Harley Benton R-458FFB LH Roasted MultiScale

This is the second R-458FFB LH I've ordered. The first one came from the B-stock and arrived with an enormous dent in the fretboard, making strings on the 11th fret virtually unplayable. But it's the kind of thing you expect when ordering a cheap guitar from the even cheaper B-stock, so I played the hell out of it for 24 hours, and eventually decided I really liked the model. So I returned it and got one from the main stock.

If you're a broke lefty looking for a budget multiscale extended range, this guitar is a monster. A flawed monster, but a monster nonetheless.

Cons:
— The pickups are, as is to be expected, not great — not awful, but not great. If you have a good EQ pedal you can kind of tweak the signal into sounding acceptable, but an upgrade down the road is virtually unavoidable.
— HB quality control is unpredictable. The fretwork on my first order was (almost) flawless, it's horrendous on the second one. Terrible fret sprout on the upper frets, and bending feels like I'm playing a sandpaper fretboard. It's nothing that a luthier (or an experienced player) can't fix, though. There's probably a nut problem too (which the first guitar didn't have), but again, a basic setup should do the trick.
— Virtually no padding around the guitar when it was delivered (it arrived in perfect condition though).

Pros:
— "Affordable extended range" and "left-handed" are two phrases that don't usually mix.
— The color is gorgeous and the chameleon effect moving from purple to green is magical.
— The roasted maple neck looks very nice too, and plays really well (personal preference; I dislike rounder necks, this one is just the right amount of thin).
— It's overall a very comfortable guitar to play and is surprisingly light.
— I had only ever played one multiscale from a very expensive brand before, and hated it for some reason. Weirdly enough my fingers took to the R-458FFB immediately.

TL;DR: it has its issues, but for the price, it's an amazing axe. Would buy it again. Oh, wait, I actually did.

The beast came all the way from germany to california within 4-5 without a dent or scratch! thing came pretty well set up and was surprisingly comfortable and easy to get used to.
Very comfortable to sit with and lightweight considering the string count, and is also extremely comfortable to play! love how the neck feels.
one thing is im not getting too much definition out of the low 8th string, but i have a feeling thats either due to me not dialing in my tone just right, something to do with string tension. or the pickups maybe needing a little height adjustment. Pickups are also nothing to go crazy over, but definitely get the job done. pretty noiseless, just wish i was getting a bit more definition out of the lowest string. only had the thing for 2 days now, so im sure thats just a matter of time to solving that issue!
overall i am extremely impressed and satisfied with the quality of this instrument, and it has definitely opened up a whole new world to me instrumentally. Thanks HB for making such a solid budget version of this style of instrument, especially a left handed version! cant wait to get another..