Harley Benton MS-60 VW Vintage Series

Cons:
-Low E string binded to the neck above the nut. This got sorted whit a little filing on the neck
-Jag style tremolo unit is hard to set up because there is no trem lock button. I Blocked the tremolo system anyway.
-Could not set the action low enough. High e was at 2.2mm. Had to shim the neck.
-Input jack had a grounding problem. Sorted out with a little soldering.

Pros:
-Wilkinson pickups sound great
-Neck feels really smooth whit no frets stiking out
-Frets were leveled nice, no buzzing.
-Tuners seem solid.
-After fixing all the cons it plays great.
-Mustang shape is nice :D

Overall i would not recommend this guitar to any one who doesn't want to get their hands dirty fixing all the problems in it. But after fixing all the cons its a great nice guitar to mod or just to play.

For the price, this is a good guitar in terms of playability. The neck is fairly nice, the frets could do with a little bit of work but they're not too bad, the nut is good (even if a little rough), the tuners stay in tune fairly well, the bridge is passable, and the pickups & electronics don't have any problems.

That's where the positives end, unfortunately. This guitar is ridiculously heavy. I know Harley Bentons in general have a bit of a reputation of not exactly being the lightest guitars, but I did not expect this shortscale Mustang-esque guitar to be as heavy as it is. And it's not even a case of Thomann paying less attention to the weight of the wood they use in order to keep down the price, no, the body itself is thick. It's as thick as the body on my Fender Telecaster Standard AND it's heavier than that. I don't understand why the body has to be as thick as it is, considering how much unnecessary weight it's adding.

There's also just a general lack of care, especially when it was delivered. It was as if it was hastily packaged & chucked about in the factory. When I got it, one of the strings was snapped (not a big deal at the time, as I had another set I wanted to put on it anyway) & it came with a left handed trem arm, for whatever reason. I don't even think this guitar has a left handed version. And something in the trem system must have not been screwed in properly, as the bit where you put the trem arm in has collapsed into the bridge.

Don't buy this, even if the price is tempting. Look at the Squier Mustang Super Sonic instead.

...already very tiny bits of rust on the strings and on the whammy construction.. the whammy bar falls out if you lean forward... the neck is narrow and a bit rough...
the neck has a chunky feel to it as if larger than it actually is... the thin paint on the back of the neck was already coming off which I think was nice... why they glossed the neck-plate is beyond me... setting the string height was the easiest ever, just turn the little wheels under the bridge. the intonation was alright... I played this with a Vox AC10C...
the pickups work well together, switching from neck to bridge you need to adjust the volume up because the bridge pickup cannot be adjusted up nearer to the strings... even here if you tweak your tone long enough you will find a sweet spot...on their own you will soon find out that the pickups are at their limit and after a while the feeling of cheap and pretty lifeless persists when you have played more upmarket guitars or the real thing even though this looks very attractive indeed in that price-range and it is there probably without competition....but my hands are too big and my ears are too old and that is why this is not for me...

The box arrived damaged and torn, but thankfully the instrument was fine. I'll start with the negatives. The overall build quality is poor. There is a wood knot visible through the paintwork on the body; the neck pocket has a gap on the upper bout big enough to hold a thin pick; the back of the neck had so many dust inclusions in the finish; excessive overspray onto the edges of the fingerboard. Whoever did the qc on this guitar must have a white stick and a guide dog! Oh, and the intonation was appalling. This was soon rectified, and after a tuneup, we get to a few positives.
The sound from the pickups is outstanding! Really close to a Mustang sound. The action was also good, all the electronics work well. The "feel" of the guitar is ok, actually quite heavy for its size. The shorter scale gave me no issues, either. I was going to send it back, but it's sound won me over.. I might end up with a "looker" that plays and sounds poorly.
I appreciate that this is a budget instrument, but a bit more care on inspection wouldn't have gone amiss. Disappointing ( apart from the sounds/pickups etc).