CHEAPEST HARLEY BENTON ST-STYLE GUITAR - Harley Benton Standard Series: A full in-depth review
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- A €79 guitar? How good can it be. Short answer: Amazing! I have a look at the Thomann House Brand's 'Harley Benton' version of a classic Stratocaster Style Guitar.
www.thomann.de...
#harleybenton #thomann
If you put too much efects and distortion in the guitar we can´t hear the characteristics of the guitar
Dead on, this was terrible.
What characteristics are you talking about dude these are cheapo guitars, if you get one then you either don't care about the tone or you want to change the pickups
Newbie mistake. Less is more,everytime.
@@superrookie-1 you're talking crap. I've got a HB TE90 flt that's actually better than my Gretch... Never needed to change the pickups just a clean tone on break up with a TS set for boost and no gain. I can get every dynamic and tone I need.Or you could continue with the crap that fender are actually making good guitars anymore. Their out of the box guitars are usually shockingly built and set up. Harley benton are a game changer. Get one,set up your equipment properly and start playing from your soul instead of getting your queues on tone from this guy.🎸😂
I think the important takeaway from this is that thr guitar is fun to play and once you get experienced, would be a great platform for upgrades.
Absolutely. Basswood for £65??? My Ibanez rg570 cost me £550 back in 92 for a basswood body. Cheap guitars were plywood back then.
Luv and Peace.
I've just bought this guitar to avoid playing with my real strat in some places where it could be stolen, so thanks to your video I know that I made a good choice ! THX !
Excelente reviuw..radius of mástil? Tank you
You have a great personality. Just enough of everything: honest, a little witty, nice voice, good phrasing and a lot of Gas 😊. Txs for the video and keep it up!
i guess it is kind of off topic but do anyone know a good place to stream newly released movies online ?
Hey from Hamburg, Germany. Thanx, you do a great Job. You helped me a lot!!! 🙏🏻
Hey Frank. Greetings back from Unterfranken. Glad I could help. I'm hoping to finally make it up to Hamburg this Spring.
awe ! thanks for sharing. i actually get an HARLEY BENTON ST-STYLE GUITAR KIT on my birthday!! and as my first guitar
Where did you buy?
@Enno ok thanks
Hi Shu. I got myself that kit too. It's awesome for the price, isn't it?
So, it's a good Guitar? I'm considering buying a strat from Thomman cuz I don't have enough money for Fender. I'm buying a HB strat for 144€. 18€ Shipping. This review helped me alot. I don't have any doubts any more
Did you buy it? Thomman Is security i want to buy One two
@@enzo46futsal hey there mate, no cuz me mum told me she doesn't want an electric guitar in house so for now still nothing
@@Rafael-qd3yq As a first electric it's unbeatable. I wish Thommann had been around when I was learning. Beg borrow or ... No just beg or borrow to get this guitar. It will serve you well for years,
Luv and Peace.
@@Rafael-qd3yq Lmao why doesnt she want it ? I mean you can put headphones in there though or does she simply dont like guitars/rock/metal?
I have one of these in Candy Apple Red. My only two gripes with it are that the vibrato bridge is fixed and really hard to push down, whereas I prefer a floating one that's nearly effortless to push or pull, and that the fret ends are really sharp. Other than that, it's an excellent guitar for what I want it to do
Just loosen the screws on the springs of the tremolo block until the bridge floats. I'm sure it's not really fixed, a simple philips screwdriver is all you need. And a file for your frets, obviously.
I suffer from gasalitis...it's terrible for the bank account 😣
Completely agree. Bernie Sanders should come up with an Affordable Guitar Act 😂
I just received my HB TE-52 and it is awesome! After seeing your review, I will order a Strat style. I appreciate you sharing this great video. New supporter here. Greetings from Florida!!! 😎
Really nice video, great in-depth review. I saw one of these guitars on thomann, but in HSS configuration, black satin body and neck. And as I looked at the price, I instantly placed an order. €79, and people say it's even better quality than a €115 squier bullet strat (the guitar I started with about 14 years ago ). I just need to have this, even if it's s*!t.
