Harley Benton SC-450Plus LD Vintage Series 5-stars Reviews

Pretty excellent for the money

As many others have noted, Harley Benton guitars usually greatly outperform their price points. I'm a hobbyist so I don't see a world where I'd ever feel the need to buy a real Gibson, but I have never owned any kind of Les Paul copy and this one was an attractive, affordable way to dip my toes into those waters.

Pros:

- Great finish. Very attractive guitar, no two ways about it.

- Playability is great. The action was pretty much perfect for my taste out of the box. I made some small adjustments to fix intonation and gave the truss rod a quarter turn to address some high E buzzing, but that's all that really needed to be done to make the guitar very playable.

- Sound is very good. The "Roswell" humbuckers have a nice clean tone and work well with a driven amp or any variety of distortion pedals. The tone and volume pots are both smooth and seemed to have a pretty good range to my ears.

Cons:

- Tuning stability could be better. At first, I thought this was mainly a problem that could be fixed with upgraded tuning machines, but now I'm thinking it's probably more of a nut issue. I did develop some high E buzz after owning this for about half a year and I was able to mitigate that with a truss rod adjustment, but I still can't seem to totally get rid of it. Combined with the rather poor tuning stability, I think maybe all of my issues could be fixed with a better-constructed nut.

- The coil split option for the pickups is cool, but not very useful to me in the end. I don't know if this is just because I've mostly been a single-coil player in the past and I've never played a more expensive guitar with coil splitting, but to my ear there was not much of an effect other than reduced volume/increased hum when splitting this guitar's humbuckers. Tonal quality was not really close to the platonic single coil sound that I think of. I probably would have been just as well off saving a few bucks and going with a Harley Benton with standard humbuckers.

Great guitar needed setup

Arrived with an action so high I worried that something was badly wrong.

A swift adjustment of truss rod and lowering the bridge yielded a surprisingly low buzz free playing experience.

Good sounds and versatile with the ability to split the humbucker for a single coil sound.

Maple top has a visual depth that catches the light.

For the price incredible guitar (if you know enough to set it up). At any price a good solid playable guitar. Pickups are a matter of taste, some will swap out no matter what, but these don't squeal, aren't microphonic and I don't feel the need to change them.

Love this guitar

Ive bought a ton of Les Paul copys but they all needed work when I got them I never had that problem whith a Harley Benton the lemonburst on this guitar is flawless and for the money this guitar sounds great

Amazed

I feel lucky today. I have taken delivery of this guitar today and I am stunned at how good it looks and sounds. All the way from Indonesia to Germany to the UK for £166 including shipping and tax. What a crazy world it is that enables that to happen. This guitar arrived completely unmarked and it looks beautiful. I cannot understand how this is possible for the price. I hope the guys who make these get a fair wage for creating such value and quality for us lucky Westerners.

I am giving it 99.7 / 100 as one of the pup securing screws isn't put in quite straight, and as other purchasers have mentioned the fingerboard was very dry. Half an hour with the Lapella oil and it now looks and feels much better. Apart from that I am very happy indeed - it's going to take a few days for me to feel like I haven't stolen it!!

For such a tiny amount of money this is an incredible bargain. Thanks!

Solid sound and high quality!

This is my first own LP and I'm absolutely happy about it :)

All is ok - quality, color, hardware and first of all - the sound.

Very playability guitar for this money. In all positions sounds very nice.

Stunning Value and Quality

I could hardly believe the cost of this guitar: far too cheap, surely?

I read reviews and watched videos to try and find a catch. And after taking delivery of the guitar I have to say, there is no catch. At £166 I decided to buy, and I am delighted.

Straight out of the box, the guitar is set up beautifully and sounds fantastic. As is often the case, a new set of strings will enhance the sound but the overall build and value is exemplary. I simply cannot fault this guitar.

I will mainly use it at home but I don't see why it shouldn't be equally suitable to live work, including touring.

The materials are reassuringly robust and solid, and they give feel of a quality way beyond their cost. Sustain and clarity of sound is excellent: no buzz; no hum. The fretboard is smooth and allows easy playing, as does the action. The guitar is well-balanced and the body sits well when shoulder slung.

How this guitar is made for this money I will never know. This guitar is an absolute steal. I can only see myself buying more Harley Benton, as should you.

Great for its price

This is soo good like I’m speechless

wow wow wow

plays great feels great sounds great, its great. flwless finish action is low and very playable, split coils are a big plus. I believe Harley Benton guitars are one of the top value guitars ive ever seen or plays, ive been a player for over 38 years and i know my stuff. i own close to 10 HB and there is no shame . I show these off like and Fender or Gibson i own. Only issue i had was some fret buzz which came good with a proffesional set up.

Suprised, really!

SC 450 plus LD. Saw several YT reviews and couldn't resist to try out. SO, her's my thoughts.

