Harley Benton ST-20 BK Standard Series

I've always been a Tele guy. I love my Teles but I've craved a Stratocaster for some time now. I live in the UK but visit my family in Hungary once or twice a year and thought it would be a good excuse to get a this to just have something to play on. The guitar is fairly well built and sounds like a Strat. Very impressed with how responsive the pickups are however switching between pickups doesn't really make a lot of difference in terms of how it sounds. The only noticeable difference is between the neck pickup and bridge pickup. The in-between positions seem to the same sound. Tried to set it up and the truss rod seems to be very difficult to turn with the wrench included. I was trying to lower the action and one of the saddles are stuck and wouldn't lower at all. Appart from these issues, this guitar is pretty good.

I mean I got what I paid for: the fret ends were razor sharp, one fret started sticking out the fretboard causing a lot of buzz on the frets before this one. Plus, the sides of the pickguard were pretty rough, it was messing up the overall look and I had to sandpaper them. But I've got to admit, after fixing these issues the sound was surprisingly nice, and it had a lot of character. Now I realize I should've paid a little more and got a better Harley Benton, e.g., ST-62. Maybe that way I wouldn't have run into the aforementioned problems.

I'd say with this guitar and at this price, it's a bit of a gamble.