It's a wicked guitar. You won't be disappointed if it's as good as the one I got. You'll like it. Fender has really vamped up their Squier range but the Harley Benton's are very likely on a similar level. But as I mentioned, for €79 you can't go wrong.
Couldn't agree with you more. Squiers are brilliant guitars but Squier has always had a 'cheap' reputation because of the name. They've improved a lot over the years. But Harley Benton have been fantastic from the start and because it's not such a well known brand I think people are more willing to give it a try...and yes...they are not disappointed. I'm looking to get a Junior style guitar from Harley Benton. They look amazing.
I started out with this guitar 10 years ago. I loved it. I still love it. Nowadays I use two electrics. Ibanez xiphos 300fx-bk for metal where I need easy upper fret access. I also use Harley Benton SC-Custom FR VB for pretty much everything else (for now, because it's my newest addition). Ofc I got an acoustic too and a bass.
How are the SC customs?
@@BasementGAS I got mine as a b-stock. It has minor imperfections on the binding. That's it really. The floyd version is godlike. Ever since I got it, it's never been out of tune. It was almost perfectly in tune when I got it and once I tune it once, it stays in tune for.. A long time. I can play like 2-3 different sessions at least without hearing anything. I still tune it to perfection ofc but I don't really need to.
Build quality.. It's good. Neck is very chunky for my hands because I've played my ibanez for like 9 years. It's pretty sturdy feeling. Definitely heavier than what I was used to.
The finish is glorious for a metalhead like me. Matte black looks great. Also feels great on your hand.
I should probably oil the fretboard (it's made from jatoba). I think it's a bit dry but I am used to that kind of stuff so it barely even registers for me lol.
And the sound.. The difference between neck, middle and bridge pick-ups are pretty big. Also got coil-split which is nice if a song needs a bit thinner sound. The sound quality itself pleases me greatly. Hard for me to compare the sound to my older guitars because I've always played in two steps down tuning. And this I've kept purely in standard tuning. But it does sound a bit heavier than my other guitars.
And of course, the general look of the guitar.. I mean, it looks like it costs a fucking thousand € in my eyes. Some people thought it was a gibson lol..
ofc, I think it's copying the look of ESP-eclipse 2. And it does a great job at that. For me though, the reason I got it was because it has the right colors (black and gold) AND a fucking real floyd 1000 series. It's the real thing. I paid 251€ for this guitar. That's insane to me.
You have a funny vibrato tecnic. HB are realy great guitars for the buck.
Regards from Switzerland.
Saw your video today coincidentally while waiting for mine to arrive (ordered last week), albeit I chose the HSS version in Candy Apple Red. I also ordered a set of locking tuners that I'll change out further on, as well as rolling string trees; but first I'll break it in and see how I like it all stock. I hope I'm as happy as you are with yours once I've inspected it! Nice video!
I would like to add that the fretends can be a real pain in the ass, or pain in the end.
I've experienced that with my TE-40 and my CST-24HB. I have 5 HBs total. I bought a dressing tool from StewMac and improved them. I saw another video recently that discussed the problem and they recommended using a lemon oil or something to cause the fretboard (they are all faux-rosewood....none of them are maple) to swell. I'll try this on my next purchase. I can't imagine how many Harley Bentons I'd have to buy to spend as much money as my 1986 Gibson ES-335 DOT. I never take that guitar out of the house. I'll take the HBs out to a jam anytime. They're fantastic.
@@stevencollister2539 The frets on my one were very well dressed. Not quite Ibanez or PRS level but WAY WAY above what I remember from even half decent guitars back when I started. Washburns for example had really nasty frets back in the 90s.
Luv and Peace.
@@stevencollister2539 Nailed it.
Perfectly useable decent sounding playable guitars for an absolute steal.
Luv and Peace.
