Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT Classic Series 5-stars Reviews

Nicer than expected

This guitar is good right out of the box. I did a minor bit of fret polishing and setting up, but it didn't need much. It is good as it is.

An excellent classic 1950s LP style gold top!

A great alternative to a Gibson or Epiphone at an amazing price.

Great Guitar.

Looks great sounds great and plays great!

Superb , and a lot less than a Gibbo

I can’t fault this guitar , looks stunning , plays well , nice and weighty and tones of tone . If you’re after a super affordable gold top at an acceptable price you will not go wrong here !

Nothing to say except I love it.

Very impressive P90 SC

Considering the price point, this guitar is very impressive indeed. The quality is excellent, with only some very very minor imperfections in the gold paint finish. The sound is great. The neck is quite chunky, but very easy to play. The hardware works very well. I am often tempted to upgrade guitars, but there's nothing I want to change on this one. Loving it!

Nice

Nice guitar, well built, good for the money you pay, better than Epiphone in my opinion

Love the P90s!

Color and look is great. Guitar came well set up and ready to play. I set up my guitars and polish the frets anyway, so didn’t notice any issues. One thing to note: the bridge pickup is way less output than the neck. I guess that’s the original spec, but i wasn’t expecting it at first. Wonderful sounding P90s

one of my favorites

this les Paul style guitar is one of my favorites. I did not think I could appreciate a gold top guitar as much as I do. the tones that come out of the P 90's is amazing.

Fantastic guitar in this price range - good sound, good value for money

I found this guitar extremely appealing and a great attraction amongst my friends. For its price, its a great value for money, and the P90s sound is a stand out!! They are higher output (comparatively) and slightly muddier but I did a sound test on this one & my Epiphone Special ii and I found this slightly better! I found the guitar a little on the heavier side and the gold top colour very slightly musturdy, but I would buy this again & again for the sound & looks it offers for its price. Definitely recommend to try this.

I love this guitar, but have done some work on it

I’m absolutely delighted with this guitar, but you have to be willing to do a little setting up. I’ve done some adjustments to the frets, changed the machine heads and the headstock. I have a collection of guitars including Fender and PRS and I value my Harley Benton Gold top just as much. So definitely worth the effort :)

An insanely good guitar for the money

Although I’ve yet to encounter a bad Harley Benton guitar, this one really is a belter – it’s an insanely good guitar for the money.

After watching various rave reviews on YouTube, I bought it as a modding platform. I soon realised that there was no need for upgrades – the pickups sound great and the bridge, pots, nut and tuners all work just fine.

The only down side was that I’d hoped the basswood body would mean a lighter weight, but that didn’t prove to be the case – at 9½ lb, it's “proper Les Paul” weight. If that's not an issue for you, go for it!

Great build quality and great tone! How could you go wrong?

I was looking for parts to switch one of my strats to a P90 guitar and, once I got up to around $250 CAD I thought I might as well see if I could find a cheap guitar with P90s instead. I was NOT expecting to find a beautiful gold top LP copy with P90s for this price - nor did I have big expectations (though a friend has bought a few Harley-Benton guitars and had great things to say about them)

Anyways...fit and finish, the quality of the accoutrements (stainless frets, TUSQ nut, great tuners, etc.) is fantastic - and it has all the mojo and great P90 tone of a Gibson for several thousand dollars less.

This will be my first of many Harley-Bentons (I can tell! lol)

Great guitar at a great price.

Firstly the looks. It looks great! The gold top, IMHO, is fantastic, as is the fretboard - which looks very much like Ebony (it isn't), but oozes class. The headstock design also isn't bad (I did polish that "HB" lettering off the truss rod cover though).

Everything on the guitar is functional, tuners, nut, bridge and potentiometers, are all adequate - no need to change anything really - except..... the switch is pretty naff and the jack isn't really up to the job, so they were swapped out.

Setup is good however there was an issue with scratchy frets, so a quick polish with the Dremel (didn't even need to take the strings off) and that was also sorted.

Sound. It sounds and plays great, very comfortable neck profile, no fret sprout, just a dream to play one those little issues were addressed. I also own a JTV-59 Variax, which has a selectable "imitation" of an original 1952 LP Goldtop, so of course an A-B test was made, and surprisingly the HB P90's do a damn good job at reproducing the original sound of the original LP Single Cut guitar. A damn good job!

Highly recommended. More bang for your money I don't think is possible. If you are looking for something with a P90 single coil sound, at this price the SC-450 is a no-brainer.

Great guitar!

Really good guitar for the price!

Wow, pleasently surprised!

This guitar is a steal. Arrived with a decent setup, right out of the box. a few minor adjustments to my taste and this thing is a rock machine. Well built and very comfortable. I'm still shocked. The stain on the fretboard may have been incompletely cured either that or it just needed to be cleaned. Either way. I can't say enough very good things about this guitar. Better than any LP style I'm picked up for more, Chapman Epiphone to name 2 others I have which are collecting dust now that I have this one. I can't believe I'm saying it, but get one, you won't be sorry. Also if you're in the States, seriously consider picking up more items, parts, hardware, PA gear, hard cases... the prices are great and the shipping is a better deal if you get multiple items.

Can't go wrong with Harley Benton

Beautiful guitar and nothing else exists at this make quality for the price I paid. Amazing guitar. May require tweaking for optimal sound but you should be able to play right out the box. Really love the look, so beautiful.

Awesome guitar

Great p-90, great sound and great sustain.

Streets paved with Gold

For years I wanted a Gibson Gold Top with P90s, but also for years I've been aware that the Tokai (Japan) Gold Top was rated more highly, so I actually wanted that in preference. However an offer by my poorly Mum to 'buy what I wanted for the Christmas' just gone, still seemed churlish to spend so much seeing as we had her care home fees to pay, so I plumbed for the Harley Benton after seeing YTube demos. Sadly, it turned out to be her last gift to me, but boy has it not disappointed! If ever there was a legacy to live up to - this Gold Top and its P90's does it! I have had to get used to the raw tones of these P90 PUPS, but EVERY demo online of either the Tokai or Gibson reveals EXACT same tonal qualities. The biggest surprise was the fit and finish and the neck profile and playabillity. Out the box the setup was perfect; intonation/fret finish string action too. In fact all I have done is tune it! Make no mistake, this is not a pale imitation, shrinking violet - it rocks your face off! I have a plethora of quality tube and solid state classic amps (13) and a good tone is to be had through each. These P90s are fiercely powerful and will push an amp hard, so little added gain is required. It feels nicer in the hand than my Les Paul Custom but they don't compete on tone as are in different camps. I initially thought this was to be a stop gap just for some much needed fun until I could justify a top brand option, but is no-way I am spending upwards of £1600 for the Tokai or £2300 for the Gibson when this delivers in spades. So, *Thank You Mum*, your legacy will live on in my hands every time I pick this up to play... xx

It rocks

Oh man.. This thing ROCKS! Everything was set up just the way I like it out of the box. No sharp frets. Flawless finish. It absolutely purrs. First thing I did when I plugged it in was to check the feedback on high gain as I expected it to be awful considering its got P90 pups. It isn't that bad really. Overall an amazing instrument that inspires me to play more and priced under 150EUR which is an absolute steal. Need I say more?