Review of the Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame Electric guitar. Where to buy it?

I’ll tell you how this post is built. First I list the features of the Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame guitar. Then you have a video or two, purchase links and useful comments from other users and then you have one of the most useful parts; comparison tables with similar items so you can compare.

  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Neck profile: “C”
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Frets: 24 Medium
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Paradise Amber Flame

review harley-benton-cst-24t-paradise-flame

This guitar usually has a price around 211.00 €

Now that we’ve seen the features of this guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame watch these related videos to learn more.

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame - IN DEPTH Review

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Some comments from people who come to the forum about this model:

Comment:

I recently purchased a CST24T Harley Benton. I was extremely pleased with it except for a few minor things. I really don’t like the telecaster knobs on this guitar – they are too tall to look good on an arch top. This cheapens the appearance of a good guitar – they should be using "speed knobs" and mine have already been changed (amber looks best!) The guitar I received did not have the Indian Rosewood fingerboard specified, but a smooth ebonol (man-made ebony substitute) fingerboard. As I actually prefer ebony fingerboards to most rosewood, I was prepared to accept this change to the advertized material. The frets were not perfect and needed some work to seat, level and polish them, but I guess this is to be expected at the price. There was one small wiring issue which meant I had to postpone the guitar’s first gig – the earth wire from the tremolo claw had not been threaded through the tunnel from the trem cavity or connected to the electrics, which caused the inevitable loud buzz through my high gain Laney amp. After I took the guitar home and finished the factory’s soldering work for them, I took the CST24T on another gig and it performed excellently all night (two and a half hours gig, non-stop, all on the new guitar.) My back-up instrument – a PRS SE EG with EMG pickups – stayed in its case all night! I doubt anyone will believe this, but it actually happened – a guitarist in the audience came up to me afterwards and said "those (big name American guitar company) guitars are really costly, but they’re worth every penny, aren’t they?" He honestly thought I had been playing a "real" USA-built guitar. I am now extremely pleased with the guitar and I have ordered the hollow-body version. I have owned many guitars with this appearance, some made in the USA, some by the USA company’s Korean production and some made in Asia and marketed by a well-known wholesaler in the UK. This, in my opinion, has more of the flavour and quality feel of the USA guitars than do any of the others. The important things – the finish, the Wilkinson pickups, the operation of the volume and tone controls, the lovely smooth Wilkinson trem and (after the frets were smoothed and levelled) the action of my guitar are all excellent – no upgrades urgently needed. Very playable and so nice to look at I am still taking it out of it’s case just to take another look. Owner satisfaction is so high it’s easy to ignore how little I paid for it – there is an old saying (usually to justify paying a stupidly high price) "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten". With this guitar, that saying is still correct. One small suggestion (although the electrics are surprisingly versatile as the tone and volume actually WORK on this guitar) – if they used the four-wire Wilkinson humbuckers and a push-pull tone control for split-coil sounds it wouldn’t cost much more to produce and would bring it even closer to the performance expected from this type of guitar. Surely this could be done and still keep the guitar incredibly affordable. Verdict – I’m very pleased. Thanks Thomann.

Comment:

Although the paradise flame on my guitar is more "Heritage flame" than is shown in the Thomann website and other versions on YouTube I have got to be fond of it and in view of the positives which in the main go beyond five stars I can’t knock any stars off in any category.
My guitar is not heavy. At 3.5 kilos it is lighter than my latest st62 at 3.7. I think that a lot of the criticisms of this guitar come from comparisons with PRS guitars. Obviously it is not as good as a USA PRS. Years ago I had a USA custom 22 and that was even lighter than this cst24. I have played several PRS se guitars and they all played like many Korean guitars. They tend to have a smaller distance between E and E at the nut so the strings sort of run down the middle of the neck. This guitar is closer to a USA PRS in that respect. My PRS had a wide fat neck which I prefer whereas this is shallower than that; much more of a speed neck. However, my neck on this guitar does not have a scarf joint neck. Obviously USA PRS don’ t either but other cst24 that I have seen on YouTube definitely do. My cst24 has a central piece of slightly darker mahogany that runs the length of the whole neck down the centre it is very rigid especially bearing in mind the slimmish neck. Either side are two lighter pieces again continuous without scarf joint. In my opinion this is better than the Gibson one piece neck system.
I have set the vibrato to float and its fine. You can’t lift up much but it does warbles and normal vibrato as it should.
The pickups are good. The tone cap is 47 nf which is a compromise so that the coil split sound is not too bright but I intend to swap it to either 22nf or maybe 30 ish as this will tame the slightly muddy neck pickup on high gain settings.
That’s it really, it handles like very comfortable strat but much faster with much better access to the (24) frets and with a blistering humbucker sound especially on the bridge pickup. The neck looks and feels classy and the fretwork is faultless. The transparent grain on the back of the body is PRS class.
Maybe I have been lucky but I have ordered a black flame P90 cst24 which I hope arrives before brexit – a bit of an optimistic hope in view of the latest covid border holdups but fingers crossed!