Love tool too so had to like and was a great video too wanna get my first guitar so thinking aboute getting this one
jokes on u, it costs 178€ here😂 helpful video btw👍🏼love from 🇬🇷♥️
Κιαλλος Έλληνας ναις
Shipping
Cost price of course
@@ΕΛΕΝΗΓΩΓΟΥ hhaahaha gwgou
@@alphataff6073 hahahaha den hksera oti hsoun esyy
So do I Jack, but in my case it makes me fart because I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
Great review, mate. I think we do share the same illness, and I don't want to be cured: GAS all my life (just neeed more money, tough!), By the way: how many guitars have you got, altogether?
Pedal and Amp?
I have this same guitar and just needed a professional player to give me more inspiration :)
Pedal and amp? Depends what your budget is and how you will be using it? At home? Live? What music genre? etc.
Just buy this and a cheap audio interface from thomann. Then you can use it on your computer and apply any effects and everything you want, really cool
Great video, excellent work, thanks.
A high fret between the 11th and 12th....is this some Harley Benton prototype sir😊😎
How's the tremelo on this guitar? I'm considering getting it cos my old guitar has VERY bad tremelo
The trem on my lowest level HB Strat is garbage. It will put the guitar out of tune with anything more than a slight gentle bend.
You could improve that with locking tuners and a better nut and maybe a Wilkinson in place of the diecast aluminium trem that's there.
But that looks like £300+.
I'm planning to do that to this guitar though because it's the perfect project guitar. It already sounds good and plays good and I already have a connection to it.
It can be made to be great. The neck plays well and the body sounds good. The pickups are fine as well so maybe I'll leave them for a bit. Lace sensors maybe?
Tuning stability is a bit rough though.
New tuners, New Nut and New Trem in that order.
Good Luck.
Luv and Peace.
@@ianedmonds9191 I settled on the Jackson JS11. Very nice guitar imo. Thanks for replying tho
Hi have the ST-20 HSS version and I pretty much agree with your review, I just wish it came in black
Did you look under the pickguard? If so are they slug magnets?
@@croc3862 yep, large rectangular ceramic bar magnets under the single coils. They sound ok but I use the bridge HB mostly so not a big deal
@@SuperMozzman It comes in matte black now, but costs a bit more.
I too bought a Harley Benson Strat because I no longer had a single coil Strat and I concur with everything he had to say. It came mostly set up and it sounds really good out of the cardboard box.
Recommend 100%
My other guitar (Who I am kidding I have 8...) is a PRS custom 24 2002 ten top. This £65 Strat is a crazy bargain.
Luv and Peace.
I got a CAR on order to use as a mod platform. I am hoping an EMG DG20 will drop in - probably some new screw holes required and the that neck is decent (assuming will have to level and dress frets). Maybe some Gotoh tuners..some string trees and a nut.
Hey man. How was the action originally on this guitar? I’m looking forward to a low action something like with Ibanez.
The original height was, I would say, standard. Not too high, not too low. Kind of an out of the box strat string height. It's higher than an Ibanez string height would be, but only marginally, something that could be rectified easily.
Hi. Thanks a lot for replying promptly.
How do you think if a Seymour duncan hot rails would be swapped on the bridge on this particular model?
I wanted to thank you for awesome gifts love the pics and stickers really cool
Love your videos keep ROCKING 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Ooahh danke fürs vid. Jetzt kann ich meiner Mutter dieses Video zeigen und sie holt mir endlich die Gitarre ;^;
Did you ever pop off the pickguard? I'm curious as to what kind of oem pups are in this thing.
Nice review - and nice bass (model?)! Thanks Mate!
Thanks. The bass is an ESP Ltd. Don't know the exact model though.
SX has been wrapping the guitars like that for years.
Love the SX SST 57 and STL50. I also have a few of their basses - feel of a Player at the price of a Bullet. Can't recommend them enough
2 mm to 2.7 mm action is way too high. My basses are lower than that. Also the 5-string ones.
I would not want to buy a guitar without knowing that I can get this down to something sensible.
Answering such questions should be the point of a review.
