Harley Benton Stratocaster Comparison (6 Cheap Strats) 

Check out my comparison of Harley Benton Les Paul type guitars: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qwgZXjae67c.htmlsi=TYWrdSTSdjYCwJky

Love these comparison videos you make,looking for something currently for my daughter,this video will help 👍🏻

I have the st -70RW Deluxe serie. Comes with Wilkinson bridge. Changed the pickups for Tex Mex pickups. Have the bridge laying to the body. Now I'm happy with it.

As an Australian I can’t easily get my hands on Harley Benton products but listening to you I find myself believing they are at least worth the asking price. I’m pretty sure Artist guitar S type objects, which are similarly specified and also considered budget, of which I own many, are at the very least a good bet. I have Mexican strays, affinity and bullet squiers and these all have strengths and weaknesses. For the sake of this argument, my favourite and most used,practice and live guitar is a hss Artist SType , probably equivalent to Harley Benton , price, features and playability

I know you had the Vintage brand Strat I still would take them over a HB I own the V6P it was a 2017 model with 3 stacked P90's what I love is the full size staggered trem block and I will be honest the guitar stays in tune even slamming on the whammy bar the neck is brilliant , but let's be frank HB has given a decent option, and like with many they will require a full setup , can't knock them , as always Elmo you give an honest no bs review ,

Now I'm eagerly awaiting the HB T-style video 😁

I have the ST-62cc (in the charcoal frost finish, which looks great in my opinion) - and I love it. It sounds good, plays great, and stays in tune really well, to the point where I rarely need to mess with it. The two things I would say to keep in mind about it is that the trem arm feels very stiff, so its either tight or loose, not a huge middle ground. (although maybe its just mine?) And the other thing is that the neck was pretty thick compared to a fender Strat I played, so it feels pretty different to me, but that's a preference thing. I think its great for the price regardless. EDIT: unrelated, but I also just bought the Harley Benton DNAfx GiT Advanced that just came out, and its my first ever amp sim/multi effects pedal thing. And I'm finding it to be a lot of fun, even if I'm confused on how to use this sort of thing with the IR stuff and all that. But considering that no one has a video about this model yet - that I guess is supposed to be in between the pro model and the base version, it would be cool to see you compare it to other stuff in its price range if you felt like making a video like that. (maybe a bit of a tutorial for dumb folk like me too?)

As always Elmo, it's fun and interesting to hear your playing and opinions. Keep the videos coming!

Hello there, love your vids. I've learned alot technic wise, and the shredding tips have been helping very much. I bought a second hand St62 and i love it, incredible fretwork, tremolo is really good too, tuners are meh ( couldn´t be all good) but the thing i love the most is the neck shape. It feels full but it sits really good in the hand, its something one must try to understand it. Anyways, excellent work and keep doing this great work, Cheers!

I've got a few ST62 models and the ST90, ST20 - I love them all. Just as good as my Fender Performer USA model. Sure there is a bit of fret sprout on the ST90 but I still love playing it. Great vid as always Elmo - keep up the good work.

Really really enjoyed this video Elmo. Especially since I'm in the market for a strat and i love Harley Benton guitars. Even with shipping to the US they're still cheaper than buying an equivalent in the States. For the most part anyway. Im curious about something though and this isn't directed at anyone in particular but ive often wondered why people are so quick to mod Harley Benton guitars? My SC 450 plus is beautiful since i got it. I genuinely love the tones i get out of the Roswell humbuckers and I even bought a set of Roswell humbuckers for another guitar. The ones in it were microphonic and just squealed. I don't look at swapping the nut as modding, because to me that's just preventative maintenance. It prevents a person from chucking the guitar out the window when it doesn't hold tune😂. The simplest solution ive ever found for pickups is an EQ pedal. If they aren't active or microphonic, pickups are pickups. Some have a little more gain or clarity but it's nothing that can't be remedied with a little extra EQ. I bought a used Walrus Audio EB-10 EQ pedal that works for all my guitars and saved a boatload of money by not throwing new pickups at everything. Even the stock pickups in my LTD HSS guitar sound good with a little help. My Roswells sound fantastic. The stock Roswells in my old Fusion 3 were brilliant. I just added 2db of treble and middle with an EQ pedal and it was fantastic. For anyone reading this, it's just a little food for thought.

