
This is easy to fix, but not all people feel comfortable messing with the springs and/or claw.
The sustain is amazing, maybe thanks to the stiffness of the tremolo.
I rarely use tremolo anyway, so I probably leave it the way it is. I prefer the sustain.

Rhyme time... Well cut bone nut - holds the strings and holds tune. Awesome!

The headstock is equipped with two string trees, D/G and B/E. The one on the D/G gave me tuning issues.
As soon as I did even the slightest bend on the G string or used the tremolo, that string got stuck a bit and ended up sharp.
I solved the problem by simply lifting the strings out of the tree and letting them pass over it.
Now the guitar stays in tune perfectly and I haven't had any buzzing or zinging noise.

The pole pieces on the pickups don't really line up with the strings, especially on the neck and middle pickup.
You can see this clearly on the pictures. I don't know how much this actually affects the tone but it looks a bit weird and is problably "wrong" from an electrical viewpoint.
This is fairly common and can be seen on alot of guitars. For example, The Fender Squire Vintage Modified Strat looks the same.

I've read some complaints about the pickups being to noisy and that it's hard to get a good tone from them.
I think they sound just fine and I can't say that they noisier than the average single coil.
Maybe I got lucky or maybe my playing skills isn't good enough to produce sweeter tones on more expensive pickups.

The tuning machines are OK and they get the job done. Some were smooth, some were a bit tougher to turn and one was a bit flimsy. They do hold the tuning though.

Not a single regret on my purchase.

I am writing this short review after almost six months of having this guitar so I think I know know what are its pros and cons. The truth is that you cannot buy a better stratocaster for that price (we are talking about new guitars, not used ones). I've had almost all Squier guitars in my hands and, really, the only Squier that could be said to have been equal to this HB would be the Classic Vibe - which is now 3 times more expensive. But straight to the point
- The neck is probably the best part of that guitar. It is rather thin than thick, yet the fretboard is quite wide which makes it overall very comfortable to play. Not to mention, that the neck comes with a great glossy finish and a real-bone nut.
- Roswell pickups are also great in terms of sound. This is just as close to that bright, stratty sound as you can get. Really no need to replace them, they sound great, especially some dirty clean/crunch presets.
- Very good tremolo bridge. The block is much thicker than in other strat guitars. The tuners are OK. The guitar stands in tune most of the time and you can do some tricks with the whammy bar but you have to be careful. It's good overall but a divebomb is to much for the tuners to handle - but it was to be expected.
- The strings were quite high above the frets when I unboxed the guitar so bear in mind that before you start playing - the hardware needs to be set up.
Overall it is a great Stratocaster guitar. I am very pleased with it.

I bought this guitar basically to try out different pickups. I was hoping that the stock pickups would change my mind. But sadly no, they were kinda of thin sounding to my individual taste, Guitar is not shielded so be prepared for noise and hum.
I took off the anodised pickguard as it was picking up some static. Change the pickguard to a Harley Benton Parts Pickguard SSS Parchment A.
I think the guitar is worth getting as the workmanship and hardware are up to par. No sharp frets..intonation is well done although the tremolo bridge is set up as a non floating bridge.
If you can live with the sound of the pickups then you will thoroughly enjoy it without spending any more money.
My review of this guitar is @ my youtube channel
!
Jonathan Koh