Harley Benton R-446 Flip Flop Blue

Biught this one because I really liked the colour, without any pickup-upgrades in mind. Usually the stock pickups are just good enough for the price and sometimes even better than what one would expect “a good example is the St-20HH active”
But nope, not this model, I had previously ordered the same model but the pink one. But I thought maybe, just maybe, they put some better pickups or they solved the issue, but nope.
Both share the same problems, but I’ll start with the good:
-the neck feels amazzing to play on, not too thin, not too chunky, for me it was perfect!
-the paint job (usually) is great.
-the flip-flop colour on this one was a treat for my eyes.
-The pick-ups sound really good, and alot of definitions and clarity.
-the fretboard was nice too
The Bad:
-the one I got came with cracks around the neck joint
-the pickups lack sustain, the notes dies reaaalllllyyyy quickly, it’s sooo annoying and sad to have in such a guitar. What a shame.
-the nut is not cut correctly, both E-strings are too close to the edges. Which will cause them to fly off the fretboard.
So, if you’re a beginner, and only have a normal home amp, you gonna hate the pickups even though they got good options “the coil split”
So in conclusion:
If you want this as a modding project and gonna change the pickups and the nut anyways then go for it, no regrets.
But if you want it as it is, no changing in mind, go for something else.
I really hope HB change the pickups and the nut issues on this model it will become a killer guitar!! Especially if they put the HBZ active pickups or the rosewell active.

If you have trouble with the guitar staying in tune, start by replacing the strings. The strings that came with the guitar I got were replaced within three weeks with a set of D'Addario EXL110 because of tuning issues. After that I tuned the guitar maybe twice a week instead of twice a playing session.

Other than the stock strings there's not much else to complain about. The frets started poking out of the fretboard a bit after a month in its new home's environment but that's just normal life of the wood and nothing a gentle filing won't solve. The string spacing is wider than what I've seen on other guitars of this style but the wider spacing made it easier for me to play as I have thicker fingers. The flipside is that both of the E strings are easier to slip off the fretboard as they're closer to the edges. This was an issue for me only a couple of months before my muscle memory updated itself.

The string action was set as low as it can on my example, which makes the guitar easy to play with very slight fret buzz on the first fret, but the intonation was way too sharp out of the box. Again, that's nothing a bit of patience with a tuner and a screwdriver won't solve.

I absolutely love the flexibility of the pickup setup. The lower gain single coil configurations between higher gain humbucker configurations offer an easy way to switch from a softer rhythm playing sound to crunchier tone for a solo. I've often found myself adjusting the tone more from the guitar's controls than meddling with the amp (or the amp sim).

The following observation may not be evident with all of the guitars manufactured due to tolerances of the electrical components and/or the input impedance of the device the guitar is plugged into: In the middle position with both humbuckers, the tone control turned all the way counter-clockwise, the pickups go resonant with the tone control capacitor which offers a nice fuzz effect to the sound when overdriven. In my case the guitar was plugged to a Line6 POD v2 to get this effect.

The iridescent colour of the guitar is dominantly dark green that turns to purple. My unit arrived with perfect finish. No dents, no scratches, absolutely nothing to complain about the finish.

Overall, for the price it's been perfect for the casual playing I bought it for, and now I actually play more than I used to with the previous almost playable "Stratocrapster". The hardtail bridge was an obvious choice for me after fighting with a constantly drifting cheap tremolo. However, before giving one of these to a beginner to learn to play with, have it checked and adjusted properly to make a happier learning experience.