Harley Benton ST-62 VW Vintage Series

Very good guitar, technicaly seems like to be perfect, espesialy for 100Eur. price.
But my first impression was spoiled, by means, lets say "unjustified expectations". This guitar on the website looks really different from what I've receive, namely:
1) Body color....website shows white, "creamy white", and i've received almost Malmsteen strat color.
2) Neck....website shows varnish coated neck, i've received "natural matte"
3) Fretboard...on the website dark wood, like rosewood dark brown, i've received really not dark brown. And ofcourse, I inderstand that Pau Ferro will be brighter than rosewood.
So basically all these things have no influence on playabilitty, sound, quality, and guitar still good visually just different from what I've seen on the pictures when was ordering. And this is not what buyers like.
I think everybody will apreciate if my favorite music store (Thomann) will fix this issue.

I got this guitar after playing on some squier guitars, so those are the only one electric ones I can compare this to. I went with Harley Benton because I already had an acoustic from them that was also very good for it's price. At first I wanted to cheap out and get the ST-20, but after some online reviews, decided to try this one instead.

After opening the package I was a bit disappointed. Not because there was anything wrong with the guitar, but because the colour that you see on the screen is quite different from the real life colour. Both the body and the neck look a lot more yellowish in real life. I got used to it after a week though and it didn't bother me anymore. While inspecting the guitar, I also noticed that the neck pocket has a bit of a gap, but nothing too serious, does not affect the guitar in any way, but it was definitely noticeable.

After tuning the guitar up, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a lot easier to play than I was used to. And it felt pretty good in the hands, it had a more "real" guitar feel than my squires. The sound is ok, nothing impressive, but not too bad either.

A quick comparison to squires:
- It is definitely better than a bullet strat in terms of both sound and playability.
- It also beats the affinity strats because those are annoyingly thin and do not feel as full sized guitars, although the sound was on the same level.
- It will not beat the Classic Vibe squiers, those are really good.

To summarize:
- Great value
- Was very playable out of the box
- Sounds just OK, a bit too muddy for my taste
- The colour took some getting used to
- I would recommend this guitar to a beginner over the bullet and affinity.

Out of the classic ST style guitars, I think this is one of the best budget options. Probably the best at this price.

I really liked this guitar, the sound of the pickups is just awesome especially the middle PU is just buttery warm but pronounced, very well suited for using it with a Chorus pedal.

The neck is very comfortable, not too thick and certainly not too thin, just right. One of the 6 tuners didnt really work that perfect, had slight jump when tuning.

The cream color looks great but the pickguard looks like a photo flame not real tort.

The only reason I returned this awesome sounding and 3,4kg light guitar was the constant fret buzz on the E A and D strings and no matter what I did with the truss rod or the saddles I could not get rid of it. The frets were leveled very well except the 5th but the buzz was there throughout the whole fretboard which is confusing. I think its something to do with the neck needing a shim which is too much work for me, hence returning it back to Thomann. Will buy a Harley Benton Tele instead I think.

Im sure my guitar was just one of those with an issue, so please dont let my review scare you away because there are plenty you tube demos of the ST-62 series which are very positive and I sure love the sound of the Wilkinson PUs and the whole guitar is very fine to hold and play.

This strat guitar's quality is very similar to a squier classic vibe.

I've been abusing it for over 2 months non-stop. I play everyday for about two hours plus rehearsals and had a small gig with it.
Roswells are OK not that good but they have that raspy strat sound just like any other strat.

Paint-job and finish are on point. Scratchplate is good but you have to do modifications if you're considering a replacement.

Mine has a small whole on the spring cavity, no big deal tho.

Tremolo holds up pretty good (and I sure use it a lot) but you HAVE to replace the strings they send you. I've been using the same strings it came with and they go out of tune pretty quickly.

Tuners also get the job done.

Now, the neck is really fat. I was used to an epiphone SG which has a slim tapper D neck and in comparison, this HB ST 62 has a really chunky neck profile. It's even thicker than an epiphone Les Paul Standard.

Also, fretboard is really flat, which for me is not a deal breaker but it's very far off the original strat.

It's a GREAT DEAL!

This is a great guitar even beyond the price point. It sounds great, the pickups are clear and produce a joyful noise. Construction on mine was very good, except for a couple of fills and 2 or 3 other places that could use a fill on the fretboard. These were not in areas where the fingers are during normal playing, so these are not fatal flaws.

My only other complaints are that I can't seem to find a pickguard that will line up without the need to drill new holes. Would be nice if it was more compatible with available aftermarket parts. The tuning machines are also not great, but they do the job.