Harley Benton guitars are notoriously affordable but even so the German budget gear brand’s latest drop raises the bar for the spec we could expect to see on an electric guitar for beginners, as the ST-Modern HH, list price approx 185 bucks, arrives resplendent in metallic finishes with roasted maple necks as standard.
This kind of luxury is most welcome. Indeed, the return of the ST-Modern HH, featuring dual humbuckers (hence the “HH” designation), is most welcome. Harley Benton offers it in five metallic finishes: Red Radiant Metallic, Root Beer Metallic, Desert Metallic, Tangerine Metallic, and Purple Metallic.
It’s hard to pick a winner out of that lot but that Root Beer finish, the tortoiseshell pickguard and the gold coverings on the pickups has a certain custom shop je ne sais quoi.
Though the black ‘guards on solid metallic colours is also a strong look.
As for the fundamentals, these have classic Strat-style guitar dimensions and builds, with 25.5” scale, bolt-on necks (of roasted maple, it’s worth mentioning again), solid alder bodies, laurel fingerboards with a performance-friendly 12” to 16” compound radius, 22 premium jumbo silver-nickel frets and Harley Benton-branded locking tuners.
These all have a tidy six-saddle hard-tail bridges, and those humbuckers? Well, they are a pair of Isola Hydrazine Alnico Vs, hooked up to a three-way selector switch, volume and tone, and there is a coil-split, too. You can’t say fairer than that.
Those looking for a more high-end S-style but plenty change from 500 bucks could always check out the ST-Modern Plus HSS, which has just been released in Dark Purple Sparkle for right-handers. It had hitherto been a southpaw exclusive.
This takes the ST-Modern template – the scale, fingerboard radius, the design ethos etc – and it pumps it up, giving us VR-Nitro pickups, a five-way pickup selector and a coil-split, and there are all kinds of luxurious such as stainless steel jumbo frets, a quality Babicz FCH tremolo, a Canadian maple fingerboard with rounded edges, and a neck with a ‘Smooth D’ profile.
The ST-Modern Plus HSS in Dark Purple Sparkle is priced £304/$408, and is available now from Thomann.
If that was the story of a popular left-handed model being made available for right-handed players, the latest update to the solid-topped CLP-12SM acoustic guitar sees a top-seller getting a left-handed version.
This parlour acoustic electric guitar has a solid Sitka spruce top, layered mahogany on the back and sides, a nyatoh neck, and HB-03 Piezo with tuner, and a high-gloss Brown Burst finish that really complements that old-school headstock.
It has a purple heart fingerboard, a C profile neck, 43mm nut width, and a very compact body that makes it the ideal companion on the couch.
It is priced £260 ($349 approx), and is available now from Thomann. For more details on these new models, head over to Harley Benton.
