Harley Benton ST-20 Quick Unboxing/Demo/Review $79 Budget Strat

[@FretboardDiaries]

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[@Thrashpotato]

i think i subbed already, let me check

[@FretboardDiaries]

@@Thrashpotato Thanks man! Greatly appreciated!

[@SteamHammer7]

got an black ST-20, it shreds and I have no problems with it

[@FretboardDiaries]

Yeah I was really surprised at the fret work… I ended up modding the pickups by putting GFS Lil’ Killers in and I think you’d be surprised at how well the frets polish up. I have both vids in the channel if you’re interested but overall I really like the guitar. It’s fun to play, frets and neck feel good, and the GFS pickups give it some much needed sustain… 🤘🎸

[@SteamHammer7]

​@@FretboardDiaries agreed 🤓

[@Ayase-w8u]

Can we play metal (like Metallica) with it?

[@milkymarssnickers]

@@Ayase-w8u The guitar can - depends on US if we can :)

[@Ricardoalea]

@@Ayase-w8u he played enter sandman (from metallica)

[@RedRaven326]

Excellent review! That first tune that you played made all the hairs on my body stand up on end.

[@FretboardDiaries]

Oh man thank you for the awesome comment! The first tune was a song a friend of mine wrote, and I wrote that intro solo for it. I use it in a lot of demos because of the connection I have to it. Thanks again for the kind words 🤘🎸

[@PegeCovers]

I started on this model like 15+ years ago. They used a lighter & softer wood back then and not sure if the truss rod is two way. But it did the job. The current model is superior. I know because my ex had it.

[@FretboardDiaries]

It really is an awesome beginner guitar because it has good bones and can be modded as the player gets better… Personally, I like having one around to mod and bring to either a practice or gig, and not have to worry about it. The fretwork was really surprising for the price point, so far all I’ve done is polish the frets and replace the pickups. I’ve had a few friends play and they couldn’t get over how nice it is

[@stanm9396]

Beautiful guitar. Great review. 👍

[@FretboardDiaries]

Thanks! Gonna have some awesome mod vids coming🤘🎸

[@Asiied]

year later; will it be still up to date to a decent budget guitar? what should a beginner change after a while

[@FretboardDiaries]

Indeed it's still a great budget option... What really makes this guitar standout is the fretwork and feel of the neck. The first thing I'd swap on this guitar is the pickups, in fact, that IS the first thing I swapped on it. I have a video on my channel of that if you're interested, but it's very easy to do. I also swapped the tuners, this wasn't an absolute must, but I just wanted locking tuners on it. To me, the pickups were the most pressing issue. Their usable, but the bridge pickup was a little weak in my opinion.

[@juansalvo2374]

Thanks!

[@GuitarsandDrones]

That’s a sweet guitar for the $$. And sounds awesome 👏

[@FretboardDiaries]

Thanks man! I’m gonna make a series of videos modding this guitar into a complete Monster 🤘🔥

[@GuitarsandDrones]

@@FretboardDiaries that will be cool 😎

[@bluwng]

How does it compare to Squier Sonic/Bullet? The Squier’s are $200.

[@FretboardDiaries]

So I had a 2019 Squier Bullet (which I gave away to a friend) and the fretwork on the Harley Benton is far superior… The pickups are similar and the Finish is equal… The only area where the Squier was better was the Tremolo system. And it wasn’t much better, but better than the HB… I should add that I like the feel of the Roseacer Fretboard on the HB too… That said, some of the Higher end Squiers ($300-$500 range) will have the same quality fretwork and better pickups… but obviously, that’s why they’re more expensive… Overall, I’d take Harley Benton over any of the sub-$300 Squiers, primarily because, I’m going to swap the pickups anyway. The Harley Benton fretwork was so superior, it really only needs a fret polishing. The Squier needed a leveling, crowning, and dressing (Fret Edges were wildly sharp) and also needed a more abrasive polishing. Hope that helps…

[@bluwng]

@@FretboardDiaries yes very helpful. Thank You

[@Guitar_Fella]

Regarding saddle height grub screws, the first thing I do when I buy a strat style electric guitar is to pre order 6mm and 8mm st./steel grubs. Most guitars have 10mm grub screws as standard, which as you have commented on are harsh against your palm and are too long. Fit the 6mm at the high and low E string saddles, and fit the remaining saddles with 8mm grubs. Voila, job done!

[@FretboardDiaries]

Oh right on man, that’s solid advice! Thanks for the comment 🤘🎸

[@alexanderacostaosorio]

Just got one for my son. How can we make it sound more ACDC like? How did you get the distortion/gain going? We're new at this. Thanks.

[@FretboardDiaries]

1st, Awesome guitar to start with, lots of room to learn and grow… As far as AC/DC and Distortion/Gain, his amp should have a distortion channel. Usually you can get close to an AC/DC tone with that but if there’s no distortion channel, a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal should be able to get you pretty close to that tone. Those can be had relatively cheap on the used market. Hope this helps! 🤘🎸

[@terrygrealey1364]

Sweet guitar. I'm ordering one, but will change the tuners, nut , bridge and pickups.

