Show Full Spec Comparison
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS | Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk | |
---|---|---|
General | ||
Brand: | Harley Benton | Washburn |
Year: | 2024 | 2010 |
Configuration: | HSS | HH |
Strings: | 6 | 6 |
Made in: | Indonesia | Indonesia |
Series: | Pro | Nuno Bettencourt |
Colors: | Black, Blue, Green, Burst | Red |
Left-Handed Version: | Yes | No |
Body | ||
Type: | Solid Body | Solid Body |
Body Material: | Alder | Agathis |
Bridge: | Tremolo | Floyd Rose Special |
Neck | ||
Neck Joint: | Bolt-On | Bolt-On |
Tuners: | Sung-Il ML-55 locking machine heads with HB logo | Grover Exclusive 18:1 Chrome |
Fretboard: | Laurel | Rosewood |
Neck Material: | Caramelised Canadian Maple | Maple |
Decoration: | Dot | Dots |
Scale Size: | 25.5" | 25.5" |
Shape: | Harley Benton D | Washburn Nuno Bettencourt |
Frets: | 22 Medium Jumbo Stainless Steel | 22 Medium Nickel Silver |
Fretboard Radius: | 12" to 16" | 12" |
Nut: | Graphite | Locking |
Nut Width: | 42mm (1.654'') | 43mm (1.693'') |
Electronics | ||
Bridge Pickups: | Tesla VR-Nitro Alnico 5 Humbuckers (Humbucker / Passive) | Bill Lawrence L-500 (Humbucker / Passive) |
Middle Pickup: | Tesla TV-S1M Alnico 5 Single Coil (Single Coil / Passive) | |
Neck Pickup: | Tesla TV-S1M Alnico 5 Single Coil (Single Coil / Passive) | Washburn Humbucker (Humbucker / Passive) |
Switch: | 5 Way | 3 Way |
Knobs: | Bell | Dome |
Pickup Mods: | Coil Split | Coil Tap |
Volume Controls: | 1 | 1 |
Tone Controls: | 1 | 0 |
Hardware | ||
Strap Lock: | No | No |
Hardware Color: | Chrome | Chrome |
Show Diagrams Comparison
Reasons to Get
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS over Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk
Reasons to Get
Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk over Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS
Other Key Differences
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS vs Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk
Shared Features
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS vs Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk
Common Strengths
- Top Pickup Brand
Common Weaknesses
- Neck-Through Build
- Weight Relief
- Stays in Tune (Evertune)
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- From a High-Quality-Standards Country
- Luminescent Sidedots
- Strap Lock
- 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- Active/Passive Preamp
Price History Comparison
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Hand Size Comfortability
And after taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk favors large hands more than the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS. But it's still more comfortable for people with small hands, as you can see in the score meter below.
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS:
Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk:
Beginner Friendliness
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS meets 7 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk meets only 3. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.
New Player Friendliness
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Locking tuners
- Comfortable fretboard
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Short scale
New Player Friendliness
Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk- Comfortable shape
- Tall frets
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable fretboard
- Narrow nut
- Short scale
- Locking tuners
- Easy-to-use bridge
Sound Quality Comparison
The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.
Woods Used in Both
Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.
Woods Used in the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS
There are many types of Laurel, but East Indian is the most common for guitar building. Its color can vary from dark to light brown with black lines. Many people find its tonality similar to Rosewood, which favors the warmer frequencies. Find out more about Laurel.
Alder is the most popular wood that Fender uses in most of their guitars nowadays. Even though they say it's because of its balanced tone with an emphasis in the upper midrange, it probably is because it isn't too expensive, and it's also pretty lightweight—more than Mahogany. Find out more about Alder.
Woods Used in the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk
Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.
Agathis is a softwood similar to Mahogany. It's more affordable, which makes it popular as a way to reduce production costs. People believe it to produce a warm tone with good punch and sustain.
Winner: Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk.
Pickup Configuration
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS has an HSS configuration while the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk has HH pickups.
HSS provides a great balance if you like to play with a lot of distortion, but also love to use clean tones. You'll get a lot of output at the bridge position, but you'll be able to play bright clean tones at the other positions.
On the other hand, Double Humbucker (HH) is the choice for people who want a fuller, more round sound with tons of mids and lows. Humbuckers also get rid of the hum noise that plague single-coil pickups. They can work out for almost any genre going from Djent to even Jazz.
Pickups Quality
Both come with very good pickups from at least one of the specialized brands in the market. With pickups like these, you probably won't need an upgrade anytime soon.
Both use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.
Winner: Tie.
Versatility Comparison
Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.
Switch Options
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS gives you 5 switch options while the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk gives you 3. This means that the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS gives you more options to find the right pickup combination for the type of sound you want to achieve
Both give you different pickup mod options.
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS offers Coil Split.
Coil Split lets you disconnect one of the pickup coils. When used with humbuckers, it turns them into single-coil with lower output and cleaner tone.
