Harley Benton CST-24 Purple Burst

I'm not going to lie, it was the purple burst the originally caught my eye but this guitar is so much more. Obviously it's colour is amazing and the deep dark purple back is beautiful. The overall finish is very high quality and with the steel frets I know I won't need to "fret" over them anytime soon. The 24 frets being a bit closer together makes a big a difference for people like me who weren't lucky enough to have fingers for days. As for the sound, I was very impressed with the diversity in sounds that this produces. The single coils have a light, almost accousticy sound, while the humbuckers have that beefiness that you crave. I did a side by side comparison with other humbucker containing brands and this beaut held it's own. Would highly recommend.

The good:
Great looking guitar for the money. Mine had a magnificent dark fretboard, surprisingly good looking maple veneer and a lovely fade. Die cast hardware is not the top shelf stuff, but it does the job. Never felt the tailpiece/tuners were lacking. Stainless steel frets are a nice addition. Coil split was also a lot more useful than I expected.
The not so good:
It could use some love in some places. The nut was cut too high on the bass side, mine also had a couple of high frets. The neck was slightly bent on the dusty end, but still playable with truss rod adjustment. Binding had a flaw, the truss rod cover was screwed on at an angle. Knobs are quite sharp and unpleasant to use, so I swapped them out. Fret markers are off center.
The only thing dragging this guitar down IMO is the pickups which to me sounded dull and inarticulate. Thankfully it's not a big job swapping them out.
Considering it's a 250 euro instrument I still think it's a good deal for those who are curious about 25 inch scale length guitars but not quite ready to spend over two times as much for the "real" thing.