I received a Jet JS450 guitar last week, and I am SO impressed by the quality!

The walnut one is stunning 😍

Good job! A very thorough video. I’m certainly not suggesting this, but it would be interesting to see a “6 Cheap Strat” comparison using six of the exact same model of HB Strat. From what I hear about HB guitars, you’d probably get six different results. Harley Benton seems like such a love/ hate brand, and I think it’s due to inconsistent builds and quality control.

I thought the ST62 was the best as well Elmo. HB guitars are however a bit hit and miss so you never know. Well done again man and keep 'em comin'. A the K

very awaited video, well done,. I concluded that from st 62 these strats have chunkier tremblock don't they? Next comparison could be a jet 300 vs st 62. I really like your gear tests.

Hey Elmo, love your videos man. Also if possible Can you review the Cort G300 pro ? I’m searching for a modern-ish reliable stable guitar around like 500-600 pounds. Cheers ❤️

Thanks for the review Elmo 🙏✌️❤️🎸🎶🎼🎵😎🎸

This is exactly the video I needed, at this exact moment in life. You have inspired me to give a strat style guitar a try. We'll, David Gilmour helped a bit too. But thanks!😊😅

The reason why none of these guitars really feel like strats IMHO is the fretboard radius. HB doesn't do 7.25" or 9.5" radius, which is typical for Fender. They're all 12" or more.

I have their cheapest telecaster (TE-20) (please do a telecaster comparison video too!) to learn everything about electric guitars. To play them, to maintain them, to customize them myself, and so on. I haven't learnt to play yet but I've upgraded some parts on it such as locking tuners, string trees, neck nut, bridge saddles and changing the strings. As I do not know much about guitars and how to play them my impression of the TE20 IMHO is very good, I was contemplating between their DIY-kit and this model as the price is almost the same. As far as I remember the setup on it when it arrived was fairly good, had to adjust intonation and string heights first when I changed the bridge saddles. Everything seems just fine to my eyes and ears. I really only have two complaints after owning it for some time: 1) One of the pots have been getting a bad connection when turned down really low (if I remember correctly it's the tone pot) 2) Thomann's Harley Benton locking tuners are not consistent. Some are really precise and good, some feels really loose. At some point I'll probably get into switching out the electronics, pickups and locking tuners to something better. The funny part is, if I for example upgrade the locking tuners to an actual quality brand then those tuners alone will cost more than the whole guitar from the store.

The other day I said to myself "hey where's that guy on RU-vid who was a genuine help to you when buying some instruments awhile back?" Today you showed up in my feed. I apologise for not subscribing back when you were great in helping make an online choice. I've amended this today ;) I think it's great that this generation of kids / new learners has Harley Benton out there. I was born in '67, so my cheap instrument buying days were in the 80s, when cheap was cheap. You pay cheap, you get it back. My first Bass was a Fender copy by Memphis. The action was so high on it, but I had no clue it was, because no one told me it was. How would I know? So I learned Squire, Clarke, Harris, Graham, Butler on a Bass with action so high it's a miracle I never stopped completely. Ignorance is bliss. When I finally bought a decent Bass, which was an Aria Pro II, I found out I could actually PLAY! Why Aria Pro? Because that's what I could afford still in High School, working a part time job, and selling off my comic book collection. Gibson? Fender? These were dreams. I got what I could get. Just like all my other friends who played instruments did, unless they inherited the instrument from someone else. Harley Benton really should be congratulated, and it's kind of cool to be witness to a brand starting to rise up, and redefine what the build quality of an instrument is, and how much you should pay for it. It feels like now, if someone said, "my first guitar was a Harley Benton", no one's going to laugh at you. It's not a joke to get something for under £300 (I'm in the UK) and have it be a working, playable, pleasant instrument to play, and record with. I have a few Harley Bentons, and the most prized is the JA-60SB, which I STILL HAVE NOT CHANGED THE STRINGS ON IT FROM PURCHASE 2 YEARS AGO. It was such a great guitar out of the box, I dared not change a thing to alter its tone. And £139.00, in a bundle deal. It's not that they're accurately replicating the brands they're in design spec with. Though I did hear a Harley Benton ST Modern middle position come very close to the middle position on a Fender CW Stratocaster in a video the other day! It's that they're offering you an instrument that kind of has it's own sound. And it's a decent sound. It's value for money. No it's not a Fender (or a Gibson) but you're still getting something that sounds good. Sometimes, depending on what you're looking for, maybe better? Sorry that was so long, I just think Harley Benton are gamechangers. But we won't see how much of one for another 10 years or so. I also wanted to apologise for not subscribing back a bit, and correct my error! ;) Thanks for your uploads, you do truly help.