On the other hand, the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk comes with the following: Coil Tap.
Coil Tap is similar to Coil Split but it works a bit differently. Instead of completely cancelling one of the coils of the humbucker, it only cuts part of the output once activated. Some people believe this gives the split pickups a more real single-coil sound.
When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.
Winner: Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS.
Final Sound Quality Scores
Build Quality Comparison
When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS compares to the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk.
Country of Origin
The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. Both in this comparison where made in Indonesia.
Indonesia is becoming the most popular country for guitar building because they can make good instruments for a low price. Some people think that they're 'the new China' when it comes to build quality. But the truth is that Indonesian guitars are more consistent, although Chinese quality has improved a lot in the last few years.
Winner: Tie
Nut Material
If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS has a Graphite nut. It's a self-lubricating material that will allow the strings to slide over the nut without a lot of friction. It's a good type of nut if you want to have better tuning stability than with plastic, although it's not as resistant as Bone or Tusq.
On the other hand, the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk comes with a Locking nut. Instead of a regular nut, this guitar has a locking system that will lock down the strings at the nut, preventing it from getting out of tune. It removes one of the disadvantages of tremolo bridges, tune stability.
Winner: Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk.
Fret Material
Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.
In this comparison, the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS is the only one that has stainless steel frets. These frets will basically last for the entire life of the guitar. They will never need polishing nor replacement. And not only that, but some people also notice that bending and vibratos are much easier to perform when they upgrade to stainless steel.
Winner: Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS.
Bridge
The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS's brige is a Tremolo. Tremolo bridges give you more versatility than fixed bridges. They let you perform the intense vibrato effects that would be impossible with a fixed bridge. However, since the bridge floats and there's less contact with the body, the strings lose sustain slightly faster. They can also be a bit harder to restring and set up correctly than fixed bridges.
On the other hand, the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk's is a Floyd Rose. This is a double-locking bridge system that allows you to perform techniques like dive bombs and pinch harmonics. The locking nut allows your guitar to stay in tune even after the most intense tremolo usage. The disadvantage is that it takes more work to change the strings and set up everything correctly.
Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.
Winner: Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk.
Tuners
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS has the best tuners of the two because they are locking tuners. They'll help to keep your guitar in tune because they allow you to tune it without wrapping the strings around the posts. This avoids variations in the tuning due to the strings changing position at the post after a bend. They come at the disadvantage of being slightly heavier than regular tuners. Also, it makes it a lot easier to restring.
Nevertheless, the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk has a locking nut, so it should have even better tune stability and doesn't need locking tuners.
Winner: Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS.
Neck Joint
Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.
Both have a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.
Winner: Tie.
Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:
Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS
- Stainless Steel Frets
- Locking Tuners
- Top Brand Pickups
- Coil Split Pickups
- Tremolo
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Made in Indonesia
- No Expensive Woods
- No High-Quality Nut
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk
- Expensive Wood
- Locking Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Coil Tap Pickups
- Tremolo
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Made in Indonesia
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Retainer Bar
- No Strap Lock
Final Build Quality Scores
Playability Comparison
Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.
Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.
Nut Width
The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk has the wider nut with 43mm (1.693'') vs 42mm (1.654''). This is a 1mm (0.039'') difference
This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.
Scale Length
The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.
In this case, both have a scale length of 25.5".
This is the scale used in most Stratocasters. It's slightly longer than the typical 24.75'' size found in Les Pauls, and it's one of the main reasons why Stratocasters have such a bright sound in general. A longer scale also means that the strings will have higher tension. This will help you get lower action without suffering fret buzz, which will also be helpful when playing in lower tunings without having to increase your string gauge.
However, this also means that there will be more separation between frets, which can make it more difficult to play. Also, bending the strings will require more strengths due to the increased tension, but remember that a tremolo guitar will offset this difficulty.
Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.
Neck Profile
No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.
In this case, both have different neck shapes:
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS has a D type of neck. This is a thin and flat neck that is made for playing fast. If you prefer a neck that doesn't get in your way when soloing, this is the shape you should use. Guitarists that prefer to have a bit more grip won't like this type of neck.
The Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk, on the other hand, has a C neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.
Fretboard Radius
Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.
In this case, the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS is the only one with a compound radius. This is a huge win because it will give you the best of both worlds: a more curved radius in the first few frets for chords, and flatter as you come closer to the body for soloing.
Fret Size
The Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus HSS has Medium Jumbo frets, which should be taller than the Washburn N24-Nuno Vintage Padauk's Medium frets.
Some people prefer taller frets because they result in more sustain since the strings get pressed cleanly without interference from the fretboard. However, if they're too tall—like Jumbo frets—, you might change the pitch of the strings accidentally if you press too hard because you won't be touching the fretboard with your fingers. This is also why some guitarists with a heavy grip prefer smaller frets. They like to feel the fingerboard to avoid pressing down too hard and getting out of pitch.