I'm fan of Harley Benton left handed Electrics. I have 5 and will definitely be buying another as soon as they release a CST-24T LH in Black Cherry Flame finish. ( even with having to do my own setup and tweeks )
This CST-24T LH was made in INDONESIA .
Out of the box inspection: Visual defects: Rasp file scrape over top edge of neck binding and lighter scrape on corner of fretboard at High E string, at the 1st fret, for the full width of the space between nut and fret . A 2nd visual defect was a small 1/8" brush stroke of yellow discoloration on the right side of the neck binding at the 5th fret.
Setup: Guitar was painful to play out of the box after tuning. Last fret action was 5mm on the high E and 6mm on the low E.
I lowered the last fret action to 1.2 on the high E and 1.5 on the low E.
String height at 1st fret- horrible
Measured with a digital string height gauge starting with Low E .028mm,39mm,68mm83mm95mm70mm. I got out my Chic-yu brand nut slot files and began filing the slots. In the end I had lowered the slots to: Starting with Low E: .28mm, .30mm,. 32mm,.20mm,.19mm,21mm
Neck Relief: Neck initially was dead flat, I adjusted the truss rod and added relief to .2mm
Fret ends: Nice and smooth, no fret sprouts
Fret Levelness: High spot and Low E at 10th and 22 fret ( getting buzz ) at 1.5 mm last fret action on this string.
All other frets sound clean .
Will eventually be doing a precision fret leveling as done by Sam Deeks on YOUTUBE ( Good info source ,check it out )
Note on nut filing- the nut feeling like hack sawing thru rubber, because of this, there is no controlling how deep you file ( I had to fill a few slots with CA glue and black rescue powder and let cure overnight then re-file the next day. I have a new Tusq PT6642LO going on when I figure out the best method to cut through the gloss clear coat the HB sprays up against 3 sides of Graphite nut.
Tremelo: I dont normally use one, and have not tested how much it affects staying in tune, but if I have noticed the bridge would benefit from a slight flat milled into the surface just below the bridge. An observation I noticed was the high E saddle had to sit right down onto the bridge surface in order to achieve 1.2mm High E last fret action.
Summary: Would I buy another Harley Benton-Yes
Is this CST-24T worth $230 US Yes
Bottom line: None of the defects I found were impossible to correct.
About me: I work as a Quality Technician , getting ready to retire soon and enjoy playing my collection of Harley Bentons and Epiphones