Hey Elmo, love your channel, just subscribed. Would you rank the Harley Benton ST-62 over the best Jet or Eart have to offer? Thanks!

Great video! Thank you!

Hi! Awesome guitar playing and reviews! Thank you! Have you heard/ read the sound and specs of Harley Benton ST-Modern plus. Would love to see you reviews that guitar,

If there is anyone's opinion I listen to on RU-vid it's elmo's. Especially if it's a strat type. Another great review sir.💥💯💥👏👏👏

The fretwork is a problem in general by Harley Benton guitars, i have one that has no..... no problems at all, i onley have changed the pick-ups for now! You have to invest to get your final juicy guitar IMHO! Thank you for this astonishing test...... 😊

if you have the st 70 maybe it is worth having a full review on it, since it has a wilkinson trem.

Maybe the ST-62 has to be premium(er) because only the ST-20 was the other SSS option for lefties. While the latter has much brighter sound, neck wins on the 62 imho. Nice video Elmo, thank you!

There is hardly any difference in sound when compared side by side in Audacity. The ST-20 comes with the cheapest strings on the planet, so that might explain a slightly duller sound (unless they were replaced with good ones for the demo). Fretwork quality is fairly random in this price range so I would not base my choice on this and simply expect to have some levelling to do on any model. I think weight, balance and neck profiles are better deciding factors, in case they differ from one another. Does the size of the block really make a noticeable difference?

Still have my ST62 from 8 years ago. Works very well for me. I just upgraded the string string tree to roller, applied graphite in the nut and switched the bridge pickup to a cheap amazon hotrail humbucker clone. The guitar has not moved at all and is very well built. The pickups and electronic could be a point to upgrade depending on taste.

Do you think the Strats dont feel like Strats, as you said in the end, is because of the 12 inch (in some cases almost 14) radius? I think one of the things Jet has over the HB is the traditional fret board radius

I recently sold a HB TE53-KR Keith Richards Tribute Tele....that guitar had a gorgeous finish BUT it weighed 10lbs ! Once I sold it, I got a HB SSS ST62 VW Strat style/..same model you demo'd...and I agree it's probably the best model S type. . Best $200 USD (incl tax) from HB US distributer; Reverb. I have ever spent on an electric guitar AND was pleasantly surprised weighed just under 7lbs ! BUT you always need to be aware of potential sharp frets and heavy ass guitars.

I’m a lefty and three years ago they only had the 62 in black so I bought it then recently they had green and blue around the time of their 25th anniversary or whatever it was I got the green one different neck than the black one same pick ups sound different but sound similar and I change the pick guards on the black one to mint green and the mint green one to black my little book ends love them

Elmo mentions "strats normally feel like home, but these don't".... I am 99.9% sure it is because of the stoooopid flat fretboard radius. Why don't makers that are copying Fender make 9.5 radius fretboards like 80% of Fender's made in the last 40 years are? 13.75" and 15" radius 2x4 flat fretboards feel so cheap & wrong on strat style guitars.

