Harley Benton R-457BK MultiScale

It is my third guitar, first was acustic Yam. f310, second was Ibanez RG421. In standart E Ibanez is wonderful, and I`m heapy enough. But unfortunately I can`t always change tuning down and back. So, I decided to by 7 string guitar to drop the tuning down. It was the cheapest one with the normal size of scale of the bass strings, firstly I wanted Jackson js22-7, it has well size scale too, but the prise is about two times bigger.
So, I ordered R-457:
Delivery was good, guitar looks ok, all pickups positions work right, but I haven`t checked anker. Quality is really good, but three tuning pegs quiet folter(not fatal), I tightened the nuts, no effect, at all -- they works normal; metal of strings scale regulation screw-bolts(in bridge) and furniture is too weak(like in all cheap guitars). Fanften is beautiful, nothing to say more because it only consequence of multi-scale, as for me, and I haven`t any discomfort. Multi-scale is a really interesting thing to make a bass sound. Pickups are well-working(but not Ibanez) in standart A with 13-50+59 dunlop, I`m completely satisfied. For me it lies on my hands and leg very comfortable.
Conclusion: it seems like the best and the cheapest 7-strings guitar at February 2022 for Russian consumer with one allowance that I don`t know prise for js22-7 in the other countries and experience of it

General points:
1)normal pickups and quality for the best price
2)multiscale and 7 string

I bought this since I wanted to try out a multi-scale seven string and I was not disappointed. The finish is flawless. Everything feels sturdy including the often wonky budget switches you can find on cheaper guitars. The neck feels great although it might take some time to get used to the width of a seven string. The fanned frets only took about an hour or so to get used to and any guitar without them feels quite unergonomic now.
The tuners were a bit annoying in the beginning, the tuning stability was fine, but they had some dead spots and were very sensitive to turning. This has however stopped being a problem over time. You might want to turn them a few times without strings whenever you next change strings however.

I did however find the pickups were too muddy, luckily for me howerver, that is easy to fix. What I did was unsolder the wires running from the pickups to the pots and simply soldered them directly to the switch. Now the pickups have all the bite I could ever ask for.
If you want to retain your volume and tone controls you might want to get new pots that are 1 Meg Ohm instead of the stock 500k ones.

All in all: I doubt you can find a better guitar for the price and even if they added more to the price it would still be good value

I have waited for several months before writing this review. Several months of use. These are not my 'first impressions'.

Limitations/Cons:

The nut is cut a little strangely, and sharp at one edge. Can be easily fixed.

The back of the neck isn't the smoothest. I am comparing it to a Jackson Soloist and an American Stratocaster. This is to be expected.

The pickups are a little too muddy for my tastes. Pickups are easily replaceable.

PROS:

- Fun to play.
- Came with perfect intonation out of the box. Zero fret buzz. Every fret articulated well. I didn't need to adjust anything.
- The pickups aren't to my tastes, however they still sound good if you understand basic amplification and audio production. Clients *loved* what I could do with this guitar.
- Fanned frets are super comfortable.
- Light weight.

REVIEW:

I got way more than I bargained for with this guitar. It should not exist for this price.

If I were to upgrade the pickups and change the nut, it would be a solid and reliable guitar to gig with, or certainly a good back up guitar.

Congratulations to Thomann and Harley Benton on a superb product.

Wanted to try out a 7 string fanfret to see how I’d like it. Do to COVID I’m unable to hang out like I used to. So spending time at the local guitar shop was non-existent. Also buying an outrageously priced guitar to try and return just didn’t seem right. So I’d heard good things about Harley Benton Guitars and I thought I’d give them a try. I thought for the low cost that I’d get the Harley Benton R-457BK Fanfret to try. Glad I did! Was thinking that if I didn’t enjoy the guitar or that the 7 string multiscale wasn’t for me I’d give the guitar to my grandson (or The Son-In-Law). To bad, they’ll have to wait, as the comfort, setup, and quality was well beyond what I was expecting. I’m enjoying the playability and tone. Playing through Boss Katana 100 and after a little tweaking the amp settings, this guitar sings like an American Fender HH. Cleans are clean, crunch is focused, and driven has headroom galore. Chugging is new to me and finding Dgent is coming along! Since I’m 65 and can still get a heartbeat, I need to add it to the 7th string! DGENT!

Highly simplistic, no-frills, multi-scale 7-string guitar. Very playable and smooth for its price range. Hardware is lacking a bit in quality but still standard at this price point. Factory pickups are a bit muddy but one can still pull some good metal or "djent", if you will, tones out of them. I have no idea what strings are on it in the factory but prospective buyers should consider swapping right away to their favorite strings. Previous HB guitars from this series had major issues with buzzing and popping coming from the electronics. I don't have ANY of this with my R-457BK and from what I understand HB put some effort into QC and it's no longer an issue with their instruments. All around a good, solid guitar. Perfect for someone who wants to try out a multi-scale 7 under $300.

This guitar was a great cheap base for making my own custom 3d printed guitar. For the life of me I could not find neck only for reasonable price, everything I could order was 500-700€ range. This one needed 2hrs of work (2 buzzing frets, action too high) and now the neck is excellent. I accidentally ordered some 7 string Warman humbuckers (that is the reason why I ordered 7 string guitar in the first place) and since stock ones are slightly muddy, I replaced them. Also, I found some cheap locking tuners.

Constructed, printed and assembled the body and replaced stock one with printed one.

This guitar now plays like a dream. Before I made custom body and after fixing neck and replacing humbuckers I had my doubts If I even want to make new body, because guitar played nice and easy. Now after everything is done, I have no regrets. I integrated tuner into body, made a slots where I can stick picks in and currently I am working on Mooer PE100 mount. It will be attached to the body and only cable needed will be the one from Mooer to in ear monitors ( I live in multi apartment building and cannot rip Marshall 100 anyway).
To summarize, guitar needs some work on the neck and it will play nicely. If one wants or needs a cheap base for making custom guitar, there simple isn't any cheaper option known to me to get essential parts needed.