Harley Benton R-457MN WH MultiScale

I'm quite frankly a little speechless. A seven string at this price is amazing. A fanfret one to boot...

The only minor issue I can find is the frets have smidge of roughness, and this is easily fixed with some tape and finegrit sanding paper.

The neck is super comfy, close to wizard-territory.

The fanned frets feel great for power/barrechords all the way - and the edges of the frets are well rounded and can not be felt during playing.

The nut sists snuggly, and the tuners work great.

The bridge stays out of the way, and the controls do not feel cheap at all. Great friction in pots and selector.

But - the real surprise are the pickups. Metal is the name of the game for me, and these puppies do the job really well! I have to add, I have a Behringer TO-800 overdrive in front of the amp (A Joyo Zombie II), and that tightens things up really nice. Even so, this is far better than the price would suggest.

Some suggest the pickups are a bit muddy, and perhaps bassy, but throw in a decent overdrive, and add an EQ in the loop. I'd go so far as to say you'd want that regardless....

The only upgrade so far are straplocks. I was planning on switching the pickups for Duncan Nazgul/Sentient, but I don't know.. the stock ones sound great, and the new ones would outprice the guitar. Twice.

I ordered a pair of Harley Benton locking tuners as well, but I might just wait until the first string change to swap them out. Locking tuners to me are mostly a convenience.

This one gets a warm recommendation, at least for the metalheads out there.

If you're searching an affordable multiscale progressive 7 string, you're in the exact right place ! This one is for you !

So, here's my review, after 5 month playing with this incredible guitar :

So, first of all, for the range of price, IT'S PERFECT. Like I have other guitar that cost arround 650 and they are worst in versatility than this one.

The versatility is perfect, The thin neck allow to really be fluent on the frets, The fret work is perfectly done.

The sound of the guitar is quiet good too, just the bass frequency that is a bit muddy, but it's was not a problem for me.

I'll defenitely will use it on live. Pretty nice job Harley Benton.

Bought this to dip my toes into the 7 string and fan fret world.

Pickups: can be muddy, especially with the tone knob rolled down. Other than that they are fine. These will be the second thing to be changed once I decide where I want to go with the guitar.

Tuning machines: Basic, simple. They semi worked but I swapped them for some locking machines. This solved the tuning stability on the G and high B strings

Neck and fretboard: Straight and clean, fret ends are good, no snags or poky bits. The frets are scratchy, but it's to be expected. neck is smooth and fast and not nearly as wide as I had anticipated. Truss rod needed a quarter turn to fix some fret buzz.

Strings.....were swapped to a new set. Note: nut needed to filed a tad, especially when adding higher gauge strings. But that's only a few moments of work, and they did slot the nut properly for the gauges they send from the factory. I swapped to a light top and heavy bottom set (9-60) after which and a truss rod adjustment I was able to lower the action some and got rid of nearly all the buzz, especially on the low B which initially sounded like an actual bee.

Paint and Body: no blemishes to be found. Routed electronics area is a little rough, only the plate was shielded, with a single stripe of non-conductive paint in one corner of the electronics rout.
Small pots but the actual soldering is good and sturdy and wiring management was actually done better than some name brands I have seen.

Out of the box it needed some care (but don't we all), I am enjoying the fanned frets, swapping the pickups should be simple at which point I'll also swap out pots and rewire as well.
For the price I paid I can easily recommend the guitar, with the caveat that you/a tech will likely have to do some setup and modification to make it 'yours'.
So other than a good setup being needed, there isn't really a reason at this price point to not try it out.

Was actually reluctant at first, another 7-string? 150€?

This thing is a beast, and as such you might have to deal with a thing here and there.

Sound is amazing, after changing the pickup (EMG-85 now). Really like the bright fretboard, the C shape is a monster, but works well for chords, as there is enough place for the fingers on the fretboard, without it feeling to "broad". With mine there was nearly no fretbuzz, although action is a bit high for my taste, and might get a little tweaking. There are a few "meh" things. There are black plastics covering the string holes on the back. But those covers are only on 3 strings? Side of the fretboard looks like it got dirty when glueing? No major issues in terms of feel, but if you look close it looks weird.

This thing rips with the EMG85, definition on B-string hammering, any amp, riffing is a charm, as well as playing chords. Can match my 600€ Ibanez, and I guess, I'll go down the fanfret road a lot more.

I love that my guitar weighs only 3kg, which is great! (note that others could turn out different)
Other Harley Bentons I own are heavy, so I'm happy this one is light!

Pickups sound better than expected, but are high output, I'll probably upgrade later. They're good though, they have a pleasant sound.
Frets - impressively good, no sharp ends, only a tiny buzz on the last two on the 1st string.
The bridge is not grounded, which introduces hum at high gain - I'll have to fix that.
The pots are stiff, they may loosen over time or I'll change them.
The tone knob's metal cap fell off of it's plastic insert, I'll fix that easily.
The neck is a bit thicker, like most Harley Bentons, but fits comfortably in my medium sized hands.

Overall very minor issues, the guitar plays nicely, sounds good and looks good. I'm happy I bought it and I enjoy playing it.

The guitar arrived in great shape, no dinks or issues what so ever (all the way to Norway, with no case just in the packaging). Frets need some polishing, and new strings is pretty much a must but oh lord this guitar surprised me!

I had the idea of replacing the pickups for EMG707's, but as it turns out the stock pickups sound awesome.. they are beyond what I expected. They do sound a tiny bit muddy and lacking in gain, but not as bad as I would have thought.

The guitar looks awesome in white, and except a few dried drops of paint in the pickup selector nothing more to pick on. The tuners hold the tuning just fine. The stock strings are very light and floppy, so I do recommend getting some better strings. Drop A sounds great, and pitch shifted in Neural DSP to drop G it sounds just fine.

All in all I am very much surprised for a guitar in this price range, it actually sounds almost as good as my LTD that I got for 1500. Of course it's super light being in this price range, but it still sounds and feel great. The guitar sounds beefy with the neural dsp gojira plugin. Totally recommend this guitar if you are looking for an entry 7 string. I already have a 6 and 8, but had to get a 7 to complete the collection.