Leo of Red Keep
Basically you can lower the action on every electric pretty easy: on the nut and on the bridge, after adjusting a sliiight concave bow with the trussrod😉
@@lone-wolf-1 Everyone knows that. The question is whether the construction and fretwork is good enough to do it without buzzing and particularly accute on a cheap instrument. This "in-depth" review is useless without the answer.
Leo of Red Keep
Ah, I understand. I have myself few budget guitars and had just one high fret out of 5 guitars, on the cheap kit I leveled the frets right from the start without checking😊. I set up a pretty low action: 1,2-1,4mm on E and 1-1,2mm on e
These days the budget guitars are darn good, its pretty hard to find a really bad one. Thomann sends you another one for the returned
Very nice shirt my man
Have you tried tightening the screw on the handle of the high e tuner? Maybe that fixes it.
ArKay
IMO that wiggle comes from play in the wormgear. Only replacing the tuner will help. Tightening the little screw makes the knob just turn harder inbetween the play-space, but does not eliminate that free-space.
But in general tightening that little screw helps adjusting the feel of the peg and for tuning stability😊
@@lone-wolf-1 I only have a HB bass (this ST20 is on its way) - the bass tuners are quite rubbish. Stays in tune but as you say the gearing is not linear.
Dude, this sounds terrible. How did you mic it? Very hard to hear.
Great video. Anyone know if you could swap the neck with a fender American standard strat?
You should send it back and ask them to tune it! Cheap bastards! ;-)
But can it djent?
I ordered this guitar on thomann a few months ago and its such a great guitar, i would recommend it as a beginner. Great sound and good price
Hi i like your videos and i m a total beginner in guitar and i was planning to buy this one so i wanted to know if there was a jack cable included with the guitar
Could you swap the neck to a fender made one?
I am wondering the same. I guess depends on the size of the pocket. I have one on order and will review it when it's here. I have some Squier necks I can measure up. I quite like SX necks but not sure I can get spares here in UK.
@@stephenhookings1985 How did it go? Any follow-up would be appreciated.
Man you’re awesome! Hahhaah 🍻 cheers
this guitar or squier bullet stratocaster
SX SST 57 - check out my reviews. They are IMHO better than the Squier classic vibe. But I have one of these on order so will be reviewing when I get it. I have been pleasantly surprised by cheap guitars if you know how to set them up.
really like your channel, keep up the good work!
Thanks Ido. I appreciate the support.
Mine looks exactly like that one but doesn’t sound even close to that at all now i have no idea what to do but I thought maybe it was just the amp but right now I’m just lost
Get a more expensive harley benton or another guitar like a jackson. I bought this guitar in 2017 and ive never used it since i bought my prs harley benton in 2019. The sound in this strat just sucks. My advice, if you’re right handed buy a more expensive guitar you’ll be served better (like a jackson, prs, charvel)
Dude. You are awesome. And a nice review. Thanks.
Just got one of these on order in Candy Apple red , looks ok for a guitar to upgrade , decent for the money, i already have a HB 35 CH , and i was pleasantly surprised with the quality, it came almost perfect out of the box, i just don't like the strings HB 10's too heavy for me, they will be swapped out for some better quality 9's , great value guitars they really have upped their game over the last few years on the QC , you will get the odd one, Note, Guitars should always be de-tuned for travel, gives the neck relief during transit,
Just ordered a lefty in candy and the sc junior! Happy Birthday to me!
great playing and review. Can you tell me what a fingerboard radius on this guitar?
I’m gonna get one of these just because of this excellent video👍😊
do you think if I spent another 80€ upgrading this puppy's tuners and pickups she could match a Fender MIM?
€80 is a tight budget. Even these more affordable Planet Waves locking tuners cost that much: www.thomann.de/intl/planet_waves_pwat6r1_gitarrenmechanik.htm
But they are really good. I have them on two of my guitars. And depending if you want to switch out one pickup or all three and which brand impacts the price a lot. If I were you, I would not change out the pickups straight away. Leave it as it is and with time you will see what needs to be improved or swapped out. It's a great guitar out-of-the-box already. I can't judge the tremelo because I usually block them off anyway. It's not something I use often enough and it increases tuning stability.
