Harley Benton CST-24T Black Cherry Flame

151

Electric Guitar

  • Deluxe series
  • Body: Meranti
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Meranti
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Neck profile: "C"
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • 24 Blacksmith stainless steel frets
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Black Cherry Flame
Available since March 2016
Item number 376596
Sales Unit 1 piece(s)
Colour Black Cherry Flame
Body Meranti
Top Maple
Neck Meranti
Fretboard Roasted Jatoba
Frets 24
Scale 635 mm
Pickups HH
Tremolo Standard
incl. Bag No
incl. Case No
$255
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A good first impression can work wonders

Harley Benton CST-24T electric guitar with arched maple top and Roasted Jatoba fretboard

It is hard to say for certain just how much a player has to spend in order to get their hands on a really good guitar - after all, it always depends on their personal expectations. One thing that is certain, however, is that the quality of the affordable instruments coming out of the Far East is now such that musicians now get significantly more for their money than in decades past. The price-performance ratio offered by the Harley Benton CST-24T (shown here in its Black Cherry Flame finish) is a prime example: Just 30 years ago, players would have had to spend much more and content themselves with a far inferior instrument, so those just starting out on the guitar today can look forward to doing so on a solid, high-quality instrument - all the more so since their budget can now stretch to a suitable practice amplifier and other accessories like a gig bag, spare strings, and more.

Electric guitar Harley Benton CST-24T with set-in Meranti neck

A modern classic

It is obvious where the Harley Benton CST-24T takes its stylistic cues from, but this guitar still exudes a character of its own. The CST-24T features a meranti body with an arched maple top and flamed maple veneer together with a meranti neck and a fingerboard made from roasted jatoba. The latter boasts a full 24 medium stainless steel frets and pearloid dot inlays, and both the fingerboard and the front edge of the body are adorned with cream-coloured binding that matches the matching pickup rings perfectly. Harley Benton has not cut any corners in terms of hardware and electronics either, which is reflected in the CST-24T's Wilkinson WVPC vibrato system and Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open-coil humbucking pickups, which are governed by a three-way toggle switch, master volume control, and master tone control (which also includes a push-pull function for coil splitting).

Beauty meets practicality

It has to be admitted that guitarists have two main things in mind when they look for a new instrument, and the first of these is definitely the way it looks. The Harley Benton CST-24T thoroughly delivers the goods here, and if instruments from Harley Benton were not already renowned for their incredible price-performance ratio, the wealth of features that this guitar brings with it despite the budget-friendly price could surely set a new record in terms of value for money. The second thing guitarists look for is a combination of playing comfort and a good amplified sound. Needless to say, the Harley Benton CST-24T does not fall short here in any way, and the guitar's excellent sound and impressive versatility make it an ideal instrument for starting out and playing those first concerts.

Harley Benton guitar CST-24T headstock

About Harley Benton

Since 1998, the Harley Benton brand has been catering for the needs of numerous guitarists and bassists. In addition to an extensive range of stringed instruments, Thomann's house brand also offers a wide choice of amplifiers, speakers, effect pedals, and other accessories. In total, the range includes over 1,500 products. Built by established names in the industry, all Harley Benton products combine quality and reliability at attractive and affordable prices. The continuous expansion of the range ensures that Harley Benton always provides new, exciting, and innovative products that keep players perfectly in tune with the musical world, day after day.

Harley Benton CST-24T with Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers

For full-on Rock and much more besides

When looking at the Harley Benton CST-24T's specs, design, and features, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that this is a guitar built purely for Rock music. But the limits to what this guitar can do are really only defined by the player: While packing plenty of power and punch, the two humbucking pickups also possess excellent dynamics and, thanks to the coil split function and the highly effective volume and tone controls, will also deliver a diverse palette of different tones to suit a range of musical styles. Fans of more progressive genres will also appreciate the high-quality vibrato system which, together with the guitar's graphite nut and die-cast DLX machine heads, allows expressive vibrato effects while ensuring reliable tuning stability.

