Harley Benton ST-90SA Swamp Ash DLX Series

The quality of this guitar is the best of all the Harley Bentons I own. The body consist of two pieces painted with a really smooth satin finish. The matching of the woods could had been better though. It would also had been nice if it was perfectly centered, but it's a ¤169 guitar after all. I guess some of you might hit the jack pot but I'm quite happy with how it looks. The neck and the frets are flawless. It felt a bit thicker than what I'm used to, but after a weeks it feel better.

The 2-point floating tremolo is fantastic. Unfortunately one of the tremolo springs was loose when I got it out of the box but it was easily fixed. I ended with removing it anyway as the tremolo was bit too stiff for me. Tightening the bracket and going with two springs instead gave me a tremolo as good as the best ones I've tried. I've never had any problems with the guitar getting out of tune by using it.

Like the other Harley Bentons I've recently bought the setup was quite bad. The action was ridiculously high out of the box. My nylon string guitar has a lower action. Thankfully it was easily fixed like the other HB's. Just adjust the truss rod and lower the saddles.

The pickups was the biggest question for me before buying this guitar. Some other reviews have complained about them. So I bought a set of Tonerider Classic Blues' before even hearing them. The Wilkinson pickups actually sounded better than I expected. A bit harsh perhaps but it could maybe had been solved with new pots instead of buying new pickups. Having already bought the Toneriders I ended up switching them anyway. I'll re-use the Wilkinsons in some other project.

With the modifications I've ended up with an amazing strat. The only thing I've got left to do is changing the pickguard. Why just not go with 1-play black to begin with instead of the terrible fake tortoise shell?

Inte helt nöjd med byggkvaliteten. Gitarren (eller snarare jag) lider av dess kraftiga "fretsprout". Efter lite spelande är man helt uppriven i vänsterhanden. Inget stort eller ovanligt problem. Och det är bara att börja fila till banden. Är man osäker på hur det går till finns massor med videos på nätet. Känner man sig helt handfallen inför lite mekande med gitarren så blir det ju jobbigt. Dock är det en i grunden bra gitarr så jag ser den lite som ett projekt.

I used to own a Squier Classic Vibe stratocaster and I sold it to be able to buy a nice acoustic (Eastman e1d).

After a few months I really started to miss a strat style guitar. I love modifying guitars so a cheap but good one is the way to go for me. I was on the fence on a couple of cheapos: SX SST62, Harley Benton ST-57, Harley Benton ST-62 and this one.

Based on the reviews on YouTube I decided to go for the Harley Benton st-90. It is a little bit higher specced than the ST-62 and it still is dirt cheap.

It got here last friday and Boy, am I pleasantly surprised!

The finish is flawless. Let me sum up my observations:

1) Fretwork. The frets were polished and no fret sprout! A few high frets here an there but nothing out of the ordinairy. I could set the action at 1.9/2mm at the low e without fret buzz.
2) Nut. I think it is plastic, don't know for sure, but it is cut beautifully. Will not touch it any time soon. Action at first fret is great as it is.
3) The specs say the fretboard is either Blackwood (a composite material) or Pau Ferro. It is definitely made of real wood. It is rather dark, so it could even be Rosewood. Not sure the guitar factories already use Rosewood again since the lifting of Cites, so let's assume it is Pau Ferro.
4) Hardware. As soon as it arrived, I opened it up to apply some shielding tape. To my surprise this guitar has full size Alpha pots! It uses 1 capacitor per tone pot @ .47. I will replace it later with one .22 because I like that better. The body routing is done very cleanly.
The tremolo is of very good quality. Nice thick plate and it was set up to float.
Now, I don't like floating tremolo's so I decked it by lowering the bridge poles (detune first) and tightening the spring claw. Now it is nice and resonant! Also it has a full size steel tremolo block. That is really amazing at this price point.
The tuners work fine, but a couple of them are really stiff. But this is a guitar of 169 euro, so it is acceptable.
The 5 way switch is the cheap square version and will be replaced by an Oak Grigsby 5 way switch.
4) Finish. Lovely matte finish on the neck and body. The body is a bit orangy/honey like. Love it. Scratch plate is real nice faux tortoise.
5) Tone. The Roswell alnico 5's sound very good. I say they are a bit on the hot side, they sure sound sweet and stratty. Was planning on swapping them for Toneriders, but currently I don't think it's necessary.

