Harley Benton ST-62MN SB Vintage Series

162 Customer ratings

4.5 / 5

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84 Reviews

Harley Benton ST-62MN SB Vintage Series
$135
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Baffling quality for the fraction of the cost
Mofosir 09.12.2016
I bought this guitar almost on a whim: saw a couple of very favorable reviews, etc, needed a strat for recording purposes, finally got this, was very low on funds. I have been playing guitar for over 10 years as a band member, as a session player, etc, had my fair share of expensive stuff, at this time just happened to need a strat relatively quickly, and only had a tele and a les paul, which didn't fit the job. Was I surprised.. First of all, the guitar was in tune right out the box (albeit the slightly sharp high E string). The finish looks great, way better than on the photos. The guitar itself is pretty light, just about right for a strat. The neck is, well, not too slim, but not too fat as well, feels like a MIM Fender strat neck, almost identical. Freatboard finish is spectacular, no blemishes, high polish and all. Now the good stuff. I was worried about bad frets/warped neck/electronics/tremolo. None of these things are bad in any way. All it needs is a proper set up (And what I mean by that is , obviously everyone likes a certain set up for a guitar, so it can't be perfect for everyone, I like a floating bridge, a two spring setup, angled claw and so on), after that, it plays like a dream. The pickpus are nice, jangly, just as a strat should be. You'd have to be insane to complain about this guitar, would recommend to anyone looking for a decent strat. Only thing that it needs is a setup according to personal specifications, after that, it's a spectacular piece of equipment. (P.S - When set up right, ya can dive bomb it for a half an hour and it doesn't go out of tune, I was quite pleasantly surprised).

UPDATE:
Okay, it has SOME issues, of which ALL are fixable without much hassle. The issues that mine has are - some frets aren't fully set into the fretboard, which makes them stick out just that much, AND makes some strings at two or three positions buzz. While this is a very low maintenance job, it's still a little annoying, as everything else works perfectly (well, change the string trees, unless You never bend. then again, every strat with non-roller string trees has this problem.) and this seems as such a silly thing to miss. I've carefully set the frets fully into the neck, and now it plays great, but just a word of warning - when buying this, I mean, even with these issues, it's still a complete steal! Sounds great, the tremolo works fine, the finish is fantastic, the neck is comfortable and smooth, even the electronics are absolutely fine.

UPDATE No.2:
I've had it now for four years, so here's my recap. Everything is still working, the neck has been sanded down to a silkier feel, the wiring was resoldered to a different configuration, but as it stands it is still fully original and in working order. It survived gigging, bad conditions, etc. The only thing that went wrong with it is the tremolo arm - it broke off inside, due to me abusing (aka diving till I hit the scratchplate) it all the time during a certain song. (YES it keeps tune if You set it up properly, did it during live shows!) That and the ruined thread of the trem block is sad news, but having in mind my somewhat violent playing, I guess it was to be expected. Even so, it broke only recently, so it was able to whitstand three and a half years of abuse. Overall - fantastic guitar, worth every penny.
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A fantastic budget strat
knuto 25.07.2021
I bought this guitar and a few others to check out the Harley Benton brand. This is probably the best of the ones I bought. I did not expect a lot for the price that I payed for it and the guitar was way better than I hoped. I have owned the guitar over two and a half years now and I still feel extremely satisfied every time I pick it up.

This guitar is a great alternative to a bigger brand that creates a similar guitar. I had a few of them over the years and I will rate this one over the 3 Fender strats that I had who was made in Mexico. I will put it between the Mexico and Japan made when it comes to quality and sound.

When it comes to playability I really love the neck of this guitar. I have quite big hands and I often feel the guitar necks are just to small and skinny for me. This one got a proper neck with a c shape that fits my hands perfect. I would not recommend it to people with small hands but if you like a bit bigger necks I would try this one out.
The neck feels good and there is no sharp fret ends. The frets are also well leveled so there are not fret buzz anywhere on the neck, even with very low action.

The sound of this guitar is really nice. The alnico 5 pickups makes it sound like a strat should and in my opinion it is sounding at least as good (if not better) as the Mexico made Fender.

The tuners and hardware of the guitar does the job. I have blocked my trem system since I never use it, so I can't say anything about that part.
The tuners is not great quality, but the guitar stays in tune and that is good enough for me.

