Harley Benton SC-550 II FTF

I bought this guitar just to have an LP type/style in the collection for occasional use. I have yet to put this guitar down since it arrived. Out of the box it only required a bit of tuning. Intonation was spot on, the neck was perfectly straight & the build quality, set up and QC are top notch. Beautiful top, great feeling comfortable neck and good hardware/electronics made the introductory impressions pleasing. Even after seeing several positive reviews and recommendations I was still pleasantly surprised with this guitar overall. The Tesla pickups are quite versatile and provide great tone. The neck pickup does not have the ultra dark or muddy tones of many other neck pickups on guitars of this type. Both pickups are very dynamic and offer plenty good tones. The neck is very comfortable and a joy to play. The improved body shape and neck heel lend to great comfort, upper fret access and playability. Although I’ve heard a few complaints on the tuners, I find them quite serviceable and have had no issues with operation or with them holding tune. They are a bit odd visually but not absurdly so. Hardware and electronics on this guitar are impressive at this price point and exceeded my expectations based on other reviews. The only “flaw” I was able to find was the binding is less than perfect in some places but is minimal and hardly noticeable outside of close scrutiny.
My point of reference and comparison for this particular HB model are several Epiphone LP Plus, Tribute and Custom models as well as a few Gibson LP Studio models. The SC-550 II provides an experience and quality on-par with or better than those guitars in my experience.
This one has been immediately promoted from an occasional use stand-by/backup to having a spot in the main rotation for studio/session work and most likely in my live rig as well. The chambered weight relief makes this a very comfortable and useable live instrument for long gigs. I will definitely be recommending this guitar to my peers and students. This one along with my Harley Benton TE-70 BP (another phenomenal HB guitar) will soon get their public debut here on the stages around the Home of the Blues & Birthplace of Rock n Roll (Memphis, TN US)!

In the middle of a gear cleanse and build up I stupidly sold a couple PRS guitars and ended up with no functioning guitar, so I needed an affordable replacement quickly, so I pulled the trigger on this one and I am super glad I did. Whilst being on the affordable umbrella I was used to the quality of PRS guitars and this one didn't disappoint, there are a couple tool marks, a paint spot that didn't set quite right but that's about it.

The neck is amazing, it feels a tad fuller than a strat-esque neck but not fat. The tall frets are amazing, they are a wee bit scratchy, but I was expecting to work them a little bit anyway so it's fine.

Something that surprised me is the tuning stability, I pick hard and bend the strings a lot, and it holds surprisingly well, I have no idea how they accomplish it with the flimsy tuners and the plasticky nut but I'm blown away by it. Those tuners will be replaced eventually but I actually want to wear them out first, see how much they last.

Set up from the factory is pretty decent, it has a very minor buzz, but I haven't made any adjustments to it yet so I think some truss rod adjustment should do the trick.

Now as far as pickups go I don't like them at all, they are a little too mushy for my taste and a little too weak, yet, this department is totally up to the player's taste and frankly they are usable as they are, since I am used to playing high output pickups these ones might be right for you, if not, replace to taste.

Lastly, its pretty light. Mine at least seems to be 8-ish pounds, most likely below that weight, yet no neck dive, which is AWESOME. Bear in mind that I use a suede strap a bit on the wider side, so it might have an effect on this matter as well.

Bottom line, you are not getting a 1000USD guitar here, but you will be getting beyond it's pricetag's worth, so be mindful that will have to put a little work into it and you will be rewarded with a great guitar, not for the money but a great guitar in general.

After watching all the You Tube videos on this guitar, including a so called "deep review" I found that not one went "under the hood" (or bonnet for you Brits) Sure it looks great but what is inside. First I'll start with the 3 way switch. This is a CTS style 3 way switch. It works as it should with no loose movements. The cavity is paint shielded. The cover has a metallic tape shield. Next for the pots. They are full size made in Korea Alpha pots. The cavity is also paint shielded. The wiring and solder are very neat. The cavity is clean of any debris. The cover is also shielded as mentioned above.
Next I go to the look of the guitar, as this is the first thing that you see. It looks great the AAAA flamed maple top has a quality look, although, I can't see what the difference is between AAA and AAAA except perhaps marketing. There were no imperfections found anywhere on the guitar.
The guitar itself comes in just over 9 lbs. (over 4 kg.) The guitar is listed as having weight relief, It is not light by any means but is right in the Les Paul weight catagory.
O.K. how does it sound. I love the Tesla pickups. I have guitars with Seymour Duncan pups and they are right up there with them. The pots roll off good for different flavor at different settings.
The neck feels great a true 60's profile, not a baseball bat 50's. The fretwork was perfect and setup was spot on. It's nice to know that I'll probably never have to re-fret the guitar as the frets are stainless steel.
The only thing that I changed were the tuners. They were perfectly adequate, but I prefer locking tuners for ease of string replacement.
All in all I like this much better than my Les Paul Studio, which I am now going to sell. If you want a quality sounding great looking guitar, you can't go wrong with this.

So, I've been hankering for a single cut for a long time. Much to the annoyance of my wife. I finally managed to sell the pedals I didn't need any more and got this. It's a beautiful guitar to look at. The flamed top is gorgeous and I'm glad I got the FTF finish after trying to decide between this and the Desertburst. The edges aren't entirely black and you can see some grain there and the back is a very dark brown too, not the black as per the images on the website.

Mine, unfortunately, came with a chip in the finish by the toggle cavity cover. A bit of a dissapointment with a new guitar, but Thomann offered me a small refund, which I was happy with.

The combination of the green tuner keys, white nut and cream binding is pretty odd in person. I'd seen it written about, but was reserving judgement till I'd seen it in person. It's just a bad look. Fortunately (?) the tuners were also terrible, so I had no qualms swapping them out for some AliExpress locking ones that function a lot better and look good with chrome keys. I had to drill out the headstock holes to fit the 10mm posts, but that wasn't too bad. The nut was also slightly too high. I made some adjustments, and went too far, so I ordered a new cream nut. Now the headstock looks great.

Mine is really light at just over 3kg, which seems mad. My TE-52 is over 4kg. It's comfy on a strap, but there is a hint of the neck wanting to level out. Not a problem for me, but thought I'd mention it.

Playability wise, I love it. The frets are SUPER smooth, the upper fret access is great, the neck is comfy and workable even if quite a lot smaller than my tele. All of the pots have a suitable taper on them too, so I don't feel like I need to change them. I have no complaints about the pickups either. They sound great through my Orange Crush 35-RT and via headphones into my GX-100.

To get it set up in drop C with 10s, I did have to change out the bridge, which wasn't that easy. It seems that the centre of the posts isn't quite standard, so bare that in mind if you want to do the same. I've also swapped out the top hat knobs for speed knobs, just as a preference thing.

I have modded it, but I like mods... The tuners were a must and the nut looks a lot better now. Great bones and just needed a few tweaks to get it where I wanted it. Really happy now, I love playing it and I'm VERY glad I bought it.