Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series

At first I was skeptical. How on earth could a quality instrument be sold for this price? When I began browsing Thomann online, I became increasingly hooked by all the candy on display.

I’m 59 years old, I was lucky enough to have an exciting music career in the 80’a thru 2000. Since then children including grandchildren had taken much of my attention and I loved every minute of it however the itch to get back on an axe was calling me back. I’ve always been a Gibson fan, owned several and still do however I’ve really never had much time on Strats and Tele’s.

A quick study on YouTube regarding the Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series and I was hooked on finding out if this was all true because the price was hard to swallow as the truth so I took the plunge.

I’m not going to compare it to a Fender Strat however I can honestly vouch that this guitar with just a little tweaking has become a real instrument I would feel comfortable performing on stage with.

At first I was immediately impressed with the light weight basswood used. The finish was flawless, the frets were smooth and the neck and fretboard felt like it was going to be a nice experience. The neck has a smooth satin feel and easily warms up in your hand. The neck feels like a guitar hundreds of dollars more.

The tuning pegs, though not AAA chromed hardware is nevertheless not so bad to feel unreliable. The nut, will require replacing if you intend to use the tremolo bar. I suggest going to a luthier to get that done and perhaps upgrade the tremolo system.
The Roswell pickups, in my opinion offers a broad amount of sounds should you spend more time learning how your volume and tone pots are wired. Hint, don’t be afraid to back off from volume ten, that’s when this guitar comes to life with just a tad of warmth added to the distinctive single coil sound.

This axe surprised me beyond what I had expected. Sure i may upgrade parts in the future however presently I’m thrilled and love it just as is., I would highly recommend this guitar to novice or pro. There really is nothing wrong with it. At this price it’s foolish to not add a quality instrument to your collection for a fraction of the price of a genuine fender Stratocaster.

I love this guitar so much, I just ordered another vintage series in a ST-62 sunburst including the ST-62 Hot Rod.

Because it’s unfair to compare this directly against a Fender Stratocaster, I will say compared to it’s rivals in the price range the Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series is a contender other manufacturers will have to compete with including longtime established manufacturers.

Firstly lets get the usual out of the way. Thomann delivery. The guitar arrived in the UK within 2 days of ordering, it then sat at DHL for 3 days (Weekend) before delivery. Six days total, who can fault that? Arrived in perfect condition.

Right. Stratocasters, I've always played Gibson copies, big fan of the Epiphone SG, my 2012 Junior was one of my favourites. Was.

Strat-wise I've had mainly superstrat types, Washburn, Jackson etc but kind of steered clear of the pure copies. In 2006 I bought a Fender Highway One, I hated it and sold it on after a week. It sounded flat and felt just wrong.

Feeling the urge to play again after a too long lay off I looked at reviews for ideas. Harley Benton kept coming up, I've played Squire's, so-so, and thought if I disliked the Highway how could a no mark be any good? How wrong was I. This is a honest comment, the HB is better than the Fender. I may have had a bad one but that's the cold hard truth. £85 Vs £675 (I think).

Finish wise, it's perfect. A thick coating but it resonates well. The colour is different to that shown, my monitor shows a beige tint, its a creamy vintage white.
Neck, fantastically playable and chunky. The maple looks aged slightly and the finish is fast and slippery like a hot buttered slug.
Tuners were on my change list. No need. They are smooth enough and hold tune all night.
Pickups were also down for binning if the body was worth keeping. No need. From Blues through Punk to Grunge. They are good. I played through a Peavey Transtube last night and it was in overdrive. I sat with a massive grin on my face. This is an £85 guitar!
Pots are smooth, do what they should, and the 5 way switch is solid & clicks into position well.

I cant comment on Tremolo durability as I keep it locked, never use them, and set up needed a quarter turn to bring it in but who can moan at that. The frets are level but could maybe do with a stone over the edges, I'm talking very very minor here.

The only downside for me is that now I have another 3 HBs in mind but worry that they cannot be as good as this.

Ordered this guitar and it came to my post office in Russia in under 2 weeks after the order was confirmed.
The box had a hole from a punch, i guess, but nothing was damaged
(I had ordered the guitar and an audio interface).
About the guitar:
I'd like to thank Thomann for offering good instruments like this one!
The quality of guitar parts is more than good, no flaws are detected.
The instrument was kindly treated with a nice tuning, i like the Action, no need to adjust truss rod, frets dont cut your flesh.
There is no excessive noise going out of single coils, no scratches out of knobs.
The finish of the guitar is excellent.
To say about the tremolo, I personally decided not to use it because it really destroys your tuning. I dont think this is a problem of this exact model, this is a problem of the tremolo.( I may be wrong, i did not try to make it work decent)
What you have to know before buying this guitar is:
Is this pickup configuration u want?
Do you like the Strat type guitar?(including all the knob positioning/spicy sharp screws under your right hand/not ideal tremolo so to say/etc)
And This is it! Theres nothing bad to expect from this guitar, it is only up to your choice.
The thing i'd like to add to description is that the fingerboard is not covered in lacquer/varnished, the fingerboard is flatter than average fender strat, the frets are not polished( i don't think this is a problem, they will be polished after first session of playing with string bending)
Thank you for reading this review! I personally love this guitar, i play both clean and metal, it is good for both if i use bridge and middle pickup( i set the middle one deep down to not affect the sound of the bridge pickup) and no noise is bothering me.

