Harley Benton R-458 BK Progressiv Series

I am from Russia, and for this price you cannot buy a NEW 8-string instrument of this quality and cheaper from us, even taking into account the UPS delivery, which is almost 50% of the cost of the guitar. The guitar cost 199 Euro with delivery to my city.

Appearance. It is beyond praise, it is modern, with a cutout for the left hand and your play will be comfortable even if you have large palms. Minimalistic design, strict and to the point.

Neck. It is comfortable and not difficult to switch from a 6-7 string instrument to this eight string instrument. Slimmer than Schecter C-8 deluxe
The amaranth onlay is finely sanded, but needs to be impregnated with lemon oil. After soaking her with lemon oil for the first time, she drank with thirst and I soaked her with the second portion. About an hour elapsed between the first and second oil impregnation. The second portion of the oil was absorbed more slowly and this was enough to remove the residues. I deliberately chose a fretboard made of amaranth, not maple, because when changing the frets, it will not need to be coated with a special impregnation, but it is enough to spread it with lemon oil. And the density of amaranth is higher than that of maple, which means that the sound transmission is better and closer to rosewood.
After a few days I had to grind down the sharp edges of the frets, as they came out, and I could injure my hand if I started playing. THIS HAPPENS WITH ALL NEW TOOLS EVEN FOR 3000-5000 euro AND THIS IS NOT A MINUS OF THIS TOOL. This is most likely to blame for my dry indoor climate, since I do not have a humidifier to create good humidity. To avoid this, store your guitar in a case, there it will not dry out as much.
The frets themselves are quite normal, I would call them Jumbo. At the same time I polished the frets to a shine. Bands and vibrato have become better tuned. Regular plastic fret markers. The tuners tend to get upset sometimes and I plan to replace them with GOTOH.
Body. The body is made of Basswood archtop with a nice cut near the neck-to-body attachment, the timbre block is shielded, the potentiometers are smooth. Painting, varnish, everything as on instruments is several times more expensive!
SOUND. This is what struck me the most. I have enough guitars and have something to compare with, so, the sound is wonderful, although I do not really like the single-coil sound on distortion. CLEAN WITHOUT ANY ALTERNATE SOUND PICKUP WONDERFUL !!!
The pickups suit me, but I still altered them, checking the coils and finding the beginning and end of the coils, the color scheme of the wires turned out to be like Di Marzio's. Having soldered the white and black wires, I made a serial circuit and sent it to a Push-pull, which I bought separately. Red (hot) to 3 way switch, Green + bare to ground wire. The result is a versatile instrument for any kind of music.
The scheme turned out as follows: Bridge, both neck and with Push-pull so separate coils. And although I made a change with this and lost the warranty, I got a great instrument for the low price, THANKS THOMANN, Very happy with the guitar!

I've been playing guitar for a long time, and I was curious to try those 8 string guitars that are rising up now in the market. My problem, as many other people, the budget. I was not in position to buy a 900$ guitar now, so I told myself that this budget 8 string could satisfy my curiosity, and if it failed as a guitar, the economical loss won't be as much. But it paid off:

Pros:

-Good construction and finish, it feels a bit light but not an issue.
-Good tuners.
-Good electronics. For the sound gourmets maybe these pickups are not of their taste, but they do a pretty good job IMHO. A little too hot I must say, but that's not an issue for me.
-It doesn't feel as alien when coming from a 6 string. This is because of its neck length and width. It feels very comfortable.
-Well intonated and decent string action (for my taste anyway)

Cons:

-The nut is made of cheap plastic, I strongly recommend to change it. Also it's set up sort of too high, when you voice a chord in the 0-3 frets and you apply a little bit more pressure, the chord detunes a lot.

- The strings are too light for what the instrument is (the F# one, so the 8th, felt like I was holding a bow instead of a guitar...). Change the set and get harder strings (like a .10 or plus).

-It depends on the unit, but for mine I will need to do a fret job. Some frets buzz where others don't (not a truss rod issue, that's tested already)

-Packaging. Just covered in carton board and air bags to secure the instrument, mine came with a hit in the head, half the size of a pinky's nail. Not something that is very bad but I could've been less lucky.

-The jack plug is not well grounded/connected, I get a familiar not-good-grounded noise (like when you touch the tip of a connected jack) when I move the jack in a particular position . I haven't opened the guitar but it seems like a quick fix.


So there you have it, as it is a budget instrument you'll need to adjust it, but for what it does and what it costs it is very good.

First of all, I have to admit that it will be difficult to avoid striking personal notes (pun intended) when writing about this instrument. This is my “second first” guitar – an instrument that got me back to playing after several years of musical hiatus. Second, I write this short review after four years of usage which, I suppose, is more than enough to recognize the weak and strong points of this guitar.

Shipping and quality control
The shipping was very good and on time – no complaints here. The instrument arrived in nearly immaculate condition save for some microscopic crack at the headstock which does not bother me at all but may bother you so keep this in mind.

Setup
Out-of-the-box playability was OK, after changing the strings and a more careful setup the instrument feels fantastic. It was easy to get a low string action with little to no fret buzz and good intonation. However, the screws used in the instrument are horrible to operate. Fortunately, since I stick with the same string gauge and keep the instrument in stable temperature/humidity further adjustments have been very rare.
Tuners are fine. I know people complain about them, but I have had no problems whatsoever. Once tuned, the guitar stays in tune unless I do some crazy binds.

Tone
Most of the time I use the distorted tone, but occasionally switch to the clean channel and in both cases remain satisfied. Keep in mind though I am by no means a tone guy: if it djents I’m good (it does). Just type my name and “belphegor’s prime” or “przyjdz” on YT to hear the instrument in action.

Appearance
The axe looks fantastic. Despite its apparent simplicity, there are lots of aesthetically pleasing nuances to the body shape of this instrument. More importantly, it is very convenient to play, higher registers of the fretboard are easily accessible (I play seated holding guitar in classical position). The headstock is – as far as I checked reading other reviews – a matter of taste. I personally love it.

Overall
In sum, I wholeheartedly recommend this guitar. It is cheap, looks and plays fantastic, and offers numerous upgrade possibilities if you so desire.

Bought this expecting mediocre playability, poor intonation etc. and a weak scratchy tone like other ultra-cheap guitars I've owned, but it has exceeded all expectations and is exactly the extended range instrument I've been wishing for, despite having little money to spend.
Condition and initial impression:
Arrived extremely well-packaged, with the hex keys and even a free jack lead included. Upon opening, noted that there's not a single scuff, scratch, bump or crack on the instrument, and it was strung with strings that were heavy enough on the bottom end not to be too wobbly. It is also surprisingly light, the body weighs almost nothing and I'm sure most of the mass comes from the neck. This helps it balance really well on a strap.

Sound:
The humbuckers sound surprisingly rich when playing lead parts, only moderately worse than something like an Ibanez quantum pickup, but enjoyable to play and listen to nonetheless. I'd heard that these pickups give a somewhat muddy sounds on the lower strings, and this is true to some extent when distortion is applied, but EQ can largely sort this out. Clean sounds are pleasant and sparkly, the lower 2 strings buzz a little in chords sometimes but it's not much of an issue.

Setup:
Straight out of the box the action and intonation were fine, though I adjusted the action of the higher strings to preference. It was only somewhat out of tune, not enough to make the neck and strings temporarily unstable. It has held tune really well, despite the poor reputation for these tuners.

If you'd like an introductory 8 string without committing £400+, go for this one, it'll take you a long time to want to upgrade it.