SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series : Great Value

This is just a gorgeous guitar and very fun to play. The pickups are a tad bright for my preference but that is understandable since they are Alnico 5's (I generally prefer Alnico 2's).

The flame top is very pretty as well as the lemon drop color. The fingerboard is a rich, nicely figured reddish-brown. Fret ends are nicely finished (no roughness) and a nice touch is that the neck binding is placed over the fret tang making for a neater appearance. I have no complaints whatsoever regarding the quality of the finish or attention to detail. Hardware is all good with no apparent signs of cheapness. It might be nice if the pickguard was beveled because to me the straight cut seems a little cheap, but maybe that's just 50's style period correctness? Setup was very good. I made a couple of very slight adjustments for intonation, lowered the bridge just slightly and gave the neck a tiny bit more back-bow. Also, I ordered a set of quality, brass shaft Alpha pots and will be replacing the original ones and doing away with the push/pull coil splitting which I do not care for. Also I do not care for the very low friction attribute of the push-pull pots.

As I mentioned in another review, this SC-450Plus mops the floor with my CST-24HB in terms of finish and hardware, all for $40 LESS than the CST.

One thing I find odd is how light this guitar is for being mahogany. How can that be? I had an Agile LP style guitar that was an absolute boat anchor compared to this one.

Overall, very happy with this guitar but confused by my other more expensive and disappointing CST, which makes me a little reluctant to purchase another HB.