For any guitarist, one of the most important realizations over a lifetime of playing is figuring out what type you are: a Strat guy, a Tele guy, a Les Paul guy (with all the in-betweens like PRS and similar), or maybe a hollow-body cat. After a long and winding road, I finally figured it out – I’m a Strat guy.

Over my 45 years of playing, I’ve owned guitars ranging from dirt-cheap to boutique-level expensive, and I’ve even had custom Strats and Les Pauls built by hand with my name on them. But every single guitar eventually revealed some flaw. Even the Superstrats. Humbuckers always felt too muddy and wooly for me, while single coils were usually too thin and underpowered. I’ve tried Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Kent Armstrong, active EMGs (SLVX), and a bunch of others... and still, something always felt off.

That is, until today – when I got my hands on the Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series.

Visually, it’s a stunner – it looks way more expensive than it actually is. As for playability, I kid you not: it doesn’t get more comfortable than this. Sure, if it had a 14" (355 mm) fingerboard radius, it would be more of a shred machine – something like Nick Johnston’s signature Strat. But that would also mean stepping away from the vintage vibe it’s going for. So yeah – the neck is a beauty: super playable, with that roasted maple look that mimics flamed maple, even though it’s caramelized.

The C-shape neck is a sweet spot – it works whether you’ve got small or large hands. Basically, it’s a guitar anyone can feel at home on.

Now, let’s talk sound. This guitar is a beast. The Roswell pickups are surprisingly great – slightly hotter than regular single coils, but still miles away from humbuckers. I compared this Harley Benton to a Fender Strat Standard and a Nick Johnston HSS Strat. And guess what? The Harley Benton smoked them both! Which genuinely blew my mind, considering those two guitars cost around ten times more.

The Fender Strat sounded way too soft and muffled – like you’re playing through a layer of medical gauze. The Nick Johnston? That bridge humbucker is just plain muddy, and when you split the coil, the tone loses all its punch.

But the Roswells in the Harley? Clean tones are crisp and full of that classic Fender sparkle. Dirty tones have just the right balance of grit and clarity. It’s thicker than your average single-coil dirt tone, less buzzy, even slightly hum-cancelling, yet without falling into that humbucker mud zone.

In one sentence: there’s absolutely no need to swap out the Roswell pickups for anything else – they perform brilliantly, and complaining about their tone would be nothing more than unnecessary nitpicking and musical snobbery. I still can’t wrap my head around how Harley Benton managed to pull all this off at such a ridiculously low price point.

Although it sounds great through pretty much any amp, this guitar truly shines with modelers. I’ve tested it with both the HeadRush Flex Prime and the HeadRush Pedalboard, and – once again, to my surprise – it covered absolutely everything: from Hendrix-style crunch, to Radiohead-style fuzz like in “Creep”, all the way to that smooth neck pickup tone reminiscent of John Petrucci. With modelers, you honestly can’t tell you’re playing a budget guitar – there’s not even a hint of compromise in the tone.

Oh, and the weight – thanks to the basswood body, this is the lightest Strat-style guitar I’ve ever played. It’s a dream to have on your shoulder. You almost forget it’s there. With alder or especially ash bodies, your shoulders start begging for mercy halfway through the set.

To sum it up, the Harley Benton ST-62MN VW Vintage Series is an instrument that has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of – even when standing next to guitars that cost several times more. Sure, in some aspects – especially the unplugged resonance under your fingers – it’s clear you’re dealing with a budget-friendly instrument.

But the moment you plug it in… that’s when the magic kicks in. There’s something genuinely special about the tone and the feel of this guitar in your hands. You can’t help but imagine that if Jimi Hendrix were still around at 82, he might just pick this one up and say, “Yeah, I can work with this.”

In my case, the guitar came with a non-working bridge tone pot. But instead of sending it back for a warranty fix or even a replacement, the idea of parting with this guitar – even for a day – just didn’t sit right with me. Since it’s an easy fix, my guitar tech will take care of it during the setup and nut replacement (I’ve already got a graphite nut ready to go).

In other words – this guitar is like a drug. Once you try it, you can’t think about anything else. It’s the perfect blend of vintage soul and modern usability – all at a price that feels borderline unreal.
Hats off to the folks who made this thing happen.

P.S. No way am I docking points or praise over something as trivial as a faulty tone pot. If you’re buying a sub-€200 guitar, a couple of quirks are just part of the deal.