Harley Benton ST-62 SB Vintage Series

In all aspects my Fender Mexican Strat (with MIDI pickup which I don't use) sounds better. However, at the ST-62 SB's price, it may still be a good option.

The ST-62 looks good and the frets are filed down well so you won't cut your fingers like many budget guitars. However, setup was disappointing. Action was set way too low causing the top bass string to sound awful. After adjusting the truss rod to raise the strings, the bass string sounded better but still not that good. I prefer a real Strat's bass string to sound a bit more like a Fender Precision Bass sound which is what I get from my stock Mexican Strat.

If you are a shredder or prefer highly overdriven sounds, the ST-62 is a good choice. For clean sounds, however, while the bottom 3 treble stings sound good, the other strings get progressively worse as frequency goes down. The 3rd string is just slightly worse. The 2nd string worse than the 3rd and the top bass string is kind of cheap sounding even after action was adjusted.

Problem: HUM

When I moved around to various locations near my pedalboard, my Mexican Strat was basically hum-free in all pickup selector positions. In contrast, the ST-62 hummed like crazy in any pickup selector position. The ST-62 had to be angled and positioned carefully when playing to eliminate most of the hum.

I will probably replace the neck pickup with something better and see if that helps. Because of the hum problem, I wouldn't try to play this guitar in a live venue.

I own a 1977 Jubilee Strat and I love the build quality but its nothing like a strat that I love because Fender put terrible pickips on it. Its value is over £2000. So I was looking for a Vintage sounding Strat and thats what I got when I purchased this ST62 Vintage. I know because I repaired my friends 1967 strat same colour as this HB.

I can say that Thomann did a really good job as the sound is very close to the 60's era. and I love it. So why 4 stars? The tremolo is a cheap construction but that does not mean it cant work. what is preventing the tremolo from working nicely is the geometry of the springs. fot the trem to work there must be tension in the springs when there is 2mm clearance from the body.

If the springs are too long or too stiff they cannot be set with reasonable extension to arrive at a counterbalence of the string tension. The springs ground out. Partly because the block is thin too and placed forward so not enough space for tension without locking the trem down. It can be sorted but this stuff is "old hat" surely today Fenders shortcomings can be reliable corrected and calculated out?

This is one of the things that amazes me in the guitar industry. some things are so closely copied that the original design faults are meticulously replicated. Lucky I got a box of springs from old strat copies plus some new originals so its nearly working OK and keeping tune. The finish and feel of the neck is great but its slimmer than both the real strt from the 60's and 70's. I am not fussed its a great neck.

The guitar is very melodic and the Intonation was well set from the factory but was tweaked to perfection. This is a great guitar for the money and is a quantum leap awat from my sons Squier for less money.

I?m really happy with this guitar. The pickups are really good. It?s nice and resonant and now I?ve done some work on it, it plays and sounds awesome. No sharp edges on the frets but they needed a level. The action was very high to begin with and could not be brought much lower before I levelled the frets. After doing that it is much better. The nut slots also needed a fair bit of cutting and cleaning out to bring the action at the nut end lower and make the tuning stable. When I took the neck off it took a chunk of lacquer off that obviously hadn?t fully dried. Coloured it in with a sharpie and it?s not particularly noticeable. I also shielded the cavities. That all being said, now I?ve done the work it plays and sounds as good as any other Strat I?ve played including ones over a grand. The good thing is, I don?t have any worries about damaging it etc as it cost peanuts. I?ve already ordered a Harley Benton 335 to keep it company

You should set it up, it's unplayable, after set up it became quite good guitar, nice pickups, but electronics should be replaced + copper shielding will kill noise. For the money you pay for, it is good.

It has paper veneer (never seen something like that before) of 2 piece alder, + thick poly finish. I was surprised when stripped it off and ugly 4 piece basswood appear under that veneer. Refinished it with surf green nitro. Neck is very nice, of course it needs some work on it. Great guitar for modding.

If you played better guitars, don't buy it unless you will not set and mod it.