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame vs Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame

The guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flameis usually 0 € cheaper than Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame, but the difference is so small that this can vary..

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Neck profile: “C”
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Frets: 24 Medium
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Paradise Amber Flame
  • Deluxe Series
  • Mahogany body
  • Flamed maple arched top
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Roasted jatoba fretboard
  • “C” Neck profile
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • 24 Frets
  • Pearloid dots fretboard inlays
  • Neck and body binding
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbucker pickups
  • 3-Way switch
  • 1 Volume- and 1 tone control with push/pull function for coil split
  • DLX chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson WVPC tremolo
  • DLX machine heads
  • Colour: Black Flame

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame

$200 Guitar... and it's Not Total 💩|| Harley Benton CST-24T Demo/Review

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame review

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame vs Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley

The guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame is usually 56 € more expensive than Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Neck profile: “C”
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Frets: 24 Medium
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Paradise Amber Flame
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Basswood
  • Bolt-on neck: Maple
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Fretboard inlays: Dots
  • 21 Medium jumbo frets
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Pickup: 2 Roswell STA Alnico-5 vintage ST-Style single coils and 1 Roswell HAF Alnico-5 humbucker
  • 2 Tone controls and 1 volume control with volume push/pull function coil split
  • 5-Way toggle switch
  • Hardware: Chrome
  • Wilkinson tremolo
  • Stringing: D’Addario EXL110 .010 – .046 (article no. 104555)
  • Colour: Black Paisley

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley

Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley Unboxing & Review

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley review

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame vs Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute

The guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame is usually 52 € more expensive than Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Neck profile: “C”
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Frets: 24 Medium
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Paradise Amber Flame
  • Body: Alder
  • Bolt-on neck: Canadian maple with stained nyatoh skunk stripe
  • Fretboard: Maple
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm (TUSQ XL)
  • 21 Frets
  • Pickups: 3 Roswell SK52 True Vintage Staggered Alnico 5 single coils
  • 1 Volume control and 2 tone controls
  • 5-Way toggle switch
  • Single-ply pickguard
  • Synchronised tremolo system
  • Kluson style machine heads
  • Chrome-plated hardware
  • Ex-factory stringing: D’Addario .010 – .046 (article no. 104555)
  • Colour: Black high gloss

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute review

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame vs Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Ocean Flame

The guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flameis usually 0 € cheaper than Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Ocean Flame, but the difference is so small that this can vary..

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Ocean Flame
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Arched top
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Pearloid dots
  • Neck and body binding
  • Neck profile: “C”
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Frets: 24 Medium
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbuckers
  • 3-Way switch
  • Controls: 1 Volume- and 1 tone with push/pull function for coil split
  • Hardware: DLX chrome
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX
  • Colour: Paradise Amber Flame
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Top: Flamed maple
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Neck attachment: Set-in
  • Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
  • Fretboard inlays: Dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Radius: 350 mm
  • 24 Frets
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Pickups: 2 Roswell P90 Soapbar single coils
  • Controls: Volume & Tone
  • 3-Way switch
  • Hardware: Chrome
  • Nut: Graphite
  • Tremolo: Wilkinson WVPC
  • Machine heads: DLX diecast
  • Colour: Ocean Flame High-gloss

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Ocean Flame

Harley Benton CST 24 P90 Ocean Flame Demo and Review

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton CST-24T P90 Ocean Flame review

Where to buy the guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Paradise Flame

Thomann

  • Free Shipping.
  • Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
  • 100% reliable payment.
  • Leader in trouble-free shipping.
  • Usually Best price.
  • Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Amazon

  • Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
  • Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
  • Sometimes better price.
  • He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

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