If you’re in America, just get a Squier debut. They’re so good!

I have two Harley Benton guitars-a TE-20 in metallic blue and a JB-75 MN bass in black. I really like them both. I’ve since modded the fudge out of the TE-20 because I wanted to try that. Everything with the exception of the scratch plate, body and neck have been swapped and that includes the nut. The only thing I don’t like about both of them are the necks; they’re a bit thick. I understand this may be to teach newcomers the proper distance between your palm and the back of the neck. But then I don’t know if that’s for certain.

Great. This is going To be good video!

How about one on Harley Benton Telecasters now?

Is wired wrong for sure. I had to wire correctly my st70 black paisley among other issues with it. 😊 Nice vídeo and nice playing, Man.

I didn't bother to buy a Strat as I have a Yamaha Pacifica, but I got a Harley Benton TE-62CC as I've always fancied a Tele and it had decent reviews. I have to be honest, I don't like it. Frets lovely, it looks nice, it has the slight Telecaster twang but it just sounds a bit rubbish to me, maybe it says more about my playing. I also bought a Harley Benton SC-450Plus GT Vintage Series (on your recommendation) and that one is lovely to play and sounds great and makes me want to pick it up all the time. Even with your amazing playing skills, the sounds those Strats made were hurting my ears so I'm surprised you didn't say to avoid them all

I know it would be hard to organise but it would be great to do a comparison of the winner of this video with other budget S types like Soloking, Sire, Jet, Vintage, Squire, etc🎸🤘🏻

Hi Elmo, a texhnical question. Could you tell me of we take 2 humbackers and strings from a Les Paul guitar and put them as a replacements on a sample ST guitar with 2 humbackers then the ST guitar will sounds like the LP?

Out of the ones you have tested i only have the HM 59, which took a lot of setting up and upgrading and it is still a bit mehh. Harley Benton's like other brands entry level samples are so hit and miss that i don't buy them anymore. Save up and try a Fusion model, they are way better spec'd and tend to be playable out of the box. Buy cheap, buy twice comes to mind.

would a fender neck fit in that DG??

I have a harleybenton cabronita copy. It's a tele style guitar with filtertron pickups. I love that instrument. Price was ridiculous. At such prices you should expect quality to be a lottery. Try before buy.

Very nice comparison. Should have been here two months ago. Bought a Jet JS-300 in May. A first batch apparently with high gloss neck and nicer logo. Did I make a wrong decision?

On a whim I bought into the hype and got a Jet JS300, S-style; and given the identical headstock shape, I believe it came out of the same factory as H-B. Again it had poorly finished frets which needed a LOT of work to get to an acceptable playing condition. I think it's safe to assume that cheap guitars are not going to benefit from the same time-consuming attention to detail as more expensive alternatives. My other Strats (Fender 70th Anniversary MIM, and Special Edition black and gold MIM), are in a different league altogether; that said there was a period, not so long ago, when Mexican Fenders also had issues with poorly cut nuts and shoddy fret work. In my opinion if you want a decent S-style which won't have gritty frets and fret sprout, spend a little more on a Yamaha Pacifica.

I like your videos, but it struck me as odd to do this one without including the ST modern plus that just got released. Is it because it's a bit more expensive than these and doesn't qualify as cheap? Anyway, I hope you get around to that one eventually. It's your style of playing that I'm particularly interested if it's suited for. And I live in America, so there's additional shipping costs for me. Thanks!

I was not very happy with my ST20 and yeah for the price it's still amazing. But my concerns with those guitars is that many beginners quit because of the set up of the guitar or the poor playability. It's a fact that if you have a better set up guitar and a good neck that you can play smoother than with a poor set up cheap guitar. Guitars like the st 20 are nice to watch and very cool to modify BUT if you put in a few more bucks into a better Harley Benton you'll just get more out of it and it's less complicated to learn to play. I can not love them.. Just my opinion. I have the ST Modern Plus which I absolutely love!

