“If this is your first guitar, you’ll be keeping it for a long time to come”: Harley Benton Pro Series ST-Modern HSS review

What is it?

One of the latest releases from Harley Benton – purveyor of bargain-priced gear via European retail giant, Thomann – the ST-Modern (not to be confused with the more blingy and double-the-price ST-Modern Plus) takes the familiar doublecut outline and wraps it up in an HSS format.

So far, so everyone else, but as we’ve come to expect from Harley Benton guitars, it’s done an absolute number on the spec sheet, packing in the sort of features we’d expect to see on much more expensive guitars such as a roasted maple neck, compound-radius fingerboard, contoured neck heel, locking tuners – there’s even a coil split for the humbucker.

Add to these headlines, the fact that this guitar comes in at just over £150 and you’re probably already searching for the catch. Let’s try and find it.

Specs

Launch price: $449/£439/€509
Made: Indonesia
Type: Six-string electric guitar
Body: Poplar
Neck: Roasted Canadian maple
Fingerboard: Laurel, 12" to 16" compound radius
Scale length: 25.5”/648mm
Nut/width: Graphite, 42mm
Frets: 22, medium nickel-silver
Hardware: Sung-II BS-213 Deluxe vibrato, Sung-II locking tuners
String spacing at bridge: 53mm
Electrics: HBZ Custom Wound VTH Alnico V humbucker, HBZ Custom Wound VTM/N Alnico V single coils (middle & neck), 5-way selector switch, master volume, master tone (w/coil-split switch)
Weight: 7lb/3.2kg
Options: N/A
Left-handed options: Yes
Finishes: Seafoam Green (as reviewed), Lake Placid Blue, Shell Pink, Black, Olympic White,
Case: No
Contact: Harley Benton

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

What do you expect for £150? Because it might be time for you to raise those expectations somewhat.

On paper, the ST-Modern is impressive, and it lives up to it in the flesh with solid, quality-feeling hardware, neat finishing and a nicely-finished paint job on the review model Thomann/Harley Benton sent to me.

Unlike its more expensive sibling, the ST-Modern uses poplar for the body wood, substituting the flame maple top for solid colours. In this case, the Seafoam Green finish looks great, and will surely appeal to fans of retro guitars.

Meanwhile the roasted maple neck and headstock face add an element of class, and the laurel fingerboard is one of the darkest I’ve seen in a while. Good news if you prefer a rich rosewood or dark ebony hue to the reddish-brown of some laurel boards.

I’d expect to have to make a few more concessions for a guitar at this price, but there’s no complaints with the fit and finish, apart from the slightly odd choice of stamping the rear of the headstock with a barcode.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★★

There’s a lot to talk about with this guitar when it comes to the way it feels, and it starts with the roasted Canadian maple neck. Not only is it satin-finished, which lends an air of luxury, but it won’t become ‘grippy’ in the way that thicker finishes can. As I mentioned, the fingerboard is a compound radius starting at 12” (305mm) at the first fret and widening to 16” (406mm) at the top.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a compound radius is designed to make playing chords in the bass register easier, while giving you enough space to spread out when playing lead lines and, more specifically, un-choked string bends in the upper registers, which tallies with the performance of this Harley Benton.

The review guitar came setup nicely, with a low action no tweaking needed, and in combination with the fretboard radius it delivers a very comfortable playing experience across the board. I must tip my cap to the contoured neck heel.

This is the type of detail I’d expect to find on guitars with an extra nought on the end of their price tag, and if you’ve ever struggled to get to the upper frets on an S-type guitar, you’ll appreciate the unencumbered access of the ST.

Similarly, the locking tuners are a great addition rarely seen at this price. They’re smooth, make quick string changes simple with the locking thumbwheels to the back of each tuner’s body.

Even more crucially, they stay in tune! The same can be said for the vibrato, which while less stable when it comes to extreme bar abuse, performs more than well enough under regular use, returning to pitch without any trouble.

I tested the ST-Modern during some fairly cold UK winter weather, and the roasted maple neck held its own with no noticeable movement in reaction to the temperature fluctuations in the not-so-warm room I played it in (which is more than can be said for at least one of my own guitars).

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Surely one of the major concessions with any budget guitar can be found in the electronics? Once again, I’m left scratching my head. While the HBZ pickups aren’t the most characterful I’ve played, the upshot of is that they’re also not heavily stylised towards one particular area. HSS guitars might just win over any combination when it comes to versatility, and here there are some excellent flavours to sink your tonal teeth into.

In the neck position it’s thumpy and scooped, the mid position brings the quack, and the addition of the bridge position humbucker unlocks some impressive hot-rod doublecut sounds. Testing it under a range of gain settings proves that the humbucker especially is tooled-up for rock and all of its sub genres, including metal.

There’s clarity along with meat, and while splitting the humbucker isn’t the most fun, it’s absolutely a usable bridge pickup sound. That’s before you get into the ‘in-between’ positions, which give us even more mileage to cover just about anything you’d throw an S-type guitar at and beyond.

Now, if you did want to change the pickups, it’s worth noting that a quick glance under the scratchplate reveals the neck-position single coil is actually sat inside a humbucker-sized cavity.

So, with a modified or replacement scratchplate, you could easily turn the ST-Modern into an H/S/H guitar. The only tonal limitation comes from the fact that we have single volume and tone controls, but hey, that’s only one tone knob less than Leo’s famous design.

Verdict

The ST-Modern is very difficult to fault, especially for the outlay. Here, Harley Benton is delivering the kind of features that would easily set you back double (if you’re lucky) the price from other brands.

I viewed it with suspicion before taking it out of the box, because as we’re all aware, there’s a big difference between claims made on paper and the way a guitar feels and sounds when you play it. But, it’s executed brilliantly.

If this is your first guitar, you’ll be keeping it for a long time to come, the good news is, you can add plenty more to the flock without breaking the bank.

MusicRadar verdict: The Harley Benton ST-Modern comes loaded with plenty of desirable features: from the roasted maple neck all the way through to the body-end thumbwheel truss rod adjustment.

But this isn't just for show – it plays very well, sounds great and offers flexibility for upgrading and modding for what is really a relatively small amount of money. You won't get bored of it quickly.

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Harley Benton ST-Modern HSS | Sound Demo | A bang for the buck? - YouTube

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