SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series : Disaster. Terrible quality control.

Delivery was very slow. It took two weeks.

Guitar packaging was ok but I immediately noticed a ding on the back edge of the upper bout. Then on closer inspection I discovered glue splattered on the fingerboard at 5 different fret positions. I had to scrape this off with a razor blade and sand with fine grit sandpaper.

I tried to tune the guitar but it would not stay in tune. The machine heads were loose and useless. I had to replace them which cost me €80. After that I realised that I could not intonate the guitar as the nut was a disaster. The height was too high and it kept pinching the string. It was cut horrific. I had to replace this shocking piece of hollow plastic with a tusq nut. This cost me a total of €40 to buy and get fitted. My luthier informed me that he had a problem fitting the new nut as the nut slot was uneven. He had to level it and insert a shim. He also noticed that two of the frets were high and had to level them.

The pickups are ok but not great. They tend to be very muddy with higher gain. The pots are aweful. They have no gradual taper. They don't increase or decrease volume and tone uniformly. The split coil function is rubbish. It just decreases the volume of the pickups.

The colour and finish on the top is nice, neck feels good and the guitar resonates really well. These were the only reasons why I decided not to return it. The guitar ended up costing me almost €300 and still doesn't include an upgrade of pickups, pots, switch or jack.

I thought that I was getting a single cut for a bargain but I was wrong. Overall I was very dissappointed with my purchase. It was a nightmare and I am very reluctant to purchase another Harley Benton guitar.

I regret not spending a little more for an Epiphone 50s Les Paul which is a quality instrument. Epiphone guitars also have a resale value should you wish to trade up in the future.