I own a HB TC62cc tele style. It doesnt feel cheap at all. As for playability, its really decent and just doesnt get out of tune. As for the tone... it sounds pretty tele to me, although its the only T i got so i have no comparison to other tele's.

Cool test! What's the weight of the ST 90 swamp ash guitar? I have a TE 52 from Harley Benton and while it's a great guitar in terms of quality and playability, it's heavy as fuck...

I know it would be hard to organise but it would be great to do a comparison of the winner of this video with other budget S types like Soloking, Sire, Vintage, Squire, etc🎸🤘🏻And on QC, I have long commented HB should add £10 or 20 to each guitar to ensure excellent fretwork, customer would bare that slightly extra cost so they don’t have to aggro of a rough guitar or have to spend more with a tech. I believe HB’s biggest problem is the variable QC, for example they finally lost me as a customer after one too many of their guitars had to go back and I basically lost confidence in the brand😔

These sort of remind me of Rondo Music guitars SX strat copies. Even down to the headstock shape. I liked the sound of the 90, shame it came with the worst fret job.

Hows the neck on that st62 compared to fender modern c

The only Strat style guitar in my house at the moment is a Jet JS400 belonging to my teenage son. Really nice budget option provided you get a good one - I've seen claims that they are a bit hit and miss but his is a little gem and still his "go to" most of the time. He is about to graduate, probably to a Sire S7 or a Fender Player series as reward for his past year's progress. (That's a secret though). As far as Harley Benton guitars go, we own five between us. My favourite is my TE-62 DB, a wonderful T Style guitar for its price point and I probably play it more than anything else I own - aside from my Sire T7 and that's quite surprising, but it just makes me want to pick it up. We each own a SC-450 Plus Vintage which I think is one of the nicest budget single cut LP copies out there, great value for money and they look beautiful - we have one in Lemon Drop and one in Vintage Burst. My son also has a cherry red HB-35 Plus semi-hollow 335 copy, and a JB75 MN Jazz Bass in sunburst - again, for the money, both are very good instruments. Sound wise, I've never had any complaints about any of them but of course such things are subjective and I'm sure some players would find fault somewhere. The Roswell pickups used in most of them, be they single coils or humbuckers, have always sounded pretty good to me. To date, I've not bought a Harley Benton that had any significant problems - I almost always put new strings on any new guitar and aside from that, a quick setup is the most I've ever needed to do....intonation and maybe a slight truss rod tweak but to be honest they've all been playable right out of the box. The frets on my son's SC450 were the only ones that needed slight attention - they were scratchy and dirty on arrival but after a quick polish they were perfectly fine. No sprout and no uneven heights or other issues requiring tools on any of them. Sure, the fretwork is inferior to that which you would find on more expensive guitars but that's not to say it's bad, far from it. My own Sire is a case in point - a lot of time and work was put into that neck and board and the finish is streets ahead by comparison. However, it cost considerably more than the humble HB so you would expect, or at least hope it would be. To anyone who is thinking about a reasonably priced T-Style I'd highly recommend considering/trying the Sires - the T7 represents amazing value at around £500 and they now have the cheaper T3 that comes in at only around £350-£390 and which some players have said they prefer over the 7. If you want a budget Tele though, the TE-62DB is a great choice - £135.00 delivered is quite astonishing value for money.

broo !!! on tuesday the fender player II came out with rosewood and rounded edges on the fretboard, kluson tuners and new ash and mahogany body woods (these last two will be released in october of this year). They came out for $800 in my opinion it would be better if they offered them between $650 and $700. Sorry for the google translator

I had st20, it was my first electric, liked the neck, but didn't like small frets and its cheap sound.

I must say I like the swamp ash. I have absolutely no need for one of course - which is obviously the most dangerous aspect 😂

What's fret sprout?

You could say the bridge pickup on the swamp ash one sounds rather muddy... (I'll see myself out.)

