Harley Benton ST-62LA MN BK

Solid Base with a Need for a Little Fine-Tuning

I decided to share a few impressions about this guitar to help future buyers. Here is a detailed breakdown component by component:

* Headstock and Tuners: The tuners work completely fine and hold tuning well under normal conditions.
* String Trees: Very poor. Of course, one shouldn't expect miracles from vintage-style string trees, but here the strings definitely catch whenever you use the tremolo or do some string bending.
* Nut: The nut slot craftsmanship is quite poor – there is a noticeable small gap/hole between the neck wood and the nut itself.
* Frets and Neck: The neck is extremely comfortable in the hand! The frets are nicely polished on top, but the fret ends catch on your fingers, so they will need some filing. Important note: the neck radius is noticeably smaller than the listed 12 inches.
* Setup and Action: The factory action is set medium to high.
* Hardware and Electronics: The tremolo functions fine (with the aforementioned issue regarding the string trees). The switch feels tight, and the knobs are very nice and smooth to the touch.
* Finish and Build Quality: The entire guitar has a thin satin finish. Just by tapping lightly with a fingernail, I managed to leave a small dent, so I believe it will develop a great natural relic look in a few years. Even now, in this light-aged finish, it looks quite convincing.
* Sound: The body is very acoustically resonant when played unplugged. The pickup tone is very good and highly usable across various genres.

Conclusion:
Overall, for this price point, the general build quality is decent, and one shouldn't expect much better. The guitar plays okay right out of the box, but with a bit of extra fine-tuning (fret dressing, addressing the nut, and swapping string trees), it can turn into a real winner.

Hope my short review helps with your decision!