Harley Benton ST-80FR Holographic

Great looking guitar with stunning neck/frets and specs.

However you get what you pay for. The grounding wire for bridge was routed so that it went right through the springs of Floyd Rose making a noise. Not a big deal and fixable, but something that should be avoided.

The volume control is soldered wrong. Pickup is in the middle contact off the pot, usually that's for output. When turning volume down, it creates noise. I contacted customer support for this and they told it's intentional and unconvential style. Hard to believe, but who cares. Be ready to solder it correctly since it's a "feature" as they said.

The volume pot hat was damaged right out the box. Customer support told me to send a new one, thanks.

And then for the worst part. There's something fishy with the lockable bridge. Both E-strings are almost at the edge of the fretboars. When I received mine the neck was wrongly adjusted and the lower E was indeed at the edge from the body end. I adjusted the neck but the problem is still there. Both E-strings are much closer to the edge of the fret than in any of my guitars ever. I measured the bridge and it seems to be too wide. It goes over from fretboard from both sides and string spacing seems to be bigger than the one supposed to be installed with Floyd Rose.

I contacted customer support for and asked can we have deal if I purchase the correct Floyd Rose lockable bridge and quess what, that bridge wideness is a "feature" as well and should be able to see from the photos (which is not correct since there is not picture directly from above. I must say this left a bad taste in my mouth. After twenty years ordering gear from them to receive this kind of BS is a shame.

So beware, it's a feature that both E-strings are very near the edge of the fret, easily to slip out of the fretboard.

The QC is obviously left for customers and parts are what they are and every flaw is a "feature".

However, the wood- and fretwork is amazing. And althougth QC seems bad, the guitar was indeed adjusted well. Intonation was spot on and neck needed no adjustment for truss rod. Fretwork is great. It was also almost in tune right of the box. This is a great base for better parts and I intend to keep it. Too bad it would easily be 5/5 with minor work and parts.

ST80FR is a fantastic playing and looking axe, next, frets and fretboard are at a much higher level than the price point that is sells for. Trem is really good (FR1000) - trem arm was faulty and flopping around in the bushing, I replaced it with a genuine Schaller arm and bushing - problem fixed. Pickup was substandard (1 Star) removed and replaced with a SD JB CTS push-pull pot with treble bleed and now it's a pro instrument. Totally happy.

Die Gitarre überzeugt final durch gute Verarbeitung, sauberes Spiel, Aussstattung und vorallem mit diesem Finish!
Für diesen Preis und nach den kleineren Anpassungen einfach unschlagbar.

Floyd Rose:
--> eine Feder entnommen und 9er Saiten aufgezogen. Damit ist das Floyd sehr leichtgängig, davor war es etwas steif für meinen Geschmack.

Mechaniken:
--> Ebenfalls sehr schwergängig sind.

Einstellung und Verarbeitung: TOP
Tesla Humbucker: ungewohnt, etwas dumpf, guter Drive

Werde die auf jeden Fall behalten!