I thought the comparison was very good, though I wish you had been able to add the HB ST-Modern/Modern Plus. It is probably out of the price range you are targeting, but it is an HSS, has locking tuners, Tesla Pickups, Babicz trem, Graphite nut, stainless steel rolled frets and rolled fingerboard edges. Significantly higher in price, but does not need any upgrades at all. They seem to be getting very good reviews, though I think there are some initial production issues and inconsistencies that need to be ironed out. I am seriously considering one.

I wish I had been able to see this before I got the ST-90sa. It has been a hot mess. Bad (needing complete replacement - bad) output jack, 5 way switch, nut (horrible) and tuners. Which by the way, normal tuners don't fit. I would have got the ST62 vintage series. It even sounded better than the others here.

Could you make a review of the brand vintage guitars? They have a Lot of models in a good price range. V6, v60, v52...

I have owned a few.. including an old ibanez like one which was not so good but i made it work with some care.. however.. i have also owned a higher line benton - namely th ex84 modern and that was a brilliant guitar.. one of the best i have ever played while it was still quite cheap. grover tuners, impecable fretwork.. i didnt like the roswell pickups but there is an emg version of it for about 50 extra euros.. i regret deeply that i sold it

Why does the ST-70 have a skunk stripe if it has a separate finger board?

Can you review ibanez gio grg250m

I got many HB's in the last 5 years.... Someone are great, some not.. Custom Line are all great...

I bought the ST 62. It had some fret sprout and a few that I had to hammer in because they had lifted. One of the frets had a ding in it like the B string had at some point been hammered into it. Things like this make a guitar unusable for a beginner in my opinion so I would stay away from the cheaper Harley strats and try to find something used. But aside from these fret issues there was always something a bit off about it., if you know what I mean. The neck was uncomfortably shaped. It felt very different from the Strats I have owned, and the pickups sounded a bit cheap and hollow to my ear. I much prefer the Squire. And if you can get one used that has had all these juvenile problems corrected that would be the best thing. I have two other HB guitars, A double cut and an absolutely brilliant HB35 semi hollow, so I have nothing against the Harley Benton brand.

I got to get a HB to review

Please please please make a review on sqoe stratocaster sest600

To me it sounds like what you are seeing is just production inconsistencies. This is what happens with cheaper guitars. It is not that you can't get a really good one, but because they have to make them as fast as humanly possible, the quality control is inconsistent. If you order another batch of the exact same guitars, maybe the cheapest one would still be the worst, but the rest could randomly be different in quality.

I'll go with jet guitar.

no experience with HBs at all....no idea, I only have one electric guitar.

Elmo, why don't you really test the guitars in a rehearsal. In a loud atmosphere, together with other instruments, let's say a real band. I think that will be the best test, especially for beginners

I think it was just luck, HBs have huge variations in quality.

The spacing of the pickup plots is not right on all the models shown !! Take a look at Jet Guitars !

I bought a Harley Benton super strat, just to see what is was like. I was interested to see if something that cheap would hold up. And man it did not! The frets has come loose making it unplayable. A couple of the dots on the fretboard has popped out. Both the bolts at the nut lock and the individual saddles are so badly made its almost impossible to keep the strings in place, making the guitar impossible to use. The tremolo studs are misplaced (drilled in the wrong place) making the tremolo useless and the fine tuners are so rough they are more or less impossible to screw in either direction. An the trussrod doesn´t work. Stay away from this brand. It is possible to find really cheap guitars that works but not this brand.

Why 6 guitars?

I had a few Harley Benton S style guitars. They were rubbish, Rubbish quality, rubbish sound. Some frets were polished. some weren't, on the same guitar. Tuning and intonation was a headache. Cheap though.

Your Camera died?

cheap stuff has huge quality variation. Cheap labor, cheap parts. Also maybe a random low wages worker just decides that "fckut it! I'm gonna make this one a nice guitar"

"mother of toilet seat" LOL .... plastic guitar parts will never be the same again.

I dunno....this is going to sound really pretentious, but cheap guitars feel cheap to me 😅

Even the cheapest Squier is better than these HB garbage.! Sorry, no offense to anyone.