Harley Benton ST-Acoustic Black

148

Thinline Steel-String Guitar

  • Spruce top
  • ABS Thinline body
  • Modern D maple neck
  • Roseacer fretboard (thermally treated maple wood)
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • 22 Frets
  • Multiply ABS Corpus Binding
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width 42 mm
  • Blackwood Bridge
  • Die-cast machine heads
  • Dual Action truss rod
  • HB 012-053 bronze strings
  • Built-in pickup with 4-band EQ
  • Colour: Black (high-gloss)
Available since March 2018
Item number 410340
Sales Unit 1 piece(s)
Design Thinline Semi-Acoustic
Top Spruce
Back And Sides Plastic
Cutaway Yes
Fretboard Roseacer
Nut width in mm 43,00 mm
Frets 21
Pickups Yes
Colour Black
Case No
Incl. Gigbag No
$135
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A perfect crossover

No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you: It’s a black Harley Benton acoustic in an ST shape! This design possesses all of the inherent advantages of the ST design, such as the double cutaway and slim maple neck for pure playing comfort – and its sound is also unique. Amplification is provided by an integrated pickup and the tone can be modelled to suit your taste using the guitar’s 4-band EQ. Though the ST’s spruce top and bridge are reminiscent of a traditional acoustic guitar, its thinline body is constructed largely from plastic (ABS), which makes it very light. Put it all together, and you have an interesting hybrid and a definite eye-catcher.

Pure ST feeling

The Harley Benton ST-Acoustic Black is the perfect cross between an ST-style electric guitar and a traditional acoustic guitar – both in terms of looks and in terms of feel. The modern D profile of the neck lets the player’s hand glide up and down the fretboard with ease, while the double cutaway (a characteristic feature of ST-style guitars) provides effortless access to all 22 frets. Its surprisingly light thinline form sits perfectly against the player’s body and allows hours of comfortable playing. Although this guitar can be played acoustically, it really feels at home with an amp, and the comparatively low volume of the ABS body means that feedback issues are reduced in comparison to larger-sized acoustic guitars. The built-in pickup and the 4-band EQ provide the ST-Acoustic with all the necessary power and versatile sound adjustment you will need.

Well, I only play electric guitar…

One could argue that the Harley Benton ST-Acoustic is a perfect compromise for electric guitarists who normally have little enthusiasm for conventional acoustic guitar designs, such as the dreadnought. The ST-Acoustic is a lot slimmer and thus far less cumbersome than most acoustics, and the neck alone ensures that it feels much more like an electric guitar. This design also makes it possible to play on stage for a long time. The Harley Benton ST-Acoustic is very inexpensive and offers the perfect introduction to the world of acoustic guitars for purely electric-oriented guitarists. At any rate, this guitar will make you stand out – so if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, satisfaction is guaranteed.

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.

Your lightweight performing partner

As mentioned already, the ST-Acoustic is the perfect on-stage companion – largely due to its lightness, its ergonomic shape, and its built-in pickup and 4-band EQ. This affordable guitar is also ideal for practising. Besides conveying the feeling of an electric guitar, it is also far quieter than a large dreadnought, for example, when it isn’t amplified – which is perfect for practising at bedroom volume, especially late at night.

In the spotlight: Roseacer

Rosewood is a particularly hard wood that has long been popular as a material for making guitar and bass fretboards. This wood is now considered endangered, however, and resources are scarce and expensive – which is why guitar makers have already spent several years searching for alternatives. The wood that Harley Benton has chosen as a fretboard material for its ST Acoustic series and many other guitars is a type of thermally treated maple known as “roseacer” (a word coined from “acer”, the name of the genus to which maple belongs). The heat treatment to which the wood is subjected reduces its water content to around three percent, which prevents subsequent shifting or warping and increases the wood’s stability while also giving it a visual appearance similar to that of rosewood.

146 Customer ratings

4.4 / 5

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114 Reviews

Si
Not bad at all
Solo in Dallas, TX 13.11.2021
Overall this is a really nice addition to the HB stable. I suspect the one I received probably should have been a "B" stock. There are globs of what appears to be epoxy or some other adhesive substance in the sound chamber of the particular guitar I received, but it doesn't seem to be affecting playability. The sound is a bit deader than I expected, but in fairness that could be the ABS body simply doesn't resonate as well with that adhesive in the sound chamber. (I was not able to get a mirror in there to tell conclusively.) Still, this is a really nice guitar. No discoloration on the binding and no fret sprout. All I did was oil up the fretboard a little bit and it seems fine. The fretboard looks great and the frets themselves were highly polished on arrival.