You missed a commonly overlooked step. Pickup height
You're absolutely right. Good point. I'll keep that in mind for the next guitar vid 😉
Man what are you playing at 2:45? It sounds great!!!
A Jimi inspired riff 😉
2 mm is not bad at all. For a $400 guitar.
how thick is the body? can u put a full size brass trem block in this? 1 3/4" thick??? thanks
This guitar is itching for upgrades. It's a solid basswood body albeit in three glued pieces. it sounds great and it would rock 300 pounds of upgrades easily. Put a Wilkinson on it.
Looks like a full depth body to me. Just eyeballed it against my Ibanez RG570 and It's the same depth.
Go for it.
Luv and Peace,
what is the best set for r&b ?
Just Tracking the one ST 20 standard white I ordered on the 6th.
Thomann have brilliant customer service, I get emails all day telling me where my guitar is.
I'm in Toronto.
I can't afford a Real Fender Strat.
But I CAN afford to Chip Away at making improvements on a boss quality guitar.
Machine heads.
Nut.
Pick Ups and electronics.
Whammy?
All in affordable time.
In fact if it is a project or labor of love then it can even be more inspirational and fun.
Drop it off the balcony???
You won't feel like jumping off After It cause it aint gonna cost you thousands.
great video.
I have heard that the strings are garbage is that true?
Just standard strings but that is a minor thing. Just switch out the strings. No big deal.
I tried to get them to make some Lefties available for people like me but no luck
Just be right handed, geez. Whats the fucking problem
Harley Benton do left handed guitars.
my hb strat have diffhb writed on headstock with true quality sound it is fake?
Same it has quality sound writes on my headstock too
I need an answer I can't sleep
amazing video !
could you review the Harley Benton HB-20R ( The Amp)
it comes with so many harley benton guitar sets and it has good reviews
but if you could review it please and tell us should we just pay more and get a better amp from the begining or just start with it and is it actually good?
I might just make a visit up to Thomann this coming weekend and give it a whirl ;-)
@@BasementGAS did you go 🙄
@@mreyas9513 I did not. Ended up going skiing in the Alps. I'm gonna try and make a trip in March.
great review sir, thanks
Jack how do to use the mooer radar and put in an impulse response of the Marshall 1960?
I'll do a quick tutorial video how to do it and post it tomorrow. Cool?
Basement GAS yes that would be awesome !
Why my harley benton has different product name write
Sami Bryan
Maybe yours is a older model. Sometimes they have old versions still in stock and send them out😊
@@lone-wolf-1 i had a a harley benton that writted small letters but thanks to your comment
Nice review sir ! :))
Isn't there a screw in the top of vthat tuner you can tighten?
Yes
Tightening sadly does not really help😏
Were you at the Guitcon event ????
I don't believe so...why?
At 8:07 what effect did u use ?
Phaser
And chorus
is this good for a beginner?
I think it's ideal for a beginner
@Panthera Metal The neck position is really nice. I've always been more of a fan of the neck pickup on strats so that's something I always emphasize. And the neck pickup on this guitar has the classic strat tone. So definitely something I can recommend.
@@BasementGAS hi does the st 20 have a fairly thin neck? Thanks
last week i bought a hb st20 with amp for 140 euros and its just great if you're a beginner like me😁
I fully agree. Great guitars for beginners. But to be honest, I think they are great guitars for experienced players too. What amp did you get?
The neck is to flat nothing like Fender of course 80 euros not bad , your big tone is coming from the big amp buddy and that's all ...
I think for newcomers a flatter neck is advantageous. And I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the big tone is coming from the big amp...do you not use an amp? I'm just using a regular JMP profile on my Kemper. I think this is a long debated topic for beginners: cheap guitar / expensive amp or expensive guitar / cheap amp. Lee Anderton and Chappers did this video already so I'm not gonna go into detail but to sum it up, you can have the most expensive and well built guitar in the world but if you're running it through a 20 year old 5W Roland Cube it's not going to sound spectacular.