Harley Benton CST-24HB Charcoal Flame

Guitar looks awesome from 10 feet (3 meters) away. Have checked some reviews and thought - manufacturing issues, it would be improved and the biggest issues are fixed, well…
Given the sound I decided to keep it and have a project guitar. I spent more that 5 hours by now.

So about the guitar:
• It has sound that I enjoy, like the coil split from hum to single, solid action on volume, very light on tone
• high action (~2.5mm on bass E) which wasn't easy to adjust - when lowered to ~1.6mm, I got a huge string buzz and frets had to be leveled to fix it (probably the reason why the action was high in the first place, and thrust rod was all messed up with paint)
• frets and fret-board was all "gunked" up and pretty rough, probably a polish-o-paint from the fret-board sides, neck-paint is cracked between fret-board and the neck, and lastly fret was roughed-up next to nut
• huge and sharp tool marks on the nice big head screws of bridge
• something buzzing - intonation slider for B & G string had to be hard tightened
• very ugly F holes - lining poorly done and with dirty marks, mess coming out of there on the blow, partially painted black with shiny wood showing
• I am suspecting product was the B-stock

I have 14 guitars and this is easily the lowest quality of them all. Some issues I expected and are minor: needing a good cleaning from manufacturing residue, sharp fret ends, dry fingerboard, marginal electronics, etc. I can easily address those. Other issues left me disappointed and confused regarding the Harley Benton reputation: 1) sloppy, stiff, ultra-cheap tuners, 2) scuffed, poorly finished binding on the neck, 3) several areas of the finish on the body and neck that were not polished out, 4) cheap, mottled looking plating on the one-piece bridge, and 5) splotchy, uneven finish binding on the inside of the f-holes.

I'm really sorry to say that it has the look and feel of a guitar cheaply made; and made in a hurry without a great deal of care. I ordered and received two guitars from Thomann: this one and also an SC-450Plus (which was $40 LESS, by the way). The SC-450Plus mops the floor with the CST-24HB in every way.

I'm completely happy and content with my SC-450Plus. I'm completely underwhelmed by, unhappy with and confused by the CST-24HB and in all honesty will probably wind up selling it at a loss.

I would love to say that this guitar is something I was looking for. The small size and medium weight with a semi-hollow body. With the price rate, I should be very happy about the tone and its feature but there's some pain that broke my impression.

Here it is:
1. The finishing is very poor, there is some damage at the fretboard
2. Some point around the neck has a thick layer of color that affect my hand when playing. While other guitars (same brand) have no 1. and 2. which are the finished quality problem.
3. One of the washers in head tuner broke after 1st time I changed the string (within 1 month after I received). At least, Thormann sent me a spared part for this problem.
4. The latest problem, I can't turn the volume to silent. Now my guitar is always on after open the amplifier. I'm waiting for the response.

Some buzzing fret could be understandable.
I could understand the price range limitation if the other guitar from the same brand and price range has no problem at all (this one made in Vietnam and the other made in Indonesia)

I love some tone of it for the price and this guitar also has a long sustain sound, good for some sweet songs.

Just 3 months of barely use in at my home and some jam at practice studio.