After my initial testing, I did swap out the stock tuners for some locking tuners and roller-type string trees. I did have to adjust the truss rod a little bit as the action was a bit higher than expected. (It was .012 on the bass side and .10 on the treble side.) Once adjusted it dropped into a very playable state. Even with these somewhat minor issues, I am still a solidly loyal HB customer. I think that I just got that one-in-a-million glob of adhesive on mine in the sound cavity as I do not hear of anyone else having this problem.

I plugged it up to a Katana Air amp I have and on the acoustic setting. In both plugged and unplugged states, it sounds good. Again, not quite as resonant as I was expecting, but still really good.

This compares well with my other acoustic and semi-hollow guitars and I believe I will get a fair amount of use out of it. Love the black finish and it just gleams!

Thanks, Thomann. A great product (minus the few comments above.)

Update Nov 23, 2021: After spending quite a bit of time playing with this guitar, I have decided to revise my comments. While the epoxy inside is not visually pleasing, it does not in any way detract from the playability of the instrument. I did a couple of small upgrades (new tuners and shaved a tiny bit off the bottom of the bridge) which dramatically improved its playability. Not everyone is comfortable working on their guitars and I don't recommend this to everyone, but with a few small tweaks these guitars become highly playable and sound great. I would highly recommend this ST-Acoustic to anyone. I have found it to be the guitar I typically pick up when I am going to work on writing music as it is light, easy to play now, and sounds good for my own style of use.
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g
love it
graymac 16.09.2020
I bought this thinking it would do nicely as a "general purpose dogsbody" guitar which I wouldn't need to worry about getting a knock or two - unlike my more expensive guitars. It's better than I expected.
The good stuff:
Very prettily finished, there are a couple of minor imperfections at the binding edges, but only noticeable if you look very hard and critically at it. Lovely neck and fingerboard, nice frets, no rough edges there. Action was fine for me, straight out the box. Unplugged, it is louder than I expected, compares well with my Ibanez Talman. Obviously not so much projection as a dreadnought - you couldn't expect it - but very useable all the same. Amped up, good tone (typical piezo undersaddle sound) and the 4 band EQ works well.
The bad stuff:
Nothing REALLY bad, but the tuning machines feel clunky, heavy and not nice to use. It seems to be stable enough once it is tuned but I'd consider fitting a better set at some point, Which, for a set of Klusons, would add about €40 on top. Still a lot cheaper than buying the Fender product, which is also not without its critics.
Overall, highly recommended as a good all-round top value guitar.

Update 3/10/2020: The clunky tuners were really getting to me, so I obtained a set of gold-plate finish ones (from Amazon - about €12, free postage) as well as some goldie roller string trees. Now I cannot fault the instrument, I took a bit of a gamble buying cheap tuners, yet even at that price they were much better than the factory ones. HB please note!

Update 18/10/2021: I'd like to add that I've now had this guitar just over a year and it has become my most used instrument of the seven guitars I currently have available. I don't think anyone could regret buying one and at this price they are amazing value as well.
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HC
Full fretboard access with ease on an Acoustic Guitar!!!
Highlands Coconutboy 27.10.2019
Fantastic guitar. It's a Fender Stratacoustic at a third of the price. I wanted an acoustic that gave full easy access to all the frets without the huge neck heel that most electric acoustic have. With this guitar, i can play it just like an electric for some acoustic Hendrix tunes. Also, this sounds amazing through my Yamaha THR5A Acoustic Amp. As far as quality goes, the binding isn't perfect with some overspray which wasnt polished out before it was lacquered; but that's just cosmetic. Frets are good with no sharp edges or flat spots. Action was a bit high, but after filing down the underside of the bridge a little bit; it's fine and plays great. Tuners of course aren't as good as expensive ones but they work and stay in tune. Strap button is on the upper horn rather than the neck heel as shown in photos, but that's better to avoid the strap getting in your hand's way when at the top end of the neck. No bad points in my opinion. Over all, very happy; but wish they did some different models with pretty flamed tops rather than only plain glossy black.
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J
Very good base for hybrid
JensWel 21.10.2022
I put in Fishman active PU and added electronics for that, changed preamp to Ghost system, new tuners, nut ,bridge and brass pins. Now it plays beautifully accoustic guitar sounds and can turn from single-coil thick sound to humbucker fat sound in a whiz.. All in a very playable and nice package. I cannot judge how the original guitar was anymore, but it sure make a stable base for modding :) Recommended
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