Harley Benton HB-35Plus Metallic Plum

Instead of "Introduction, rationale, conclusion", here's a review by the main areas that compose it:
Binding and colour - just beautiful, no spots, blemishes and smooth on the touch
Body - Great weight. The first string was touching the bridge on the back side, so I had to raise the tailpiece. Do not want to overwrap because of gold colour which will be scratched.
Neck - bought this guitar together with CST-24 and I own a Player Strat. The neck is chunkier than both, but it has a nice shape and it doesn't bother me. The CST-24 has a larger fretboard radius, but the neck is slimmer and easier to wrap around on the top three frets.
Fretboard - pau ferro, the darkest variety (compares well with the Strat), initially quite dry and needed oiling. Very smooth on the touch, inlays are very well added and smooth.
Nut - very well cut, looks like plastic, no issues with it so far
Tuners - hold their own
String action: came set up to 5/64 Bass end - 4/64 treble end
Intonation: perfect
Frets - jumbo; the neck came set up, but once I tightened the truss rod a bit, like I like it, I got fret buzz on the 7/8th fret. It looks just a little high, maybe not well crowned.
Cleanliness - very dirty fretboard, a lot of dust residue on a dry paper towel, but now it's great. Everything else was shiny.
Intonation - spot on
Pickups - I am still playing with the height to get them to sound approximately same with loudness. I am getting really good tones from all three combinations, my pedals and amp like this guitar.
Pickup switch: I can feel the changes, not loose and does the job well
Volume/Tone: work really well and smooth and there is great effect.
Coil Split: There is coil splitting (push/pull) on both volume pots. It takes a bit of getting used to because they are not the easiest to pull.
Bridge: I just noticed all string grooves are the same depth, like for the 6th string.
Other: one strap button loose, easy fix

Conclusion: you really have to look at the price; with customs and tax, it cost me less than 300 euros. All the above fixes took me about an hour, I did them myself and it was fun because I learned a lot about the guitar. I also rubbed the neck down with carnauba car wax (thanks to Ron Thorn for the tip) to make it smoother without sanding it and it is noticeably smoother than the back of the body for e.g. All in all, a great guitar so far. I've reached for the Strat 2-3 times, but at the moment this is the guitar standing next to the amp.

I have owned the regular HB-35 for 7 years now and it has been my main axe for a long time. It started to get worn out after the many hours of playing it and when I saw the new finishes for the Plus models I decided it was time to retire my old pal.
Out of the box this guitar needed some minimal tuning and then was ready to go. the quality control was great, I couldn't find any blemishes or issues in the setup like I had with Harley Benton guitars in the past. The pickups in this guitar sound great, a big improvement over the normal HB-35. I especially really like the tuners on this model, they are really sturdy and also look great. Overal I have nothing bad to say about this guitar. in this price range it cannot be beat and I would recommend anyone interested in an ES style guitar to check this out.