Review of the Harley Benton ST-90SA Swamp Ash DLX Series Electric guitar. Where to buy it?

I used to own a Squier Classic Vibe stratocaster and I sold it to be able to buy a nice acoustic (Eastman e1d).

After a few months I really started to miss a strat style guitar. I love modifying guitars so a cheap but good one is the way to go for me. I was on the fence on a couple of cheapos: SX SST62, Harley Benton ST-57, Harley Benton ST-62 and this one.

Based on the reviews on YouTube I decided to go for the Harley Benton st-90. It is a little bit higher specced than the ST-62 and it still is dirt cheap.

It got here last friday and Boy, am I pleasantly surprised!

The finish is flawless. Let me sum up my observations:

1) Fretwork. The frets were polished and no fret sprout! A few high frets here an there but nothing out of the ordinairy. I could set the action at 1.9/2mm at the low e without fret buzz.
2) Nut. I think it is plastic, don’t know for sure, but it is cut beautifully. Will not touch it any time soon. Action at first fret is great as it is.
3) The specs say the fretboard is either Blackwood (a composite material) or Pau Ferro. It is definitely made of real wood. It is rather dark, so it could even be Rosewood. Not sure the guitar factories already use Rosewood again since the lifting of Cites, so let’s assume it is Pau Ferro.
4) Hardware. As soon as it arrived, I opened it up to apply some shielding tape. To my surprise this guitar has full size Alpha pots! It uses 1 capacitor per tone pot @ .47. I will replace it later with one .22 because I like that better. The body routing is done very cleanly.
The tremolo is of very good quality. Nice thick plate and it was set up to float.
Now, I don’t like floating tremolo’s so I decked it by lowering the bridge poles (detune first) and tightening the spring claw. Now it is nice and resonant! Also it has a full size steel tremolo block. That is really amazing at this price point.
The tuners work fine, but a couple of them are really stiff. But this is a guitar of 169 euro, so it is acceptable.
The 5 way switch is the cheap square version and will be replaced by an Oak Grigsby 5 way switch.
4) Finish. Lovely matte finish on the neck and body. The body is a bit orangy/honey like. Love it. Scratch plate is real nice faux tortoise.
5) Tone. The Roswell alnico 5’s sound very good. I say they are a bit on the hot side, they sure sound sweet and stratty. Was planning on swapping them for Toneriders, but currently I don’t think it’s necessary.

Since I used to own a Squier Classic Vibe, I can compare the two.
I say build quality is the same. Hardware on the Harley Benton is better, except for the tuners. I would even say it’s on par with Mexico Fenders.

Also the feel is totally different. The Squier has a 9.5 radius finger board and a much skinnier neck. HB has a thick neck with 14 inch fretboard radius. So feel wise, these are totally different animals. Also, the HB is HEAVY. Mine weighs around 4.3kg. That is almost 1kg heavier than the Squier Classic Vibe, that weighted 3.4kg. The Squier is made out of Alder and this one is Ash, so I expected it to be heavier. The specs say it is Swamp Ash, but as that tonewood is usually also lightweight, I think it is regular northern Ash. I play guitar sitting down, so I don’t mind, but keep this in mind when you are a gigging guitarist. You might want to have a look at another lighter weighing tonewood.

For a guy that loves to mod cheap guitars, I’m sort of dissapointed: it really doesn’t need a lot of work! ;).

Maybe I will put on a 9.5 inch radius neck on it later, I measured the neck at 55.5mm, so It should fit Fender spec necks.
Also, I’m changing the capacitor to a .22, maybe put a push pull pot in it to get the 7 tones (gilmore mod). I ordered Ivory coloured pickup covers and knobs because I think that will look better. I will add two more springs on the tremolo to deck it more firmly. Also I will replace the 5 way switch. Other than that I don’t think it needs more work.

I can’t understand that it is possible to sell a guitar at 169 euro’s with this insane amount of quality. It can measure up to a Classic Vibe which costs nearly 200 extra. I even say it is on par with a MIM Fender.

I may not use this in a gigging situation but I have gigged in the past and tested this as though I would use it in this way. I tested the pickups with the sort of amp I might use and the vibrato in the style I would use. I think that this instrument is gigable after proper set -up.
The only area of concern was the initial set up and installation of the vibrato (trem). This is a twin post type trem where there are two brass threaded inserts hammered into the body into which the trem posts are screwed. As delivered the bass side of the trem plate was fixed at the top of the post above the groove and the treble side below the groove. I don’t believe that Thomann Germany would have set this up this way. The action was ludicrously high and unuseable. I took the trem spring cover off, slackened the trem springs and re-sited the trem plate correctly. It was still far too high. I screwed the posts down. The treble side would not go down far enough but by adjusting the saddle screws I was able to get an action which I found satisfactory. The brass inserts were not hammered level with the body and yet I could see the brass of the bass side visible inside the trem cavity. Whilst the posts on my guitar seem firmly enough fixed I suggest that Thomann look at the accuracy of the post drilling because there may be some ST90SA guitars out there with loose posts. If I had wanted a really low action the only way to achieve this would be to shim the neck pocket or hammer the brass inserts in and risk splitting the wood. I recall a post about this issue elsewhere. I did not return the guitar partly because it took so long to arrive in the UK due to Brexit teething problems (now resolved -see my TE52 review) but mainly because despite heavy trem use the posts have held up and the sustain of this "strat" is as good or better than my American Fender strats.
The neck is neither too fat nor slim, the fretwork is very good and the pau ferro fretboard is my preference.
The finish and build quality (apart from the trem issue )of the instrument is very high.
The guitar is not light but not especially heavy either. Maybe they vary in weight as others have said theirs were heavy but mine is within a few ounces of an ST62. Notwithstanding my criticisms of the trem after having set it up it works as well or better than my other "strats" (AM, MIM, MIJ and HB) and the guitar is the sort of instrument that just plays, sounds and feels right. I had in mind a change of the nut and tuners but after a week or so of heavy use the system seems quite stable and I might not bother. The pickups sound good with my HB Celestion 15 valve amp on its own and Nux MG-300 effects processor through headphones.