I swapped all electronics and pickups, and it is now really great sounding! It was okish before but not clear enough for me. it has nothing to do with the PRS hollowbody 2 SE which I own as well, the PRS has a more open sound and is way lighter which I prefer. Keep up the good work mate, cheers!
Thank ya kindly mate! 😀🙏 If it was a keeper, I'd very likely go the same route as you did. Glad you like yours - they are really well put together guitars 👍
Thank ya mate! 😀🙏 I don't always manage to get gig footage, we do a lot of weddings, and mostly it doesn't feel appropriate to set up a tripod etc at someones wedding 😂 Also have to be careful with copyright of songs, so can only show short little clips 🫤 Usually the guitar solo's that are not exactly like the record 😜
Some of the best tones I've heard from you, mate. Oh, and "Love Is In The Air" by John Paul Young? I'm old enough to remember that being in the "hit parade" as it was called in those days 😁
Oooft! I'll take it John! Cheers mate! 😀🙏 Usual story... multiple takes - I always had to fight that guitar 💪 Love is in the Air - this was a wedding first dance request. Definitely had to do worse tunes 😜
I've never been a huge fan of the 24 fretters just because it puts the neck pickup in the wrong place and it always feels like there's no room to actually pick... but then I appear to be a fussy bastard lately 😂.... as you say,, beautiful guitar. 👍😅
Beautiful looking guitar. I'm not a fan of modern neck profiles either, but hopefully Harley Benton will offer more options in the future. Great video👍👍👍
As somene who we've established largely feels the same way about Necks that you do, I think it's good to have for the one flatter neck guitar to shred on. For me, I keep mine downtuned as a Stoner Doom type guitar and I actually really like it for that. The resonance of the semihollow actually goes nicely with the pickups to make a Doomy aura despite semihollows not normally being common that genre. IT might not seem immediately obvious with a Semi Hollow but I really do recommend this guitar for downtuning.
Hysterical, Coconut Grove Band where each member has on more clothing than all the actual residents of the actual Coconut Grove, put together. Well, dreams can take ya far, I reckon....
Honestly, It took me 15mins of researching the origin of "Coconut Grove" to get your reference 😅😂. We're "Coconut GrOOve" tho 😁 So we're allowed clothes 😜. Our name came from a very popular night club in Dundee in the 80's (Coconut Grove) as we're all Dundee locals and play a lot of music from that era 🤓👍
The neck wasn't for me, but it's another great Harley Benton, great/spoec to price ratio. There's a few comments from people here who've had sharp fret ends though. This one didn't have that issue
The Les Paul semi model can't recall the name is tempting that thing has rather good specs. Nice top on that one mate AAAA or so we tell ourselves haha!
@@markdoolan3424 Ah! Sorry I thought you meant a thinline Epi LP. Yeah the Aeolus is another cracker 😎👌 I had the Sunburst one - but not for long, It weighed a ton 😅
I have the same one in black though, I changed the pickups for Classic 57's but then changed them back as they sounded better in my LP Studio. I bought this as I thought it would be much lighter than an LP, but its not that much lighter but I still like it, it is great for clean tones and clean arpeggios are my favourite things to play on it. I can understand why you like this guitar so much. I forgot to mention mine has the Wilkinson pickups.
Ah yeah, @thegaindane said the same thing - he had the older version with the Wilkinsons too. I didn't even know HB did guitars with Wilkinsons - I was late to the HB party. They probably should have stuck with the wilkinson stuff over roswell imo
@@stevecassidyguitar They had to change pickups as there were fakes getting into their supply chain! obviously someone trying to scam money from such large orders!
I had an older version CST-24 with Wilkinson pickups a few years ago. It had horrible sharp frets when I got it. Fixed it, but ended up selling it because it felt cheap. I hope the current model feels better. The one you have does look very nice 👍
I think this one was an older model too - Not sure what year, but it's got the Roswells. Another comment just 2mins ago said the same as you about the fret ends 😬
@@stevecassidyguitar The one I had was from 2017. I just took a look at the ones they have now, they do look better and are also more expensive than mine was.
