Harley Benton ST-20LH BK Standard Series

I've bought this guitar with the intention to upgrade it over time, it's perfect for this purpose but I wouldn't recommend this guitar to beginners (take a look at the Harley Benton ST-62 if you like the Stratocaster setup/aesthetics or the DC-200/SC-200 to have a tune-o-mastic bridge).

The finish is done quite nice (some little imperfections but without nit-picking it's very good especially for a guitar at this price range), the guitar stays well in tune and feels nice, certainly not cheap. the tuners work as they should and the pickups sound better than expected with the bridge pickup being just a bit to shallow sounding for my liking.

The action on the particular guitar I've received was way to high (the bridge saddles were levelled and almost at the highest point possible), when changing this I've found that the guitar suffered quite a lot of fret buzz while the neck was straight and even with a little front bow so I think I need to level the buzzing fret (12) (I also had this problem on a expensive guitar so not that uncommon but still a bit annoying) the neck was not in that of a great condition as there was some glue left on the higher part of the fretboard and it seems to be dry so this will also need some attention and care.

In my point of view, the bridge should be upgraded and the neck could be better prepared/ adjusted, the pickups are a matter of taste of course although mine were positioned quite high towards the strings.

But as I said, if you want a decent beginner guitar pay a little more and buy the st-62 to save yourself some hassle, if you're interested in a project guitar this might be your best pick (almost everything is of good/high quality).

I bought this to do a neck swap with my other st-20 and fit better electrics and HSS pickups along with black plastic bits, so not exactly the standard use for the item!

Once again the construction quality and overall functionality of the guitar was spot on and it speaks volumes for a product's consistency when parts can be easily interchanged.

I think these are superb guitars for beginners and with a few clever upgrades can definitely hold the attention of more serious players.

This guitar is the perfect base for customising, I've put together two really nice guitars from mine.

What holds these back from being really good is the pickups and electrics, which are of a perfectly acceptable standard for the price and for someone just starting. The bits that can't easily be upgraded don't need to be, such as solid wood bodies and well made necks.

In my opinion, value for money is the lens through which any Harley Benton guitar must be viewed, and the fact that we can even compare these guitars to others costing 10X as much and more is perhaps the best compliment I can give them.

I bought both the black and candy apple red versions of the ST-20 with the intention of swapping the necks to create a David Gilmour "black strat" clone with one of them, which worked out great, and gave me a gorgeous candy apple red version with a dark laurel neck as a bonus, at about $80 USD each.

Bottom line: The finish on both these "cheap" guitars is remarkable, and while glossy black always looks great, the sparkly candy apple red body is particularly stunning, and makes a great platform for upgrades.

The fret work does not quite measure up to more expensive Harley Bentons I own, but this was easily remedied with a bit of work, and for beginners, would be acceptable as-is. The laurel fretboard resembles a dark rosewood, and I wouldn't know it isn't.

The tuners are better than expected and functional, but not great, and the same would describe the pick-ups. I expected very little, but got more than that, and both would be acceptable to a beginner.

More experienced players may opt for upgrades of tuners and/or pick-ups, but both exceed what one would expect of an $80 guitar, and more experienced players probably aren't looking at $80 guitars anyway, unless they are interested in modding them like I did. These guitars are simply a bargain, and for beginners and those looking to expand their collection on a tight budget, I don't think you can do better than this.

Finally, kudos to Thomann for fast delivery to the US despite Covid. They have yet to disappoint me, and communication and order tracking has always been good.