Since I used to own a Squier Classic Vibe, I can compare the two.
I say build quality is the same. Hardware on the Harley Benton is better, except for the tuners. I would even say it's on par with Mexico Fenders.

Also the feel is totally different. The Squier has a 9.5 radius finger board and a much skinnier neck. HB has a thick neck with 14 inch fretboard radius. So feel wise, these are totally different animals. Also, the HB is HEAVY. Mine weighs around 4.3kg. That is almost 1kg heavier than the Squier Classic Vibe, that weighted 3.4kg. The Squier is made out of Alder and this one is Ash, so I expected it to be heavier. The specs say it is Swamp Ash, but as that tonewood is usually also lightweight, I think it is regular northern Ash. I play guitar sitting down, so I don't mind, but keep this in mind when you are a gigging guitarist. You might want to have a look at another lighter weighing tonewood.

For a guy that loves to mod cheap guitars, I'm sort of dissapointed: it really doesn't need a lot of work! ;).

Maybe I will put on a 9.5 inch radius neck on it later, I measured the neck at 55.5mm, so It should fit Fender spec necks.
Also, I'm changing the capacitor to a .22, maybe put a push pull pot in it to get the 7 tones (gilmore mod). I ordered Ivory coloured pickup covers and knobs because I think that will look better. I will add two more springs on the tremolo to deck it more firmly. Also I will replace the 5 way switch. Other than that I don't think it needs more work.

I can't understand that it is possible to sell a guitar at 169 euro's with this insane amount of quality. It can measure up to a Classic Vibe which costs nearly 200 extra. I even say it is on par with a MIM Fender.

This is my second electric guitar,an excellent instrument that I recommend to buy, the workmanship is very good, it is an excellent choice not only for beginners but also for those who already know how to play the guitar.

Below I described in detail the main parts of the guitar, in which I wrote 1 poor, but I want to note that this guitar costs 160 euros, and it cannot be even better for such a price, but if you do not take machine heads into account, then it does not feel like 160 euros but by 300


Guitar Deck: (Excellent) The wood is very well fitted on the front, looks like a natural piece of wood, the gluing borders are visible from the bottom and the back, the deck has a nice matte finish.

Pickguard: (Excellent) Quite thick, has 3 layers of plastic, which is very good, since it does not allow the nails to deform themselves, its edges are even and beveled at an angle, there is nothing to complain about.

Bridge: (Good) not a bad bridge for a guitar for this amount, nicely polished, but I would not recommend using a tremolo, the tremolo handle sits tight.

Pickups: (Very good) Very good pickups, especially in the Strat version, a very wide range for music, do not stagger, do not vibrate when playing, sit very well

Potentiometers and Pick-up Knob: (Not bad) There is a little noise when using them, but they do their job, they can be replaced in the future to get rid of the sound.

Neck: (Excellent) Very comfortable, has a varnish finish, but it is convenient to slide on it, there are a couple of knots on the tree, the fingerboard is glued very smoothly and beautifully,very well screwed to the deck

Frets: (Very good) Even after 3 days of upkeep, after cool Germany, in a hot Arab country, and then upon arrival in my country, they are all on the same level, and do not require grinding, great job! However, they are not mirrored to the end, but this is not a problem, when playing on it, after the bends, they will become smooth.Their polishing along the edges is not quite perfect, it does not scratch the palm even if you move it strongly and quickly along the neck, but there is a feeling that it clings a little bit.

Nut: (Good) Very nicely inserted, no gaps, but it is worth deepening the grooves under 1 and 6 strings a little.

Machine heads: (Poor) The only thing that's bad about this guitar and I would highly recommend replacing them. Their movement is uneven, and they do not hold the formation very well.