151 Customer ratings

4.6 / 5

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119 Reviews

Z
Outstanding
Zentigra 09.11.2019
I ordered this to the States and that was the first concern was it getting here in one piece. It arrived in perfect shape so that concern was over. After a little set up and string change to my preferred strings this thing sings. I love that it has the P*s kinda look but isn't all together trying to be exactly like the P*s. It's got it's own thing and pulls it off elegantly. I was expecting a just slightly less quality version of what the guitar is based on from the hundreds of reviews I watched before ordering this since I couldn't be there in Germany to actually pick one up and play it for myself. The humbucker option is smooth and highly useful and I'm super surprised at the single coil split. Most guitars struggle with getting that right. Even the Prs's but I actually get it right on with this guitar. I have a couple of Strats and the CST24t nails that single coil sound. At least it seems to for me with my amp set up. Nice option. I won't have to bring 2 or 3 guitars to a gig. Bring this one and do a simple toggle switch and/or pick up split and I'm there. I'm Major picky about tone and feel so it nails both those departments for me. I can also say this is the very first guitar with jumbo medium frets that I actually like with these frets. I was going to have them brought down by a really good Luther I know here when I got it but cancelled that plan. It's weird how I definitely feel the frets predominantly over the wood from the fret board and I usually like feeling closer to the fret board itself but this feels natural enough as is and it takes me in new directions which I really like. I could go on about this guitar but that'd make this review really long. Just beautiful finish. Pretty flawless on this specimen. It doesn't make you want to stop buying Prs's. I have a Prs and plan to buy another one. If anything it makes me want to buy more Prs's and Harley's. I got a couple more Harley's picked out too now that I see they're level of quality. Be back soon;-)
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T
Excellent guitar for the price
TomGoss 24.06.2018
This is the second CST-24T I have bought. The first was a blue one but I sold it after a while because I wasn't really happy with the pickups and didn't want to spend much more upgrading a ¤222 guitar.
Learned recently that they changed the pickups to Roswells and read good reviews so took a chance on another one.
Definitely a score. Beautiful guitar and the pickups are lovely. No urge to 'fix' anything....well, not much anyway. These pickups to my ear are very similar to the Duncan Jazz/JB set....no bad thing. The coilsplit sound is typically thin and weedy....half a humbucker is NOT a good singlecoil...so I wired in a resistor (about 4Kohm) in the grounding wire and now you get one and a half coils, sort of, when split which sounds better. This is easy and cheap and should be standard practice when they wire up a guitar in the factory.
The guitar arrived amazingly well setup for a budget guitar. Frets were nice and smooth. I've had new Gibson's that were worse. It was even intonated properly! But as I'm fussy and do guitar setups a lot anyway I gave it another gentle fret polish and worked on the nut and vibrato. Lemon oiled the fretboard. It wouldn't stay in tune very well out of the box but after smoothing and lubing fretslots and adjusting screws and stuff the vibrato works great and stays in tune really well. Plays great now.
The workmanship and finish is REALLY
good. My girlfriend even wants to have the guitar hanging in the sitting room so she can look at it! Love the deep red and black finish.

The only negative I have with this guitar....and other Harley Bentons I've bought...is the weight. Way too heavy. Not a huge issue with me this time as I own other lighter guitars to use onstage and will just use this one sitting down, but I would've preferred it to be less heavy.
Harley Benton should sort this issue out and get a supply of less dense timber for their products.
But other than that I'm very pleased with the guitar and would recommend it.
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S
Fabulous Value
SteveG_UK 12.08.2019
Bit of background - I've been playing for 56 years (yes, I'm that old).
For most of that time I played classical but, since losing strength in my left hand following an accident (barrés are difficult), I've been playing electrics for about 15 years.
I really only noodle for my own amusement now. Blues (BB et al), contemporary arrangements, multi track compositions.
I fancied a guitar with a whammy bar (I refuse to call it a tremolo when it's really vibrato).
I saw this one, got good vibes about Thomann support and Harley Benton value so gave it a go.
I've given 5 stars across the board - but there was a problem with the frets.
First off, for the money, the finish is superb. The flame maple join on the table isn't as good as my Gibson SG Supreme - but then it's about 1/10th the price.
Tuners aren't the best (wouldn't expect them to be) but they work fine and the guitar stays in tune (full marks to the bridge for this too).
I stuck a bit of pencil graphite in the nut slots - that sorted some slight sticking I had initially.
The Roswell pickups sound great, there's loads of tone control and the split coils work well.
The BIG problem I had was the frets. Above the 12th they were pristine. Below the 12th they were mostly scratched (some quite badly). One or two spots weren't properly crowned.
While waiting for a response from Thomann (it was weekend) I lost patience and decided to sort it out. Polished and crowned where needed and did a full setup.
There was a bit too much bow on the neck and the bridge pickup was way too low.
Intonation was very good - only one string was very slightly out.
The guitar now plays like a dream. As good as, or better than any I've ever played.
The tremolo (oops, I said it) works very well. I've seen people say it only works downwards. Wrong - it works both ways fine though I did have to adjust tension on the block.
When Thomann responded they were very good. Offered to replace the guitar but by then I'd done the work and couldn't be happier.
We negotiated a discount which left me satisfied and happy to recommend both the guitar and Thomann.
Full Marks!
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7
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c
Black cherry flavor
cosvad 27.04.2020
This guitar made in Vietnam is the best inexpensive guitar I have ever played and this is by far the best value for money.
The arched flamed maple top with "black cherry flame" finish is almost perfect. The neck has a high-gloss finish that doesn’t feel sticky. The attractive binding is not only on the body but also on the neck. The frets were perfect and it plays great all the way up to the 24th fret.
Its warm tone has plenty of sustain, supported by two Roswell humbuckers controlled by 3-way switch. The double coil pickups can be split using a push/pull tone knob, increasing the range of available sounds. Thus, CST-24T can cover almost any genre
of music- blues, rock, fusion, funk and even heavy metal.
The Harley Benton CST-24T stacks up very well against the PRS SE electric guitar which is a much more expensive guitar.
If you dont like humbuckers and you want single coil tones then check out the Harley Benton CST-24T P90 version, it’s also a great guitar for the same money.
The only problem with my guitar was the fretboard - it was dry and the colour was lighter orange (jatoba) instead of dark brown.
Overall I would recommend this guitar to anyone who's looking for a budget instrument with a great value.
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