@@thegaindane When I made this vid a few weeks ago - they were all gone from the website (except fof the tree of life inlay one) I thought they were discontinued 😬 But then they came back 😀👍
Video suggested by algo. Glad I checked it out. Really good looker ( the guitar ) , real solid sounds and playing. I have had a few HBs (Teles), converting them to Prince models. Never disappointed by the quality for the price. If I didn't have too many guitars already including a PRS SE Santana in flame orange I would be tempted by one of these. Enjoy !
Hi Steve, great video and a fantastic looking CST-24. Had a solid body CST-24, which was also a nice looking guitar but I didn’t get on with the neck or scale length, didn’t like the Roswell pickups either and it was a boat anchor and way too heavy for me so I moved it on. Interestingly, I don’t really play my HB Fusion 2 either and probably should move that on, I replaced the Roswell pickups in the Fusion 2 with Alan Dingwall pickups (an amazing high end, small scale pickup maker based in the north east of England) and I re-shaped the headstock so it now looks and sounds like the Suhr Guthrie Govan signature model that it was based on. It might not be easy to move it on now it’s so heavily modded. It’s a lovely looking guitar with a Bengal finish and beautiful flamed roasted maple neck but the HSH pickup configuration is not my thing! Similarly I modded my HB Fusion 3 which Harley Benton based on the Pete Thorn Suhr signature Standard model, I also re-shaped the headstock so it’s now a look and sound alike for the Suhr Standard HH Pete Thorn signature model. This included replacing the pots, caps, and pickups with 2 Suhr Thornbuckers, and the trem with a Wilkinson WVS-130 two point trem, now standard on the Pete Thorn signature models. I bought the Fusion 3 did the mods and upgraded it to the same spec as the Suhr Pete Thorn signature for circa £800 less than 25% of the £4000 cost of the Suhr. I’ve played and recorded with it in the studio a number of times mow and it’s an amazing guitar definitely a keeper!
This is almost my exact experience too 😁👍. We've got a lot in common. I also have the Bengal Burst Fusion 2, I swaped the roswell humbuckers for a SD 59 (N) and an Iron Gear Rolling Mill (B) . I also don't love the HSH config. I'm currently hunting for a used Thornbucker for one of my HSS strats too 😀. I've also got a couple of sets of the WVS 130 Locking saddles that I've put on a Gotoh 510 trem - love it! 😎👌
I have the solid version of this with the trem and changed the tuners pickups wiring pots caps switch and input jack it was good before but amazing now.. I'd stick with it and get used to its neck.
Nice one mate 😎👍 I do love the look of the Purple CST24 with the trem 👌 I had this one for over a year - I just don't get on with flat fretboards unfortunately. Nothing wrong with the Guitar - just my anatomy 😂
Thank ya so much mate! 😀🙏 I can't remember the exact weight. It was heavier than I expected it would be with it being semi hollow, but it wasn't memorably too heavy either. Soz - that probably wasn't very useful 🤣
Got the CST-24 in Black and it is really nice, though I did have to modify it for my preferences. I sanded down the neck and replaced the tuners for PRS originals I got of the German version of craigslist (kleinanzeigen) and they are drop-in replacements. I would have loved the humbuckers on the deluxe.
Do a live when you get in from the night out. 🤣 Btw beautiful girl in the world by prince is what the art of song writing is about. Also I was up in London today and went to Denmark street and the Gibson garage and I was bored. I needed some inspiration to get me excited as I'm always looking for the next purchase or the next guitar that I want to put my hands just to spur me on to get the juices flowing but it seems like Austin powers 2 Ive lost my mojo baby. Sad times
I'm already home mate 🙈 Just stayed out for one 0% beer - Still aff it. It's not as fun, so came home early before evryone got too annoying 😜. But yeah I LOVE prince! 😀👍 Never been a massive fan of his lead guitar tone, but his clean rhythym stuff is the damage! 😎👌
Thank ya budge! 😀🙏 It was actually a bit of a fight to play this one 😅 They'll defo never do a CST with 9.5. But I'm still hodling out for a strat! (Like I need another one 🙈)
@@stevecassidyguitar hear me out here... Why can't we just radius the frets differently? Surely there is enough material on the frets to do a 9.5 inch radius on the frets sat on a 12 inch board. Someone with much more experience, feel free to step in and tell me that it won't work
A couple of people have suggested it before. In theory it probably would work. I'm not convinced tho (I have zero evidence to back this up) but I feel like my fingertips do touch the fretboard and it would still be a factor. A very good point well made tho sir - it makes all the sense 😃👍
There seems to be the issue, that Humbuckers with Chrome covers have a bit less treble compared without metal covers. Maybe Roswell should not use Covers anymore...
