SC-DLX Gotoh Daphne Blue : Very Good Hardware, Good Pickups + Electronics. The Frets... Not so Much

This was my very first Harley Benton guitar (I have three of them now, so you can suspect that this review is going to be good). From the very beginning, I have to say that for the money, this single cut beats whatever else exists out there in the same price range. Hardware alone, being from Gotoh is very good and can be found on much highly priced guitars. The same can be said about everything else.

The big and pleasant surprise was the unexpectedly good quality of the pair of Tesla pickups. After just 2 hours of playing, I changed my mind about replacing them.

Out of the box, the construction of the guitar was without any esthetic fault. Binding was clean and nice all around, the paint was flawless, headstock looks great... Visually, nothing to complain about. Even the Graphtech nut was installed at the right height and needed no adjustments.

The only thing to be annoyed about were the frets. Although they were correctly installed, with no rocking, dead spots or buzz anywhere on the neck, they were totally raw and unfinished. Bending strings produced weird scratchy sounds that should not have been there. So, I had to polish them. There is also one good news here. Polishing them took a lot of effort and time, which convinced me they are really made of steel.

I had this guitar for one year now. After this time, the paint started to pale here and there, and you can clearly see white...ish spots thru the fading blue. I do not mind this fact at all. Especially because everything else (hardware, pickups, electronics, truss rod, and the frets after the finishing polish) holds out just like the guitar is brand new. Action is low, playability awesome, sound is great.

Do I recommend it? Oh yes. Even if you have no skills for a DIY, and you have to go to a luthier / repairman and pay for polishing the frets, what you get for the money can be easily compared with similar guitars in the 1000+ price range.