This is I suppose, one of Harley Benton's more expensive guitars at about £340. Hardly significant money by modern guitar standards, but they've spent it in the right places, as should be the case with a simple shredder's guitar like this.
The guitar is extremely well finished in a lovely dark metallic green (I happen to have matching nail polish, even better!) and the general fit and finish is as good as anything from more premium companies. The Floyd Rose 1000 works perfectly and the truss rod adjuster at the heel is a great modern innovation, a delight to adjust, and it did need a slight tweak upon delivery, along with slightly lowering the bridge, bringing the action down from about 2mm to my preferred
1.4mm. the fret job is generally excellent although across the neck they need a little polish or a few hours of playing to make them as slick as the guitar deserves. One fret was significantly high on the treble side (the 8th) but it was easily sorted with a couple of taps and the guitar set up extremely well after that.
The compound radius fingerboard is extremely nice, a real pleasure to play, although for me the neck profile is a little chunky for this type of guitar. To some extent it could be an illusion as the neck is of an assymetrc profile, and actually feels extremely nice to play, as well has being beautifully figured.
Tone wise there isn't much to pick from, but the Vanson pickup is extremely thick and warm, quite bass heavy and suits the guitar nicely.
In terms of fit and finish and aesthetics if say the guitar is the equal of my Kramer Baretta Pro (almost three times the price) or the Jet Guitars JS, which is very similar and similarly priced. The HB plays and sounds better and feels more special, although the Jet neck feels faster. At this price any quibbles are minor, the guitar really nails the 80's aesthetic and whilst it isn't a San Dimas Charvel, it's well in the ballpark.
