Harley Benton ST-25TH Firemist

I have bought many Harley Bentons, some being pretty good, but this is by far the best one I have ever owned, and the first that's compelled me to write a review. Some things to know: the color is almost like a copper more than a gold, but I also find it really unique being that color. The pickups are pretty decent, but if you are picky about pickups, you may want to change them (I almost always do). Also, I am not sure if they are all going to be this way, but the flamed maple neck on mine was ultra flamed, more flamed than I've seen on any other guitar in person before, but I probably got somewhat lucky getting one with such stellar flamed maple. The stainless steel frets are crazy smooth and shiny. I've gotten stainless steel frets before that were still scratchy, but these are not like this, Harley Benton seems to save their best materials for these.

I now have 5 Harley Benton's. For over a year I'm been searching for a ST style guitar and even thought about building my own super ST. Then I seen the coming soon Harley Benton video and decided to hold till I seen what was coming. So glad I waited. I couldn't build my own and even come close to this quality and price. You can tell they took extra special care of the 25th series guitars. To my shock the steel frets were even polished and I own a Fusion, HP42 and they need a little work and I love those. Why the 5* even though if sound is 4/5 well for the quality and price I would give 6*. Hats off good work you earned my repeat business, even if I do stare at it more than play it. Piece of art is added bonus.

Kinda lost for words tbh. This is my very First Harley Benton. And first Strat style guitar too. I usually play Les Paul’s, the expensive original type. So this was a big departure for me. But the 25th Anniversary line got my attention and I decided to go for it. To say I’m impressed is a big understatement. I literally can’t put it down. Definitely worth the 3 week wait . It is flawless. Great setup out of the box, I literally haven’t changed or altered a single thing. Usually the first thing I do when getting a new guitar is to take off the stock strings, apply some lem oil to the fretboard, treat her to some new strings and do a bit of a setup on it. Well, someone has beat me to it. I seriously can’t believe what’s in my hands at this price. If it was twice the price it would still be great value (Don’t Tell Thomann 😉) Apart from the amazing finish, and how it’s so versatile I think my most favourite part of it is the neck. It’s amazing. I had never played a guitar with a baked flamed maple neck and now I want it on ALL my guitars. You literally can’t stop playing it.
I really hope they don’t introduce this line of 25th Anniversary in different colours or I’ll have to put my hand in my pocket again. The Gary Moore Pink/Red Strat finish would be sick on this guitar
Would I recommend it? Yes, in a heart beat. I’m actually trying to convince myself not to buy another on
I would like to shake the hand of the guy responsible for this line of guitars. Truly amazing 🙌

Got mine in December 2023.

Pros - Great specs, features. Good sounding pickups especially the hot rails. Tremolo was setup great out of the box - moves both ways comfortably.
Cons - QC could be slightly better. Hardly any flaming on the neck and sharp fret ends.

Overall I dont think there's anything in the market, at least from the big name brands that compares to this at the price. I would easily put this above a Squier CC and perhaps even a MIM. The tremolo & bridge pickup were standout and exceeded my expectations in just about every way.

The only thing lacking perhaps is in the QC department. My piece had hardly any flaming which was a huge dissapointment. It's only aesthetic but Thomann should check for flaming if it is part of the specs. The other thing that bothered me was fret ends which were sharp. There's no fret sprout and they are levelled/polished well. But the fret ends could use a little more filing and rounding.
This is not a perfect guitar, but it is a great value instrument that you can use as a professional gigging musician also.
Also the color is pretty rare for strat style guitars and gets a lot of attention from others. It definitely stands out in a sea of sunbursts, whites, reds etc...
The softcase is a great addon too. It's not super premium but is very usable and has a good subtle design. I would have liked a little more padding, a more snug fit and some more hardness on the bottom.

Harley Benton is onto something here. Just fix your frets and make sure the flaming is good in every piece and you have a winner. Also next time skip the lanyard, it's totally useless. Instead give a tshirt perhaps.

I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years, I’ve played live, recorded, and have done a couple small tours. I intend to get back into making music and gigging, as such, I like my instruments to be professional. My main guitar for heavy music is a high end schecter, and it’s beautiful. But I needed a high quality guitar for my non metal interests. And I found the HB 25th Anniversary ST, truthfully I was not expecting much from HB.

Out of the box the guitar was near flawless. It is outrageously beautiful, and plays perfect. I don’t understand how HB can make such high quality instruments and sell them for so little. If I had to pick one detail that makes this guitar stand out, it’s the neck. It’s chunkier than my schecter, but in a good way, though it doesn’t quite feel like Vintage Strat. The flames maple and stainless steel frets are perfect….The one con is maybe the pickups, I’m not saying they’re bad, because I somewhat like them, but I could see why someone would want to replace them for more traditional sounding Strat pups. The stock pups are a midrange heavy, a little Hi-Fi sounding, modern take on Strat pickups.

If you are on the fence about buying one of these 25th an guitars. Just do it you won’t regret it.

Fretboard and baked maple neck exuisid, top notch, better than my 2000$ les Paul. No string buzz.. wouldn't stay in tune when i got it tho because the strings were too big for the nut, but when i went from original strings 46-10(i think) -8,5 and set it up with adjusting the thrus rod, put nut sauce oil/grease in nut and under the two things that keep the strings down on the head stock, stretched the strings and go up and down on the tremolo tune it again again and again stretch them really good.. it stays in tune perfectly and i can abuse the wammy with out troubles(big thumbs up) Pick ups are accually really good. Only thing i can complain about is that there is this shhch shrrch sound when i use the wammy espesally. Probably goes away if i change the wiering and pickups, might be the grounding idk. Half n hour after i wrote this i had to rewrite the review. The reason why the wammy was making this crackling noices, I googled it.. no answer there.. but i found out it was the little screw that makes the wammy loose or not, it was like right in between loose and tight and I guess i was not well grounded but close enough for electricity to go between the two parts of metall. If u have this crackling noice issue just tighten or loosen that little wammy umbrako screw. Now the pick ups sound way better too. 5/5 and that's an understatement when u look at the price(offcourse you can get some high end better sounding pick ups.. but those will cost as much as this guitar 😂 it plays better, feels better, sounds better than any squier/Fender ive ever tried. If your looking for a cheap strat, buy this one👍

Blown away by the neck on this, it looks stunning with the flamed maple, and plays amazing. I really can't believe it, considering I own a Fender Strat that cost almost 4 times this. Only negatives for me were the frets arrived a bit scratchy and the pickups look odd being bright white against the pick guard but hardly deal breakers as the frets were fine after a little play and when the strings are dead I can polish them.
I absolutely don't need more guitars but very tempted to get another anniversary model if the rest are like this.
It needed very little setup, relief was off a little and lowered the action a bit. Very very impressed.