New Strat - Harley Benton Modern ST-plus

[Stefan Eff]

I wanted a Strat for myself and I‘ve read about the Harley Benton Modern ST-plus and bought one: just for the body (lightweight US-Alder in shell pink) and the neck (roasted AAAA-flamed maple, compound radius, unfinished, stainless steel frets) for 350€.
The guitar was surprisingly fine out of the box but I wanted SSS-configuration, better hardware and so on.

Suhr Singlecoils
V63+
V60
V60Lp
Gotoh 510 Vibrato
Gotoh HAPM vintage tuners
and of course a fine new wiring and a 1-ply pickguard.

This guitar is maybe the best Strat I‘ve ever played. 3.3 kg pure tone and superb playability. A Suhr killer and far above 7ender originals. Just wanted to share

[Chezdeluxe]

Looks like an excellent base for the upgrades you chose.

[skiboyny]

Love the roasted neck! What are the neck specs on this one?

[Stefan Eff]

Love the roasted neck! What are the neck specs on this one?

Even C Medium .840"-.920" and 12-16“ compound radius. Impeccable fretwork and nicely rounded edges.
A dream neck really. I build guitars myself but I wouldn‘t do anything different. Unbelieavable quality, the whole thing was really good outa the box. But it’s boutique level after the upgrades.

[Stefan Eff]

Uh, and I put in this beautiful unique wiring made by Emerson Customs:

Regular 5-way but with a master volume and a master tone. The 3rd knob allows different pickup blendings (even all 3 pkups together). Very interesting and intuitive. And by the way, the Suhr Pickups are fantastic. They‘ve got a vintage vibe with a kick, super responsive and dynamic. John Suhr uses AlnicoV magnets made to the original 60‘s specs and from the same manufacturer Leo bought from

[Stefan Eff]

One word about the body:


It‘s a 3-piece body made of Alder (is that a bad thing? No it isn‘t, I‘ve heard btw most PRS bodies are made of 3-or 4-piece bodies. My own guitars got 2-piece bodies). Thomann says US-Alder. Anyway- the body is superbly light and very resonant. The finish is a (thin!) Polyurethane finish and flawless. I always wanted a shell pink Strat and the color is the same as the original, maybe slightly faded. The guitar came stock with a Babicz vibrato which I don‘t like, so I swapped for the Gotoh 510 with a fat steel block.

[Cdur]

Hi Stefan,

May I ask what kind of pick guard you used for the build? As far as I know, common fender and HB - pickguards are longer than the one used for the HB modern plus. Can you tell me?

best regards, Lutz

[nbevan3]

Don't tell Fender - they will instruct you to dispose of the guitar as it is illegal!

[Stefan Eff]

Hi Stefan,

May I ask what kind of pick guard you used for the build? As far as I know, common fender and HB - pickguards are longer than the one used for the HB modern plus. Can you tell me?

best regards, Lutz

yes, you need a custom pickguard. They‘re pretty different.

[Stefan Eff]

Don't tell Fender - they will instruct you to dispose of the guitar as it is illegal!

I couldn‘t care less

[Cdur]

Thanks for your reply. Your pickguard looks quite professional with those beveled edges. Was it cut by yourself?

[Stefan Eff]

Thanks for your reply. Your pickguard looks quite professional with those beveled edges. Was it cut by yourself?

Nope, made by trashcontainer in germany to my specs. Nice but darn xpensive

[Cdur]

So you spent 89€ for the pickguard, likely 400€ for the Suhr pickups, around 100€ for the gotoh bridge, 60€ for the tuners and maybe another 50€ for the electronics. That's kind of crazy. But maybe not so crazy if it feels like a Suhr guitar now.

[Stefan Eff]

So you spent 89€ for the pickguard, likely 400€ for the Suhr pickups, around 100€ for the gotoh bridge, 60€ for the tuners and maybe another 50€ for the electronics. That's kind of crazy. But maybe not so crazy if it feels like a Suhr guitar now.

No, I spent 125€ for the PG, the Gotoh is around 150€, the Emerson wiring is 100€. That isn‘t crazy, because I bought a marvellous neck and a lightweight body for just 350€. Got it?
It feels like a unique Strat, it sounds incredible and the playability is like a dream. You‘ll have to pay at least 2k for a 2nd hand guitar in this league.
But ok, the pickguard was crazy expensive.
I‘ve also spent some work on the neck to round it to my personal liking. Uh, and I‘ve swapped every metal part and every screw for nickel parts (and matted the Gotoh) cuz I don‘t like chrome ;-)

[Hammertone]

Nice-looking guitar. Stefan, what does this strat currently weigh?

I've been using aluminum instead of steel trem blocks on a few of my strats. The blocks are @7 oz. (@200 grams) lighter than typical steel blocks - a substantial difference, IMO. Both sound fine to me.

Decent video:

[Cdur]

No, I spent 125€ for the PG, the Gotoh is around 150€, the Emerson wiring is 100€. That isn‘t crazy, because I bought a marvellous neck and a lightweight body for just 350€. Got it?
It feels like a unique Strat, it sounds incredible and the playability is like a dream. You‘ll have to pay at least 2k for a 2nd hand guitar in this league.
But ok, the pickguard was crazy expensive.
I‘ve also spent some work on the neck to round it to my personal liking. Uh, and I‘ve swapped every metal part and every screw for nickel parts (and matted the Gotoh) cuz I don‘t like chrome ;-)

You did very well. Impressing result, real creativity.

[Stefan Eff]

You did very well. Impressing result, real creativity.

Ur serious? There wasn‘t any creativity involved, I‘ve mainly ordered desired parts :-)

Nice-looking guitar. Stefan, what does this strat currently weigh?

I've been using aluminum instead of steel trem blocks on a few of my strats. The blocks are @7 oz. (@200 grams) lighter than typical steel blocks - a substantial difference, IMO. Both sound fine to me.

Decent video:

3.3 kgs

[Stefan Eff]

…the quality of this Harley Benton guitar really makes me think. A AAAA Roasted maple neck like this is normally in the 1k range with stainless steel frets finished that way. Dunno how they do this. I‘m a real snob with highend guitar stuff, but this cheap neck is fantastic and absolutely „boutique“ class.