Harley Benton CST-24 Paradise Flame

It is a bang for the buck instrument, without a doubt. The body looks just stunning, it's got binding, a maple cap, coil splitting and other things that you won't find on any simmilarly priced instruments. There is however a catch...
I bought this as a "disposable" guitar for my studies abroad. When it arrived, i was quite surprised how different the veneer was to the ones on the photos. It was a lot darker, almost looked like a zebra pattern but nonetheless it was an interesting and appealing finish. Having played for a while, I was pleasantly surprised that the action was quite low, but soon I discovered a strong buzz on the first two frets, which meant that the first fret was lower than the others (which is a serious issue involving a lot of work as it needs to be replaced). Fortunately, Thomann took it back although it was unclear wheter to reapair it or replace it. Later they've sent me a new one which I didn't expect, but hey, as long as it works...
The second guitar had a very different looking veneer (more like the one from the photos) and played a bit different too (probablly better). There were also painting imperfections on the first one, which were now not present. All in all, it is a significantly better instrument and after a quick setup it was ready to go.
Later I had to put some graphite on the nut, as it was not very well cut and one string was going out of tune. After that everything was ok, but the tuning stability is still not the greatest (it might get better in the future, but having played the guitar for over a month I don't give it many chances).
The pickups are very, very bright compared to your standard Les Paul humbuckers which is nice for distorted sounds, but you won't get as much chunk and overall, I think I'll put in an SH4 from my other guitar as I prefer the sound a lot more (which is fine since the pickup costs about half as much as the entire guitar). When coil-split, the neck pickup actually sounds quite nice but the bridge one is a disaster... It's just too bright and bity, not very usable. I suggest you to try to rewire it to use the coil further from the bridge or just disconnect it from the split switch and not use it that way at all.
Speaking of coil splits, you get some pretty nice metal pot knobs on this guitar, which are easy to spin even with swetty fingers but pulling out the coil-split switch is very hard. The knobs are very smooth and slippery when moving up and down and it makes quick coil splitting (something I like to do a lot) almost impossible.
Now let's talk about the wood. The first guitars body was made out of about 3-4 pieces of wood. The second one was made out of two, like any other better-quality guitar. The maple cap is quite weird, It seems to be only about 5mm thick and some of the arch seems to be carved into the mahogany itself.
All in all, its a very nice guitar, very playable, maybe not the best-sounding but very good for the money anyway. What concerns me is the consistency of the craftsmanship. Having had two of these guitars, they felt and looked very different, so hopefully you'll get lucky and get one which looks and plays well. If something is wrong, then I'm sure that Thomann will help you out, so don't worry.

Guitar quality was much nicer than I thought it would be. I've gigged it out over a dozen times now and it's rock solid.

I was planning on changing out pickups but the Roswells are good enough that I am not swapping for now. The Roswells aren't top-notch... but they are pretty decent.

I Will likely change the tuners, but haven't yet because they aren't bad.

THe only grip was that my color didn't match the picture that well. I have an amber bursting to red... but the red is not very deep so it has more of a brown tiger effect than a sunburst effect. Pretty enough on its own but... not what I expected. However, the grain on the flame matched up the two sides much better than I would have expected.

It's very playable and holds tune well. Sounds nice.

I might change the pots out... they are the only weel point... they taper harshly.

Overall it was a fantastic purchase.

Finally got my new CST-24 today.

First off it is a beautiful guitar. Much more than I expected from a guitar in the affordable range for a hobbyist guitar player. The only downside to it and the reason for the 4-star instead of 5-star is a small issue. Companies that ship these products need to find a better way to ship. This is the second guitar I have had shipped to me (first from Thomann) and both had damage to the headstock. Not bad enough to send back or affect playability but its there nonetheless. I guess next order will have buy a case to have it shipped in to me. But for now I could not be happier! Thanks for a beautiful axe. I know I am going to have some fun this weekend playing for my neighbors. I will definitely buy from Thomann again!

Pros:
- look
- fretboard
- pickups

Cons:
- frets
- coil tap/split
- pickups

My guitar got damaged shipping, chipped head stock. But nevertheless:
The flamed maple veneer looks stunning, the fretboard is very dark, and the bindings give extra class points! The neck is a bit on the slimmer side, no sharp frets, but the frets are definitely of poor quality… they sound like sandpaper while bending!

Guitar arrived in great condition, action is a little high, and of course there are no buzzing. Have not spent time lowering it so I can not promise what happen when you do it!

The electronics works perfectly, the knobs, output jack, pickup selector feel sturdy and durable.

The humbuckers sounds great for clean, crunch, all the way to classic rock. But no more! With more metal oriented sounds they become muddy and lack definition!

The coil split actually does something, but it is not great at all. Definitely does not sound like a single coil.

All in all is a really good guitar for the price! For a beginner is all you need. For more experienced player is a solid foundation to build your spare one/side project!

Amazing value comes to mind to describe this guitar. Not the best in the world but a lot more than I would expect at this price point.

Use
It feels great to play. Nice neck profile and easy to play high up the neck thanks to the double cutaway design. The action is high but the intonation is perfect right out of the box, at least on my guitar. The pickups are decent and on the hot and bright side. They sound good with heavy distortion. I would have preferred a mellower sound but that?s personal preference. I?m also not a huge fan of the chromed knobs but again, personal preference. The finish is very impressive and the binding looks nice.

pros
Price. Mahogany body and neck. Shielded and grounded pots cavity. Good pickups. Nice finish. Nut seems to be of good quality. Intonation perfect right out of the box. Nice new set of strings.

cons
Ugly fretboard (I would have gladly paid 20 pounds extra for a nicer fretboard). Frets not leveled. High action. I have a visible chip in the veneer maple top, under the clear coat.

Worth mentioning
Not necessarily cons but worth mentioning that unlike the Grovers, that you have to spin several times for half of tone adjustments, small adjustments on these tuners translate to significant tonal changes. I prefer not having to keep spinning the tuners when tuning but they might be less precise. Also, both the bridge piece and the tuners seem to be coated with a chrome layer. I might be wrong but that?s how they look to me. It?s worth noting how well they hold up in time. The pots are tiny.

The guitar came very well packaged. Out of the box the guitar has a few blemishes on the finish due to some 'bleeding' through of the lacquer but nothing major. The action was extremely high and the neck had a significant back bow, however this was all easily corrected by lowering the bridge and adjusting the truss rod on the neck. There were a couple of high frets causing buzzing and 'fretting out' these needed filing down and crowning.

In all, out of the box this guitar was okay, however after setting up and filing and crowning the frets the guitar is excellent. Really pleased with the sound and versatility of the Roswell pickups.

If this is an average example of this model and you are able to do basic guitar set ups and fret work, this could be a great guitar for you with no added cost other than your time. However, if you are new to playing guitar or unfamiliar with doing basic set up's and basic fretwork you would need to have this done professionally which would add significant cost.

Pros:
The body of this guitar looks amazing. The neck feels (and plays) great. Humbucker tone is very good, especially if you roll off the tone and volume a bit. Split sound is fairly good as well. The quality of this instrument for the price is incredible. I would place the overall quality at almost double the price tag.

Cons:
I had to tweak some things pretty much immediately upon receiving this guitar. My neck pickup kept cutting in and out. Also, it was playable but definitely needed a setup. I lowered the action and re-soldered a wire and it plays and sounds amazing.