SC-Custom II SPAF : Excellent, with a few minor niggles

First Impressions:

A lot browner than the images suggest. Book-matched top, really nicely sculpted heel, comfortable neck. Shipping carton supportive, arrived in the UK three days after ordering with no shipping problems.

Some finish flaws, a blob of the satin top coat in the centre of the back, and also two dings on the back. The binding was also a bit dirty, not fully scraped before the finish was applied.

Left to settle after unboxing and then tuned up and tested.

First Setup:

Nice solid Grover tuners, intonation bang-on perfect out of the box [a first!]. No truss rod adjustment required, bridge down about 2mm and tailpiece up to ensure strings cleared the back of the bridge. Graphite nut cleaned up and E and A nut slots cut down by 0.5mm. Solid strap-locks.

Frets polished, and fretboard oiled.

First play:

Holy cow. Damn this plays so well. Roswell HAF pickups [only available on this Custom II] are nicely punchy with the volume rolled off, and very hot when run flat out. Not super-defined when run into a ton of gain but a slight volume roll cures that. Nice pickups. All electrics work well, no hum or crackles, shielding to all cavities.

Not as heavy as you might expect but there is still a bit of neck dive.

All frets level and neck perfect, not even needed to remove the truss rod cover yet. After adjustment action nicely low, neck fast, no buzzes.

A joy to play. Currently sporting a set of D'Addario EXL120BT with no other mods considered or necessary. Even the nut [a usual issue I have with Harley Bentons] just needed two slots deepening, otherwise it's been very smooth even after extreme bending.

Inspiring, one of those guitars that makes you play.

By far the best Harley Benton guitar I've bought in many years.