The six best Harley Benton ‘classic’ electric guitars for under £200
4,8 / 5,0 | 
In this round up, I discuss six sweet Harley Benton electric guitars that can be had for under £200! I have opted for what I consider ‘classic guitar designs’ in this round up. These iconic shapes are familiar to almost everybody, and the guitars themselves have the potential for future upgrades.
Harley Benton DC-Junior
The Harley Benton DC-Junior * has it all! This cheeky little double cut has all the cool indie punk credentials you need, but – thanks to it’s single P90 pickup – can also be a rock monster. And, it comes in at well under our £200 budget specification. At a very reasonable £175, it’s hard to find fault with the instrument. If you like single pickup guitars, this one is definitely worth checking out. Plus, it comes in an array of cool colour options.
I’m a huge fan of single pickup guitars, and so this would be my first choice as a sweet gigging guitar. In my mind, playing live I really only need one pickup.
Harley Benton DC-Junior LTD Pelham Blue
Harley Benton HB JA-60SB Vintage Series
Anyone that reads my articles here on Gear News will know that I love offset guitars and so I had to include at least one in this list. The Harley Benton HB JA-60SB Vintage Series comes with two P90 pickups this time and a hardtail Tune-O-Matic bridge, and is ridiculously cheap! This little offset is built to rock hard! And starting at only £129 a pop, you can mod the hell out of it and still manage to stay under my £200 budget!
Harley Benton HB JA-60SB Vintage Series
Harley Benton SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series
Moving into humbucker territory, the Harley Benton SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series * is your perfect, budget singlecut guitar. With its classic recipe of mahogany body and neck, AAA flamed maple top, and two Roswell LAF AlNiCo-5 vintage-style humbuckers, this guitar has classic rock written all over it!
This little number comes in many different colours and can be picked up for an insanely low £158 each!
Harley Benton SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series
Harley Benton ST-62DLX OW Vintage Series
You can’t have a list of budget guitars without including at least one Strat-style instrument, and so here is the Harley Benton ST-62DLX OW Vintage Series. It comes loaded with a set of three Roswell STA Alnico-5 Vintage ST-style single coil pickups and is available in a range of colours. At well under £150 each, this model should certainly work out well for those looking for classic single-coil tones on a budget.
Harley Benton ST-62DLX OW Vintage Series
Harley Benton CST-24T Wine Red Flame Deluxe
The Harley Benton CST-24T Wine Red Flame Deluxe * models are close to my top end £200 budget, but come in just under and so are really worth checking out. The guitar has a modern-classic PRS-style body carve and comes with either a pair of Roswell PAF Alnico-5 humbuckers or a set of Roswell P90 Soapbar pickups,.
The 24 frets and trem system really sets these guitars up for more modern playing styles.
Harley Benton CST-24T Wine Red Flame Deluxe
Harley Benton TE-20 BK Standard Series
For my last choice, I’ve picked the Tele-style Harley Benton TE-20 BK Standard Series*. No budget guitar list would be complete without a T-style guitar, and this one actually comes in at well under £100!
Yes, I know that sounds too cheap, but for its price, this little Tele actually kicks some serious weight! It could be a great guitar for someone looking for a backup instrument, or something to keep at the studio or office, that can be played when inspiration strikes. And at under a hundred quid, there is plenty of budget left for upgrades!
If you can stretch your budget a little more then I would highly recommend the TE-52 model and you can hear that one in action in the independent review below by intheblues if you need some reasons why.
Harley Benton TE-20 BK Standard Series
Budget Conscious
What I love about these Harley Benton models is that you can be budget conscious, yet still get a really nice looking, classic guitar design. And because they are all so well priced, it leaves you open to lots of upgrade potential, if/when you feel the need to take the guitar a bit further. I just wish there had been instruments like these when I was a kid!
If you haven’t played any of the Harley Benton range then check out these independent YouTube reviews by other guitarists and see what they have to say about them. Remember, it isn’t how much you spend on a guitar, but how you play it that matters. However, it is always great to have a good quality instrument at any price point.
More Information
Video
- Harley Benton DC-Junior LTD Pelham Blue: Thomann
- Harley Benton HB JA-60SB Vintage Series: Thomann
- Harley Benton SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series: Thomann
- Harley Benton ST-62DLX OW Vintage Series: Thomann
- Harley Benton CST-24T Wine Red Flame Deluxe: Thomann
- Harley Benton TE-20 BK Standard Series: Thomann
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8 responses to “The six best Harley Benton ‘classic’ electric guitars for under £200”
Harley Benton guitars look an awful lot like bargain basement Fender and Gibson guitars. Not a single original thought there, how British of them.
Yeah, they are very German owned and made in the Far East. I’ll give you they are cheap, so potentially ‘bargain’ though not in a basement, but then that is the point of this range. Since the article is about ‘classic electric guitar’ styles/types, then it makes sense they would look a lot like Fender and Gibson models, which many players class as classics. Just saying.
I see the usual snarks about the not being “original” have already appeared on the comments. I always find it hilarious when people do that…. Given the inherent and often rabid conservatism of so many guitar players, sadly anyone starting a new brand and actually wanting to make a serious go of it as a business would be mad to do anything original. All too often when they do, it’s those same people who snark about copies snarking that “these are ugly, I prefer the classics”.
Waiting for a similar post about six original HB designs. Well, maybe start from one original design? Surely HB has one original design in their line-up, no?
We’re talking about beginner guitars. Of course there’s not gonna be tons of “original” designs which is good since you wanna probably start of with some classic shapes anyway. On top of that, the HB Teles are 149euros are some of the best beginner guitars out there. Way better than their squier conterparts.
Suggestion: try one before you comment. I have a $3000 Jericho, Godins, Variax, Gibsons……etc and the HB SG, HB PRS and HB Classical electric are quite nice. BTW, who cares if their German? Really???
Still to be seen how they last, about the finish, hardware rust, working condition, craftsmanship. New they look great, for the price I’ll be happy to try one and most likely I’d buy it. A problem I find in the US as far as I know there’s no dealers. If the only way is to buy online and wait as I’ve seen too long to arrive from Germany, is not very appealing.
I had been an anti-HB due to playing a horrible one a couple of years ago. Last month I had the PLEASURE of playing an Aeolus and was blown away. Bought one a week later, and it is a great playing and good sounding guitar. I had to polish the frets and adjust the truss rod a little to make it playable, and I play out every week. I use this now every night for over half the time. I’m keeping my Charvel, selling a few and trying out some more HB’s. For the price most anyone can afford a new set of strings. I will replace the pups in one of the HB’s I ordered a couple of days ago, but for the price of just the neck I was about to buy, I can get an entire guitar with that exact neck, and just replace the pups. Like a no brainer, and it took 5 days to receive from Germany from the day I ordered.