To sum it up I will say that this is in my opinion the best strat type guitar for the money. I usually keep my guitars for a year or two before I sell them on, but this one is not going anywhere. This one is a keeper!
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i didn't think i would be wowed,but i was,
guitarshark 01.06.2019
For 15 years i worked in a music store setting up used guitars and new ones right out of the box like this one.I had done my homework and zoomed in on all the picture details,and read all the reviews about how people got there guitars out of the box almost in tune. Mine was in tune.i had my amp already on and waiting. So out of the box, a 15 second lookover and boom. I got some insane Hendrixy feed back swells that were so inspiering.i play rock/blues/ hippy stuff, with lots of controlled feedback.the neck was perfect,the whole set up was perfect.you could tell the strings were still brand new and fresh.and the pickups work great for if you wanna go Hendrix crazy. the bridge pick up really kicks it over the top for screaming licks with tons of harmonics.and the pickups are pretty quiet for single coils. i dont play through anything fancy,some distortion,reverb,a wha pedal,and crank volume up till you have to wrestle the guitar to the ground to controll the beautiful feedback swells and notes.its a really solid guitar,The sunburst finish on mine made me laugh cause it looks exactly like the japanese sunburst on my first guitar in 1977. Very 70's. i must have got a good one. I just ordered two more Harley Bentons. A lemon drop, flame top semi -hollowbody, and a set neck sg. I can't wait.these are cool.And even i can afford one. That's somethin .
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really really good!
Anonymous 06.02.2016
This thing is great!

I gave my four star rating for quality without considering the cost. For the price, it's way better than it should be.

I was expecting a budget guitar, and would have been very happy with that, but this is a really nice guitar. I have a Fender American Strat, an Ibanez strat-style, and a very cheap Chinese strat-style, and this one better than all but the Fender. And it's not far off the Fender. If it came with a better fret job, I'd call them even.

Looking at the pictures on-line, I guessed that the body had a veneered top, but it isn't, it's solid ash, or something similar. It's not too heavy, but it's definitely hardwood. The sunburst is just like it looks online, and the surface is perfect. Shiny and smooth. There aren't any flaws that I can find anywhere. All the woodworking is spot-on. There are no fitting gaps or blemishes. The neck is aligned and seated tight.

The neck is thick, and the fretboard is wide for a strat. The frets are fairly big. The tuners work well and feel smooth. The nut is cut well, needing no adjustment.

The setup was pretty good out of the box. I put half a turn on the truss rod, lowered all the bridge saddles about 1/2mm and set the intonation on a couple of the strings, but otherwise nothing at all was needed. The fretwork is good, not great, nothing that needs fixing.

It sounds good! Very middle of the road in terms of tonality. Not too weak, not too hot. It pretty much sounds like a '62-ish fender, which makes sense, given the model number.

Overall, this guitar exceeded what I expected in every aspect. I'm really amazed. With some slightly better tuners and a bridge, and a better fret job, this guitar would be the equal of any guitar.
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ST-62MN SB VINTAGE rocks
ViroH 29.07.2019
So after first 30 minutes I just could not make friends with thist guitar, but then slowly it began to grow on me.

+ looks better than on pictures, actually looks really nice
+ soundwise it is is GOOD guitar
+ set up was good out of the box, small intonation issues

- G string sounded strange (perhaps a nut thing)
- nut is not the best quality and there were some damage on a guitar before the nut(but Ok, I wil not complain)
- 2 minor faults in the finish ( one strange line on the body of a guitar, and a small dent on the side, but I can live with it)
- input jack and controls are a bit hard, not smooth
- neck is really thick( but that is really a personal negative thing)

I always intented to mod it and I did:
- sanded the neck(makes so much of a differenc, it playes easily)
- polished the frets (again, improves bending by a mile)
- changed the nut for tusq(improves the sustain, G string problem solved)
- changed the string trees (again, improves bending, guitar stays in tune, because of the nut and string tree changes, no need to change tuners)
- sanded the inside of a guitar and shielded it with a copper tape(eliminates the hum, not completely but it is almost gone)
- changed the scratchplate from white to black
- changed the nobs from white to creamy ones
- changed the whole wiring(potentiometers, wires, condesator, 5 way switch, input jack), now the nobs are friendly, more sensitive to changes, pluggin in the cabel is much easier
- changed the pickups for new vintage ones(guitar is quieter, much clearer, I liked the sound before,but this is just much more clearer and connected)

