Harley Benton R-457FFB Roasted MultiScale

I bought this to see if 7 strings was for me or not. The price is really nice. I knew I was going to have to fix some things if I wanted to keep it. And yes, there are things that are really bad.

What is good?
- The neck is great. It's very playable and has a nice finish. I really like it.
- Fan frets were surprisingly easy to get used to.
- The color is beautiful.
- I love the overall feel of the guitar.
- It was very well set up with regards to neck adjustment string height and so on.

What is bad?
- The frets. Fret edges are very sharp, actually to the point that you could cut yourself on some of them. The frets also needed some buffing up.
- Tuners are really bad...really bad. The guitar would'nt stay in tune. This could also in part be because of...
- Strings. Didn't like them at all. They felt flubby and wouldn't stay in tune.
- Pickups. Just awful, no definition. Everything sounds dull.

I have replaced strings and added Schaller locking tuners so now the guitar stays in tune just fine. I'm going to get the fret edges fixed and finally I will replace the pickups with a set of Fishman Fluence Tony Abasi pups.

Would I buy it knowing it's limitations? Most definately! Yes, modifying it will cost more than the guitar itself so if money is an issue, buy something else. I looked at it as buying a template to build upon.

For months I have been asking myself, do I really need a few more multiscale guitars? Then one day this beauty showed up on the Harley Benton Instagram and made the decision for me. I ordered this along with the R-458FFB on the day they were released. That was on a Tuesday, and I had them in my hands in Canada the following Monday, excellent service as always from Thomann.

The chameleon finish on this guitar is my all-time favourite guitar finish, so I might be a little biased due to that. The look isn't for everyone, and if it's not for you, that's ok, but I happen to love it. The satin finish on the neck of this guitar feels great to play and looks great on the roasted maple.

Fretwork and setup were fantastic out of the box. Action was a little high for me but was easily lowered without running into any fret buzz.

I won't say much about the sound of this guitar. I'm of the mind that pickups don't really matter and the only difference expensive brand name pickups make is a bigger hole in your wallet. These pickups are not microphonic, and they aren't noisy, that works for me. It sounds like a 7 string.

Hardware is on point. Like every guitar I buy, I swapped in some locking tuners before putting on some fresh strings. I don't see any need to change anything else.

Now, all that said, is this a perfect guitar? No. There are some minor finish flaws around the edge of the body and on the back of the neck. Do they bother me that much? No. It's important to remember that you can buy 5 of this guitar for the price of a similarly spec'd guitar from one of the "big brands"

Overall, Harley Benton knocks it out of the park again with an instrument that punches well above it's price point. I have over a dozen HBs now and will not hesitate to buy a dozen more.

I ordered this guitar for two reasons - 1. I didn't own a seven-string guitar and I wanted to have one in my collection, give it a shot; 2. I fell in love with the finish ("flip-flop blue"), I always wanted a guitar with such a finish (another guitar I had my eyes on was the Petrucci signature model Sterling JP-60/JP-70, but it was around 4 times the price).
When I got the guitar delivered, as soon as I unboxed the guitar I saw that it was very worth it, it's a beautiful guitar, but the main part of the wow-effect ended up being the roasted maple neck, it's a blast to play.
Through my 3 weeks of playing this guitar I am very satisfied, the sound is solid (not excellent, but not as bad as other reviews state, it gets the job done), the guitar is very comfortable to play and also to look at. I encountered 2 problems with guitar so far: 1. the tuners (tuning pegs) are awful, they have "dead spots", where you have to turn a lot in one direction for the pitch to change at all; 2. the nut is horribly cut, the D and A strings slip easily out of the nut when bending notes on lower frets (2nd-5th). Because of the two mentioned problems I also expected tuning stability problems, but I am happy to say that the guitar holds the tuning well (it survived a 4-hour long rehearsal session). All in all, a great guitar, and especially for the price point, but I couldn't give it 5 stars as the nut and tuner quality is simply unacceptable (even though both problems are fixable with further upgrades). If you are asking yourself if you should buy this guitar and your priorities are similar to mine (you want a solid 7-string and a chameleon-type finish), absolutely go for it.

Pros:
- beautiful finish (sparkly green-purple-blue)
- very comfortable to play and beautiful roasted maple neck
- solid sound (but expect nothing special)
- very good price point (as expected for a Harley Benton)

Cons:
- bad quality tuning pegs
- very badly cut nut, two strings slip easily out of the nut