Harley Benton R-457BK MultiScale

I was hesitant to order a Harley Benton since I was busy researching and playing different extended-range instruments over the last couple of months.

I was initially looking at the CST24T but they were out of stock and only due to return in a few months until I saw a B-Stock. I decided to bite the bullet and just pick up one of these with the CST24T considering the cost and this also gives me a good overview by comparing two guitars from Harley Benton.

Delivery took 4 days and the packaging was really good.

After unboxing there was a big difference in setup and first impression quality between the CST and this The CST felt amazing and was essentially perfectly setup unlike this (no problemo I like getting my hands dirty). The frets were very sharp as well as the nut nearly to the point where it might cut my hand/finger. The wood was really dry indicating that it might have been sitting somewhere for a while.
Something to take into account when buying this is that you will need to do some basic TLC. At first, the tuners felt like it was cheap, however, I would advise playing around with them a bit by turning them around a few times. They are pretty decent now. I have also replaced the strings which help with tuning stability on drop G.
Pickups are really hot, maybe a tad muddy, however nowadays it's easy to get around this with a nice setup EQ/Compression and playing with the volume knob.

Positives - After spending, let's say few hours on TLC and setup this thing is a BEAST. I am planning on upgrading the pickups and tuners in the future, however, I am really happy and struggling to put this down. The guitar is also REALLY light which I enjoy the balance is on point and the neck feels really fast.

TLDR
If you are on a budget and don't plan on spending 700 euro + on a guitar you might as well just get this.

Out of the box, minimal setup was required. A little fret buzz on string 7, but shipping from Germany to the US with assumedly very little climate control I am not prepared to blame that on the set up (if any) from Harley Benton or Thomann. Truss adjustment and raising the action a tad and we were cruising.
So build quality was ok, but given the price, pretty impressive. I did have some minimal cosmetic damage to the back of the body, but once again, a risk you run when shipping. The guitar is surprisingly light, but not sacrificing sustain with the cheaper wood options. The fretboard was dry and the fret wire could use a polish, but the ends of the fret wire are adequately finished as to not snag on the strings or dig in to your fingers.

Feature wise, this is about what you would expect from an entry level anything in guitar land. Volume and tone pots have a surprising amount of resistance but I accidently pulled of my tone nob when giving the guitar once over. Simple press fit, so jam it back on there. 3 way blade switch does what its supposed to do.
Finally, the tone. Maybe there were recent changes to the pickups used, but I can't say I agree with the common complaint that the guitar sounds muddy. Out of my Boss Katana MkII with no EQ or patch changes from my normal, I found it the guitar to produce adequate tones, with solid dynamics and sustain. Felt very in expressive in the mids and highs, which is right in the pocket I like to be for my metal playing.

Overall, for the price, I can't say I have played anything better. Even with shipping half way around the world, I still was under $250 USD, placing this guitar as the only option I would recommend (so far) for players wanting to give extended range and/or multiscale without obscene financial commitment.

This guitar is really impressive. After playing and recording with it, the Harley Benton R-457 Fanfret has turned out to be a great choice.

Firstly we'll look at what I don't like about it:
- The strings it comes with are not great. That doesn't matter, you're just gonna put new ones on when you get it.
- the (passive) pickups can be quite muddy. You'll have to manage the amount of gain you have set because the sound gets messy with these pickups. It doesn't bother me that much and maybe it's just a personal preference thing. It shouldn't bother you too much unless you're trying to record with it.
- the neck had a few patches where it didn't feel very smooth but not noticeable when playing.

But these are minor inconveniences for me. The guitar is pretty amazing, especially at this price (I got mine for £149). There are plenty of things that I do like about the instrument:
- The neck feels similar to Jacksons I've played, obviously it is wider to accommodate the low B string but it's still thin and feels good to play on.
- I like the weight of the guitar and it doesn't have much neck dive even with the added string.
- The cutaways allow for easy access to the top frets, and the frets are the best thing about it.
- The fanned fret design is very comfortable and the frets are not rough or sharp.
- there are no issues with the finish

Overall I would definitely recommend the R-457 Fanfret to anyone who wants to try a 7 string or a multiscale/fanned fret guitar. It costs such a small amount of money yet it performs so well. If this guitar cost £300 I would think that's a reasonable price, but Harley Benton/Thomann consistently deliver high quality products for lower prices, allowing anyone to experience these features usually reserved for far more expensive guitars.

I love this guitar! I do have a couple complaints but overall it sounds good it feels good it has great weight the neck plays beautifully the action is easy to get to a very low level and still not Buzz. The sound I couldn't believe for the price is astounding. Since I've had this guitar in my other axes have gone lonely. It's a well-built machine I only have the complaint about the nut which doesn't really accommodate the 7th and 6th strings because it's not wide enough the grooves are just too narrow and they grip on while I'm tuning and makes it a little bit more difficult. There's also sharp edges on the nut that I did not find until I cut myself. Normally I could deal with all of these myself but not these days. I'm amazed cuz I've had guitars in the 800 range that don't play as well as this. I'm only playing this out of my computer so I don't know what it would sound like out of a rig but from the online , was impressed enough to take a chance and order one.

The guitar did not arrive in the best condition: all covered in dust, there were noticeable drops of glue on the bridge (probably) but were easily cleaned with a cotton swab and water, the body had faintly visible very small scratches; the strings were in a very strange tuning, unlike an out-of-tune guitar, but as if it had not been tuned at all.
The guitar itself is quite weighty, but relatively light compared to other seven-strings; both pickups are quite “evil”, I don’t even want to change them to active ones; the scale length can be adjusted very conveniently and relatively fast.
Overall I'm very pleased with the guitar itself, except that they were delivered in poor external condition...

This guitar is surprisingly high quality for its price. The guitar was a little out of tune when it came and was set up very nicely. The build quality is really nice. The guitar feels solid. All of the frets rounded and polished. The tuners feel cheap but still feel better than my budget jacksons tuners. The knobs and selector feel good. The pickups are pretty weak through gain but a surprisingly nice clean tone. The issues I have with the guitar were expected as it is a cheap guitar. But everything else about this guitar was way better than I expected. I would say get this guitar if you want a multiscale on a budget or want to try a multiscale or if you want to mod. This guitar is an amazing mod platform. Manage your expectations before buying it.

I bought this guitar in order to have a closer look what a 7-strings guitar is.
My impression is the guitar costs its price.
The frets are well installed and polished smoothly.
Electronics/wires are assembled and soldered pretty good.
I replaced the strings to .10-.60 and was able to tune the scale length simply.
But there were a couple of minor issues I have to mention:
- quality of the tuning machines is in doubt, one of them was defective (slipped gear)
- the pickups are passive (no power element inside the guitar), but it's even better, imho
Can definitely recommend this guitar, but you should understand pros and cons of buying a cheap instrument.