Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style

I bought this instrument for self-assembly to have some fun. I am playing a few years on the guitar now. I wanted inexpensive bass for home practicing and recording. But from the beginning.

Parts:
Body well cut out, there was a slight knot defect in mine. Unfortunately, the defect was at the front but in its own way it adds to the body its own character, so it was not a problem for me.

The neck is quite fine, solid and hard wood. So hard enough, that cuting the shape of the head was a challenge. But that's good because any bumps will not appear so easily. The weakest element are the frets, which are small and rather of medium quality, but they fulfill their function. As part of another DIY project, I recommend replacin frets for new ones. I did so with a stratocaster from the same kind of set and the difference is huge and the cost is small.

Accessories at this price are okay, the tunners holds tune, the bridge can be easily adjusted, the appearance is fine. Even the attached strings are not bad and they play well.

Building:
Well, here is all the fun. The construction instructions are simple and transparent, and the process itself is a lot of fun and it is worth the money in itself. Everything fit as needed. I was especially paying attention to the fit of the neck to the body, which was very good and without slack. Nothing needs soldering, so it also makes things much easier.

Bass:
The complete guitar fulfills its function, it is fun to play in spite of poor frets. Sounds okay, not knocking down, but for beginners it is most acceptable. A good bass player will play a good tune even on a rubber band ;)

Summary:
To sum up, the guitar is a worth buing, after buliding we receive a fully functional product, and the amount of fun we receive during construction is invaluable. In short - I recommend it!

Very cheap diy kit. Awesome possibilities on how to custom paint it.
Overall for this price tag quality is surprisingly good.
It is not of course similar as 400€ guitars … but hey it just plays for under 80€ similar as squires that are sold for 200€.
All materials are extremely cheap, and you can feel it even if comes to guitar body wood, fretboard, electronics, lockers, tremolo. But for this price tag quality you get what you’re looking for.

If you plan to swap parts inside it… consider maybe buying on the start better pre built in and finished instrument. It’s not good idea to invest good electronics to itch cheaply made body and fretboard.

So I figured that since these were so cheap, I might give it a shot - great for learning guitar setup and all. And they did not disappoint. I actually ended up building TWO of these kits, the second one was straight from Thomann. While the first one was a little janky, I managed to make it reasonably playable. The guitar isn't all that heavy for an electric, at least compared to my Ibanez and Les Paul, and it's pretty much the strattiest strat that has ever stratted.

I painted them with anime characters on them, sure, but the end result really floored me because I was expecting something that belongs in the bin. I actually got solid guitars out of it! Which is the point, I suppose. You can customize them however you want without risking damage to a guitar as you strip the factory finish, and on the cheap. They do what they're supposed just splendidly.