Harley Benton SC-450 CB Classic Series Reviews

Drop dead gorgeous.!

Husband bought this for our anniversary, to add to my growing collection, what can I say ? This guitar not only looks good ,it arrived in perfect condition the finish is to die for ,the subtle cherry burst looks as if it could be eaten for desert, the machine head's are smooth and hold tune ,the pickups although unbranded are equally as good as my husbands Roswell's on his 450 +. They are crystal clear clean and respond well to all gain settings , fretwork perfect except for a very slight need to dress a couple of sharp ends.even the finger board inlays are perfect, I was not expecting this level of satisfaction at this price point, even the colour of the tone + volume knobs are matched to contrast well with body color. And just think I only ordered this for a little fun . excellent!!!

Gibson who’s that.

This is my first HB can’t wait to get more. Quality is remarkable then the sound ooooooo

I think 6 stars would not be enough. I find myself just looking at it again and again so I play it again and again.

Overall experience what can I say “Amazing “

The real deal!!

I purchased this guitar as my 9 years old first electric guitar so to " hook him up" and start studying a bit more.Bought this for the looks of it and the price of it ,thinking that no guitar can be good for the money i had to spend ,so why at least not look awesome?

Next scene... I was playing myself till five thirty in the morning!!

Awesome build,very detailed and careful manifactured.The body is awesome,the neck is so smooth to slide your hands like touching velvet.The fretboard too...You can slide and play whatever you want and it feels almost like a les paul gibson.The strings keys have no label but they are strong and stable,the knobs,nothing impressive but they are ok.No noise,perfect tones and sound.The only cons are that the last,last, last fret at the bottom E string is kind of dead,doesnt make a sound.The pickguard is kind of ...meh...but this is not important and it s the cheapest thing to replace if you dont like it.It s just aisthetic...Not about the guitars performance.The colour and the fonish are incredible,it s a solid guitar.

I ve read and read and read about these guitars and took a risk but found out that they are awesome!! No 144 euros guitar in the world can top this...And if you change the humbackers and key strings it s like a 1700 euro guitar. I own myself a fender tele and an sg gibson. And i can say for sure that this guitar is really awesome. I wont let the kid play with it :P :P

This guitar is a good match for my playing style.

A little heavier than I'm used to but still fun to play. Its got attitude with wide ranging tones. Comes to you professionally set up with spot on intonation and player friendly action, beautiful finish and all at a remarkable price..Overall, I'd honestly have to say this is by far the highest quality guitar I've ever purchased under $300. that includes my $300 Ibanez and my $300 Jackson

Great guitar for the price

Build quality is very good. Would have given 5 stars, but the fret work wasn't as good as it could have been. Specifically, the fret crowning was inconsistent, with some frets apparently not crowned at all. The fret leveling and fret ends were good though. Guitar also required more work to set up than other HB guitars I've purchased. Definitely nothing that makes me regret the purchase, it's just that I've been spoiled by the other incredible HB instruments I've purchased.

Great for a starting guitar or for modding

I am thurally surprised with the quality of the guitar. The only thing that I did not like about guitar is the tone, but with a bit of modification it is possible to change that. 5/5

Decent guitar

The pickups are the muddiest humbuckers I have ever heard.

Plays nice, sounds ok, and is cheap enough if you just HAVE to mod it, it's worth putting extra cash into.

The "cherry burst" is more like a school bus yellow center with a spraycan outline in red. HIDEOUS. No grain, no flame, just toy-like clown burst. Yuk.

Harley Benton SC-450 CB Classic Series

The product was impressive

Glad I waited!

Visually flawless (no cracks, gaps, runs or other nasties, NONE!) except the fretboard was very dry but a bit of oil fixed that up. The action was extremely high, even the nut seemed too high. The nut popped off without drama and I sanded the flat bottom but then I took off *too* much and had to shim it. The bridge end was a simple adjustment of the two screws holding up the TuneOMatic style bridge. Oh, yeah, I loosened the truss rod about 1/3 revolution. Now it's about as low (and quick) as you could reasonably expect, although on the low E string it buzzes on the two highest frets. I may run a whetstone over them a time or two next time I change the strings. All other frets are buzz-free and don't fret out on big bends either. The 2nd fret failed the rocker test (using an old credit card) but a couple taps with the plastic handle of a large screwdriver fixed that, too.

As far as playing it, it's quite different from the HSS Strat copy I was playing before, but I'm getting used to it (4 days now). I wasn't impressed so much by playing individual notes, but the first time I played a cowboy style G chord I had to sit back a bit. I've never had a guitar that sounded this rich. One last thing, I read in reviews that the tuners and plastic pieces are "meh", but these tuners hold a tune and are geared much lower than any I remember having before, I don't have to hold my tongue just right hoping I don't overshoot the pitch. I also read about casting flash on the plastic pieces, but I see no evidence of that or even the seams of a mold.

Actually I wanted an HB SC-450Plus even though the web page said it'd take 2-3 weeks to get in stock, but as I waited that went up to 5-6 weeks and I asked to switch to this HB SC-450 CB which was available immediately. Once I switched, it took 10 days to get here to the East Coast USA in spite of the US Postal Service misrouting it one time.

Would definitely buy again!

EDIT: I've had it about a month now, and I still stand by my comments above. No additional issues have popped up in the meantime. I wouldn't have felt ripped off if I'd paid $500 - $600 for this guitar.

A mess

I took a chance with this and it didn't pay off. The fretboard looks like it was cracked and then repaired from the 17th to 20th fret under the high E. I'm guessing they cracked it while setting the frets at the factory? I don't know but it's obvious something was done and it looks bad.

The 16th fret from the low E to D is dead because the you can basically rock a seesaw on the next fret up, the 17th fret is way too high. With relatively high action this thing buzzes all over the place, multiple high frets up and down the board. I really don't want to play guitar repair man with them either.

Bridge pickup is crooked, the A string saddle has a stripped intonation screw, low E won't intonate properly, the bridge is garbage.

So far I have a HB-35, it's a good guitar even though the tone knob doesn't work, I have a TE-20, decent guitar but it has issues as well like squealing pickups, the SC450-CB is the worst of them all, hands down. I know it's cheap, but cracked fretboards and dead frets is a non starter for me.

Some people say these are unbelievable for the price. So far I think you have to be unbelievably lucky to get a really good one.

I sent in a return request, I'm in the U.S. and I heard the return process is very cumbersome from somebody else who lives in the U.S. and has had to return HB guitars. I'm not laying out a dime to return this. I'm insulted this was even sent to me. Cheap guitar, whatever, this is really bad and there's no excuse for it.

I'm done buying HB guitars. If the return process is smooth I may add a star.