Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style

There is a line that I draw when talking about price and quality.
Even though it was a cheap kit, I don't think that it should be manufactured without care.

The body's center line was at about 15 degrees off to the glue line of the wood pieces. There was serious discoloration on some. There was also a crack going through the thickness of the body, parallel with the top face, deep enough not to be able to sand it out.

I also had to redrill almost all the holes on the body, as they were either not in line or not in the right place.

The neck pocket had on its contour a router bite, which was covered by the pickguard, but still I consider it lack of care.

The neck was ok, after a fret leveling it became a great neck.

The tuning machines are really poor quality, but for this price I can't complain

The best way to describe the pickups is that they make sound :) it's nothing special, but again for the price of the kit you can't buy one decent pickup.

That being said, decent tool to learn how to build a guitar, do fret jobs and so on.

Positives:
- the set was complete and the quality seems fine for the money
- good introduction to guitar building
Negatives
- the body is NOT ready for painting despite Thomann's description
- the fret edges need touching up (sharp) but this is to be expected at this price point.

Note: I'm only writing an unfavorable review because of the untrue statement in the instructions & product description.

This being my first time painting a guitar I trusted Thomann's description and assumed the body was sealed and ready for lacquer. I was wrong, the primer went straight into wood pores in some places, and the cutaways were not even smoothly finished.
If you plan to paint the body you need to sand it and seal it yourself.
This bad review is only because of that LIE Thomann puts in the description (and also because I wasted a lot of paint on a mediocre finish, because as an amateur I couldn't judge the situation properly).

The neck is nicely finished, although the fret edges are sharp and hurt the hands - but this can be easily fixed and is part of the fun. The plastic and electronic parts look fine, but I haven't put the guitar together yet, as I need to sand my imperfect finish and put on the final clear coats of lacquer.

Other than the blatant LIE told in the description the product seems fine (for the price of course). Good introduction to guitar building and tons of fun.

This kit was perfect for my project, as I planned to chop the body up and build a custom two neck guitar. It didn't matter about the quality of the parts it was just a way of getting some pre cut wood in a guitar shape, that I could use as a starting point. The kit also provided me with some relatively cheap hardware, (machine heads, bridge, saddle, pre wired pickups and electrics). BUT it is all really low quality material.
If you want to use the guitar from this kit, to make music.....dont buy it. The materials are poor, the pre drilled screw holes don't all line up, the neck and frets are a disaster. Great as cheap set of spare parts, but not as a build from the box.

Bought this as a Christmas present for my 13YO lad, for his first woodwork project. Shipping to UK was quick and efficient, but a quick look at it, before putting it away for the big day, led to serious disappointment.

I've rated sound as okay, giving it the benefit of the doubt, as we've not assembled it yet.

Let me start by saying I know this kit is cheap - however, it should surely be manufactured to a minimum standard that it could actually be used as a guitar when completed....

Neck pocket was routed way too big, then a bit of balsa wood (?) glued part way down the side in a pathetic attempt to stop the neck from slopping around.
Bridge screw alignment all over the place, sending strings to one side of the neck.
Pickup routing has broken out in places and trem spring cut out is broken out and split.

Overall not terribly impressed.

I will temper the boy's expectations when he opens it, but this is going to turn into a lesson on how to repair others' shoddy workmanship rather than a nice Father-Son project resulting in the lad having an instrument he put together himself and finished how he wanted it.

The next one we buy WON'T be a Harley Benton.