[@FretboardDiaries]

Right on man, check my channel, I’ve done the pickups and tuners, will give you an idea of what you can expect… Thanks for watching 🤘🎸

[@williammolina9792]

Why not save some more,and buy a better guitar.

[@jasujokelainen5073]

​@@williammolina9792Maybe he wants To have fun modding?

[@Thrashpotato]

HB is my brand big dawg I love em

[@FretboardDiaries]

Right on man, this is my third one 🤘🎸 Fantastic brand!

[@Thrashpotato]

@@FretboardDiaries I have 2 so far the classic flames v glad i got that before you couldn't anymore and the progressive series I got from the bald shredder another youtuber he had issues with his but I have connections at Fender so I took it there and one of the master builders hooked it up for me I made a cheesy cartoon on it haha I'm going for that mat black one next!

[@FretboardDiaries]

@@Thrashpotato That’s an Awesome connection to have for sure… A progressive series is on my radar, but I’ve got a lot of projects up front. I definitely plan on getting one in the next year though, seems like an awesome guitar I’ll have to check out the Bald Shredders page too

[@Thrashpotato]

@@FretboardDiaries oh yea he's dope!

[@Thrashpotato]

@@FretboardDiaries I used to work there and went to school with a lot of the guys i know al the Jackson Master builders and most of the Fender ones, great group of people

[@Jerlynhvlog]

that's a pretty good guitar

[@tailbiter-qp5ot]

How do you get a Sound Like that??? Just bought the Guitar and startet learning IT but Mine Sounds way different

[@FretboardDiaries]

So, I’m running line-in and using BiasFX… To be fair, the guitar sounded a tad better through my half stack, but my acoustics in the room are poor. What does yours sound like and what sound are you looking for? What amp or setup are you using? Keep in mind, the pickups in this guitar aren’t great, and the bridge pickup in particular is a bit weak.

[@tailbiter-qp5ot]

​@@FretboardDiariesrunning the Harley Benton hb 10 without any effects and Mine Sounds more Like a Bass

[@tailbiter-qp5ot]

@@FretboardDiaries im searching for an Rock/Metal Sound

[@FretboardDiaries]

@@tailbiter-qp5ot So what I can tell you is that the gain channel on these little amps isn’t great at a higher volume, but with that said, the guitar should sound decent on the clear channel and not like a bass. So my suggestion would be to try the guitar on a different amp to try and diagnose the reason it sounds like a bass… There’s a lot of things that could cause that, and it’s hard to diagnose over the web, but it could be anything from a bad speaker in the amp, to a pickup being too high… Both of those things could cause a muddy sound. Given that these pickups don’t have a lot of output, particularly the bridge pickup, the signal definitely shouldn’t be wide and fat… If anything, the guitar should sound too thin… So perhaps start by trying to diagnose which item is the issue, and work back from there.

[@tailbiter-qp5ot]

@@FretboardDiaries yeah so Like a Bass IS a little extreme but IT Sounds more Like an acouistic than an electric Rock/Metal guitar

[@raimonnugent6135]

How thick is the body? And tremolo screwhole spacing?

[@Neshek023]

full size

[@PhillRobinson]

Harley Benton's only really come into their own in the £250 plus bracket.

[@nikolaj550]

hi i have the same guitar but my lower strengh is vervy picky so it dosent wanna pick up sound only a little clicky noise any idea on how i fix that?

[@FretboardDiaries]

Acoustically, without the guitar plugged in, does the string ring through? If not, the nut is likely not slotted correctly… There’s tons of vids on how to fix this on KZbin but I haven’t done one yet… If the string sounds fine acoustically but is not being amplified electrically that’s kinda tough to diagnose… I can’t really think of a time where I’ve seen one string not amplified but everything else okay… I’d be willing to bet, if it’s only one string, it’s likely that the nut is not slotted correctly, or there is an issue at the bridge… That’s my best guess man, hope you can get it figured out

[@geoffreyanderson2285]

For the price, that sounds AMAZING.

[@FretboardDiaries]

Definitely would be tough to find better for the money… Much like the Squiers, the bridge pickup was weak sustain wise, but I was able to get some very usable tones from the neck and middle pickups. Ultimately I swapped them out for some GuitarFetish LiL’ Killers, a fantastic pickup but I haven’t done a demo vid yet 🤘🎸

[@williammolina9792]

The tremolo is horrible. Gets out of tune, just by looking at it...

[@FretboardDiaries]

While I’m not a fan of the trem either and plan on replacing that soon, the tuning stability seemed to be an issue with the tuners. I put MusicLily locking tuners on this guitar and it seems to have solved the issues with tuning stability. I’m still not a fan of the trem though, replacing the springs helped and made it usable, but I plan on replacing it soon

[@crackermicke31]

Buzz 😂

[@MichaelFischer-w5z]

firewood is cheaper and sounds better.