Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame

After doing my fair bit of research and coming to a personal conclusion that there isn't something exclusively as a 'perfect beginner guitar', but its all a matter of personal choice and most importantly the available budget to spend towards said guitar.

My initial options or favoured choices were more inclined towards the Fenders, and other bigger name brands, due to their quality, etc. But couldn't justify some of the prices keeping in mind I had to still keep aside enough money for a good amp, and other miscellaneous expenditure towards my first set up.

Until one of my friend mentioned Thomman, so I found my way here and was truly surprised and impressed. Went through all the offerings in ST and T style guitars, zeroed in on this model and then went back to the internet to check a variety of reviews and demos on YouTube, which only gave me far more confidence in taking a chance with Thomman's offerings.

Made the purchase, bid my time and it finally arrived.
Beautiful finish with no issues, dents, chips, etc, aesthetically the guitar is on point.

Functionality: no sharp frets, came with good quality D'Addario strings, and just overall well set up. The final check was done thoroughly. I will be changing the nut eventually, I'm sure it will only improve the instrument. The Roswell pickups are great, and oh the sound and tone from this guitar, does way more than what I expected it to.

Go to YouTube yourself check out videos from a bunch of reliable sources (there are quite a few) < my purchase surely confirmed that personally>, and read the reviews from other purchasers here as well.

Take a chance if you feel like going for a ""budget guitar"", and on receiving this well crafted instrument you'll soon realise it is and does what its supposed to as a guitar.

Best value for your money, by a country mile.

And then what, just plug in and surrender your offerings to the altar of music, whatever be the kind your into and enjoy playing.

Before ordering this guitar i was a little bit worried that it might be too heavy for me. I watched reviews on YT and heard people say that it was a heavy instrument. 4 K plus. Thomann must really love me because my copy only weights 3.2 kilo's. It's a light guitar in my book. And it feels like it....It came very well & safely packed as always...it arrived absolutely flawless...no dents, stains, wrong binding areas No sharp fret ends. nothing. The glossy finish is spot on..the flame on top looks gorgeous.
The pics on the Thomann page shows that the side and back of the guitar look brownish...this is not the case on my copy. It's beautiful black gloss. The neck has the same color. Glossy black. it's a great feeling neck. Fits perfectly in my left hand and feel fabulous. The tuners feel sturdy and of good quality. The Wilkinson trem looks and feels good too. it's not 'stiff' feeling at all for my liking and it bends just right for me. When strapping the guitar and putting it round my neck it feels really well balanced. Lovely to hold...I could have it hanging there for hours without any pain. The pickups sound great...both give a good sound. Humbucker mode is my favorite...sounds fatter and the tones generated are top! When applying the push-pull mode one goes into single coil..the humbuckers split..this makes the sound a little thinner...but still good sounding. The CST is the 4th Harley Benton electric guitar i bought in one year. It's definitely the best. It is also one of the nicest guitars i have ever played on...among them guitars which have cost a lot more. I have been playing it for two days now...the only thing i did was lowering the saddles a bit and align them a little more to the neck 'curve'.....I am very, very happy. An absolutely stunning buy!

PS: 3 days later...i now have the pickup height set-up according too PRS's advice for a model like this guitar...this results in a much better sounding coil-split mode...the overall sound became better.

After reading multiple reviews on many web sites and You tube,i was unsure weather to buy this or not .complaints about the quality of finish and the trem only dives and cannot be pulled blah blah...... I decided I would give it a try.
Having many guitars in my collection some of which are high end instruments this was a bit of a comedown ,as i wanted a PRS style guitar ,that sounded pretty much like a PRS but with out the price,as it would not be used very much ,only on special tunes.....
It arrived,
Pro's
not a scratch or blemish
no fret sprout
straight neck
no dead spots on fret board
tuners (un named) worked without dead spot and really smooth
CON's
fret board a little dry
trem only worked in dive mode
small screw that clamps the wiggle bar to the underside on the trem......missing

conclusion
Immediately removed the back plate,loosened the two screws that hold the trem claw, removed the middle return spring and threw it away,loosened the 6 screws on the top of the bridge so the trem floats and bingo fully working trem ala Stratocaster so please dont take any notice that this is an only dive trem .it isn't it will work both ways with a little fettering.
spent about 1-1/2 hours adjusting the intonation and string height as well as putting some small strips of felt on the trem springs to stop what sounded like a reverb unit when the wobble bar was used and obviously making minor adjustment to the trem springs and tension this thing plays absolutely perfect.If you do buy this guitar which I highly recommend .just spend a couple of hours on fine tweaking and you will love this.

I have been playing for many years and as a Female I get somewhat surprised looks or massages but being around guitars all this time I can do pretty much most things on my instruments so please dont be afraid, if a woman can do it,.... so can you good luck and enjoy

PS I have temporarily fixed the wiggle bar, as Thomann will be sending me the missing screw,made a phone call to them with follow up e-mails both ways . customer service so far excellent.

About me:
Been playing for over 35 years, average at best. Mostly a 70s rockhead, Stones, CCR... I can play anything if you don’t mind it sounding like Chuck Berry….Ha Ha…
I have about 20 guitars (only 1 acoustic..) Some good - USA 72 Deluxe Tele, PRS SE Custom 24 Exotic Top, Ibanez S series, some not so good – the wife has a Hanna Montana Washburn… crazy woman…

I recently bought the HB CST24HB and TE-70 Paisley and loved them so much that I followed up by buying the CST-24T Black Flame and the TE-90QM Trans Red.

Review of the CST-24T Black Flame:
Pros:
This guitar looks amazing.
It has a slim neck that plays fast. The action is low, <1.5mm@ 6th.
The coil split is very usable and the tones are excellent – full to grit.
Very versatile guitar that handles cleans through to JCM800 very well.
Cons:
The trem bridge only dives.
Finger board was a bit dry... no big deal.

When comparing this guitar against the PRS SE Custom 24 Exotic Top:
I love the PRS, the quality and feel.
I love the HB, the quality and feel.
The HB has a slimmer neck (think almost Wizard II) than the PRS but both feel excellent.
I think the HB has a better tone range, the coil split on the PRS is something I do not use (just does not work for me).
Both handle Hi-Gain quite well and clean up nicely.
The PRS is a touch quieter on Hi-gain... maybe...
The PRS tremolo works very well; the HB only dives. I’m not really a trem guy.
Both stay in tune very well.

Conclusion:
100% recommended.
If I knew how good this guitar is, I would never have bought the PRS.
Is it a better guitar than the PRS SE? Hard to say, they are both excellent instruments. The price makes it an easy decision though.