The body colour etc is beautiful but I hate guitars with F holes unless they are 335 style ones 😏I think the HB CST 24T with either the two P90's or the two Humbuckers is maybe one of the best guitars for the money available anywhere 🤘
@@stevecassidyguitar I like the emerald green one the spec on them is unbelievable for the dough😏Stainless steel frets etc The one I tried was as good as any PRS SE I have tried 😏🤘Keep up the great work mate love your channel 👍🤘
HB has a good thing going if they would JUST LEAVE THE BACK OF THE NECK NATURAL WITH NO PAINT OR LACQUER ON IT! That would be what a great majority of their customers want! Smoother movement up and down the neck.
When it comes to these type of guitars - I know exactly what you mean - I'm not a fan of that thick black paint and gloss, feels a bit.... "plasticy" 🤷♂️ But nothing a good old rub down with steel wool couldn't fix in 2mins 😀👍
Well, you gave this guitar a fair chance! It is pretty, and it sounds nice . . . but if it doesn’t feel like home when you play it, then it might not be for you. You think you’ll have to take a hit on the sale, or will you break even? The market is “soft” these days. Hope you won’t lose any money!
Thank ya Marsha 😀🙏. I think I either broke even, or lost like £10 or something. Not too bad, I had it a while, and bought it used for a good price, so sold it for the same, that was a couple of months ago now I think. Filmed this vid a wee while ago 😬
I hear ya - The Headstock wasn't my favourite part either. Maybe worth trying out to see if you like the rest of it. If you love the rest of it, you could potentially have it reshaped. It's all black gloss, not the easiest job, but it could be way worse if it was painted to match the body or something
Was it on discount because it has 2 holes in the guitar body? I once had a cheap 335 with 2 holes in the front but I found them useful because I used to put candy inside it
Surprisingly, I didn't dislike the pickups in this one, even though most Roswell's I've tried I didn't like. I don't have a lot of experience with PRS type guitars, so I'm not even sure what this type of guitar is supposed to sound like 🤷♂️ But as it wasn't a keeper anyway... I didn't bother with any mods 👍
That really is a stunning looking thing,, ( not you 😂, the guitar) 😂, sounds great , shame you can’t get in with it , I’m only just learning about fretboard radius etc so I’m lucky I’m oblivious to the difference 😂,, great video Steve 👍👍🤠🎸
Too bad I knew nothing about guitars when I was buying my first electric guitar. And too bad that in 2004 there was not even close as many affordable quality choices.
I hear ya mate - There were loads of affordable choices, but they just weren't very good in comparison to what's available now. This is truely a golden era 😀
Interestingly, the guy I bought this from, sold it because he preferred the PRS version. But it gets more interesting... The guy I sold it to, ended up selling his PRS because he prefers this one 😀🤷♂️ Guitarists eh? 😂
@@stevecassidyguitar 😀 aye some guitars just feel wrong sometimes ,I'm also a fussy old fart,now we have all these choices , we drove all the way down to Guildford to buy that 85 custom prs for my cousin Kev . He is a big John McLaughlin fan .pacco dulicia,etc .after a few years I ended up with it and it was an awesome guitar . Always been a huge fan.They were a game changer at the time . I'm biased .
It's not the best looking guitar, that would be mt pimped out roof top Epiphone Casino. Because I did the work, I love it, it's also mine until I depart from this place :+)