SC-450 P90 GT Classic Series : Hard to beat!

What do you want out of an instrument? I want an instrument that makes me WANT to play more. This guitar does just that. It calls to me. It begs to be played. It looks so beautiful and it feels so good in my hands that I don?t want to put it down. I?m a guitar enthusiast (not a professional)?I play mostly for fun with family and friends and I am learning how to work on/rebuild electric guitars. I guess you?d say that electric guitars are my obsession.

The box arrived in the USA (Texas) safely in roughly two weeks, and it was looked gorgeous when I took it out of the box. There was only one finish problem on the wood of the guitar: a small color blemish on the side of the headstock (like a dark smudge under the clear coat). It isn?t large, but it is noticeable, and it?s on the side facing me. It wasn?t worth sending back across the Atlantic Ocean, but I will always see it when I pick up the guitar. Also, the cream plastics aren?t so great in terms of cut and color. The switch indicator (rhythm / treble) has a greenish hue, while the P90 pickup covers and the pick guard have more of a peach hue. The edges of the pick guard are very ragged as well. To be honest, none of the cream parts seem to be the ?correct? or ?vintage? look, but that?s a relatively cheap correction if you are a stickler for detail.

The only serious issue for me on this guitar is that the pickups (which are NOT Wilkinson, by the way) sound pretty poor (in my opinion). I realize that this is a purely subjective point?you may love the pickups?but I just couldn?t dial in a decent sound on any of my amps. I also didn?t feel like they sounded in any way like true P90 pickups. Keep in mind that I tend to swap out the pickups on all of my guitars, so I had been planning on removing the stock pickups unless I found them amazing. They didn?t work for me, so they got replaced.

I?m no stranger to high-end guitars, but I?m at a point in my life when I find it more enjoyable to take an inexpensive instrument and see what I can squeeze out of it. Sometimes this includes replacing everything but the wood! I?ve taken an Epiphone (that cost more than this Harley Benton, by the way), and I literally stripped it to bare wood and refinished/replaced everything but the frets! This Harley Benton blows it away?and I only changed the pickups and the strings on the HB (the stock strings were not D?Addario and they were AWFUL?but I always change strings on new guitars anyhow).

The bottom line is that this guitar is truly excellent. Before the new pickups it LOOKED and FELT great to play unplugged?wonderful fit and finish, amazing resonance unplugged. Once I swapped the pickups, this is one of my favorite guitars. I love the look, the feel, the sounds, and the fact that I don?t worry about it getting damaged. Is it perfect? No. But do I love it? Absolutely. At $120 it is an incredible deal?I don?t think you can do better.