Most of the modes I purchased at Thomans and they all fit very nicely.
From a GOOD guitar, this is now an EXCELLENT guitar, easily gigable.
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My very first Harley Benton - and I love it!
Anonymous 09.09.2022
I watched a few reviews on HB guitars before ordering the ST-62MN SB. It arrived in about a week double boxed in a perfect condition with no visible flaws, and a surprisingly good setup. Tuners are firm and accurate, nut is plastic but nicely cut, bridge and tremolo are fine - so no tuning issues at all. The electronics are in good working order, the pickups are average but sound with a crystal clear (noiseless) chime as expected. The pick up selector and the volume/tone knobs all function as intended. The neck is superbly payable with a warm roasted look and a satin feel. This instrument sounds very nice through clean or dirty amp settings and it compares to more expensive brands. I gave it a five-star for the price, value and quality - and the fact that I will likely be shopping for other HB models in the future.
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J
THE KING OF AFFORDABLE STRATS
Jay69 03.02.2022
Well I wasn't expecting much for this price but I'm stunned at how good this guitar is. I've played better to be fair, but they cost many times the price of this one. Don't think for a minute that this is a "beginner guitar". It's just a really good guitar regardless of the cost. The new roasted maple neck is amazing to play on and I didn't need to do anything to the frets either. This is my 6th Harley Benton and by far the best to date.
I'd gig this guitar without any hesitation whatsoever, it feels and plays like a guitar that's five times the price. Don't hesitate, just get one.
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Quality way above price range
SasuM 18.07.2022
I own more than a couple dozen guitars and basses from 150 to around 2000 euros in price. I have fully upgraded and fine tuned about a dozen of them. So I am used to finding and fixing faults and doing set ups, including fret leveling.

This guitar is fully playable out of the box. It is amazing for the price.

The nut is correctly filed to give close to perfect notes on the first fret. I will not have to file this nut. Intonation is correctly adjusted.

No buzzing frets on any note with the factory action height. I have not lowered the action, yet, so I do not know how low it can go without buzzing.

Pots and switches work. No blemishes in the finish. Tuners work smoothly.

Fret ends protrude just enough to feel them but do not give any problems when playing. A careful light hone will take care of that.

Bridge pick up tone is very trebly! Middle and neck pickups sound balanced. The bridge pickup is closer to the strings so a height adjustment may tame it's tone.

EDIT: The excessive trebliness went away after a pickup height adjustment. Now all pickups give a balanced tone.


I have not tried the tremolo, yet.

I already have several Tele style Harley Bentons and am glad to find this Strat to be just as well made.

I have had to return a few other brand guitars in this price range that were unplayable and could not be fixed with adjustments. No such cases with about a half dozen Harley Bentons I have purchased.

Excellent value for money and a good working instrument regardless of price.
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Solid base for modding
Colboysigma 03.02.2020
Unbelievably great quality for the money. Excellent out of the box but with a few mods this becomes a truly fantastic custom guitar. Body, slightly chunky neck and electronics all great! However, I'm a rock player so I screwed down the trem, added tusq string trees, changed the tuners (Vanson) , added a tusq nut and a hot rail bridge pickup (£9 from Amazon) along with a solid brass trem block and saddles. Total additional additional cost about £40. Also changed the white pickguard for a mirror version...Looks awesome!
I own 14 guitars including Gibson LP Standard, Ibanez PR1660, Tokai VC75 Jackson SLSMG and Line 6 700.... Honestly the HB ST-62 gives me as much pleasure to play as my other high spec high cost guitars! PS: The Harley Benton TE-40 is another gem of a guitar!
PPS: Now awaiting delivery of my new Harley Benton Extreme 84... Can't wait :)
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amazing value
Ciao2t 19.12.2020
This is my second HB and it does not disappoint. All I needed to do was lower the action and for me its good enough. The finish is flawless, the pickups sound great, and it feels and plays like the real deal. Makes you want to buy another , at these prices how can you not. I highly recommend this HB for anyone at any level.
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Harley Benton ST-62MN SB Vintage Series