Out of the box - I did inspect it all over, several times and absolutely no downsides on anything at all. All, workmanship, parts, overall look, setup, QC...all great. Unbelievable. No guitar I have received from several "high end " brands get close to it. Really!

Tone is nice, pots are working as you ever expect to, all switching is solid and feels like high end etc.

If you want LP style guitar and do not want to spend much for first LP to try out then try this one! You are getting much less...much less for 1000-2000 LP styles in 99% of cases, i have experienced. Nice sounding PUs installed , but to change them to your own taste to any is still bargin. Actually I'm not sure you should spend more for LP style instrument for having one, if, off course you are after real deal for 7000+ real money! This is another story.

Unbeatable for the price

I'd been looking for a decently priced LP-style guitar for a while, and had heard the hype about HB. I just had to try it out. For the price, there is nothing to complain about whatsoever. Plays well even has push/pull pots for coil-split, something some other more expensive guitars don't even have.

Just perfect.

This was my 3rd guitar. I've had a Yamaha Pacifica and an Epiphone Les Paul Special, but this one manages to beat them all in terms of overall quality even though it's basically in the same price category, I bought it for a total of 149 euro excluding shipping.

PROS:

- The absurdly low amount of money you have to pay to get this thing!

- Was setup very well right out the box, playability was great upon arrival.

- Had no visual defects upon arrival.

- Has a push pull function allowing you to get some single coil tones.

- Great guitar for mods!

CONS:

- Pups are decent, but I'd imagine a more experienced player would want to upgrade them later on.

I'm very surprised by the quality of these instruments. Harley Benton really allows beginners to purchase guitars which'll suit any style and inspire the player to pick up the instrument. I've had 2 other Harley Bentons, a ST-62, and recently purchased an SC Custom + with the Floyd Rose and active EMG pickups. I would definitely recommend these guitars to any player no matter how experienced of a guitarist they are.

Great Sound and affordability

I really liked the split coil feature. This is a great les paul style guitar that has body to it and sounds very good. I did find the neck a bit on the thicker side much like a 50´s les paul. Overall great quality and the finish and paint job looks amazing. I do recomend sending the guitar to get it set up correctly as I would do to any guitar I buy regardless of the brand.

Brilliant guitar.

For the price of this guitar it's outstanding. Beautiful looking, plays and sounds great. Very pleased with it.

AMAZING

Bought this guitar because i fancied an lp but i cant afford a gibson. I read the reviews on this and i was sold. got it very nicely packaged, no damage to the guitar whatsoever. The guitar itself is beatiful, I love the finish on it. The tuners are actually quite good suprisingly, they hold tune very well. The pickups sound great plugged into my amp. I was not expecting the coil split to be as good as it is really blown away. Does really get that nice single coil tone. I really cant fault this guitar it plays great, looks amazing, very friendly price, and sounds just lovely. Of course its not as comfortable as a strat but that is to be expected its not a strat its a les paul copy. I would defintly recommend this guitar i am thrilled with it. It would benefit from strap locks as would any guitar of course, nobody want to drop their pride and joy

Great value for the price

Tuners can be better, but they hold tuning reasonably good. Frets are not polished. The nut is made from very cheap plastic. Other than that it's a very good product for the price. Much better than anything I saw in that price range.

It's just a good and inexpensive guitar.

Let's go through the list.

1. Pleasant sound, both on singles and humbuckers, especially pleasing cut-offs, with a pleasant, somewhat reminiscent of the sound of a telecaster.

2. The appearance is pleasing to the eye, BUT there is a cracked varnish on the sides. Most likely, due to the drying of the wood.

3. The delivery was to Russia, and with our "wonderful" mail, the outer box came crumpled and even broken in places, but it did not affect the inner packaging in any way

4. Pegs-shit)))

P.S. I write through the translator, I apologize if something is not clear))))

I am very pleased with my purchase.

The main reason for buying this particular guitar was because it has the same faded look of the guitar that Peter Green is most known for using in the original Fleetwood Mac Band.

great value

the build and finish on this guitar is absolutely amazing.when unboxing this i really saw what all the hype was about.playing it was equally as inspiring,totally brilliant.dont waste your money on the so called big brand names,buy a few harley bentons and still have cash left for drink and good times!

My favourite Harley Benton guitar

This Lemon Drop LP type guitar looks and feels way more expensive than it costs. The neck is not chunky or a "Nice Slim Neck" its fast but good for thumb over chord work. I have had it for months but have not been able to review it before because it sells out so fast. I am still very pleased with it. My only other HB that comes close is the BM750.

Not much more to say really. Buy one!

HB SC-450 Plus LD

After years of my secondhand Chinacaster off the bay as my first guitar I decided to look at changing. Loads of reviews of this guitar on the tube and all seemed good. You get the mix of low cost Chinese supply chain but with added German QA.

Arrived in 5 days, 1 day Germany to UK, 1 day Essex to Yorkshire then 3 days to get from Yorkshire to Derbyshire!

Well packed but my new amp was in the box too, the guitar box was slightly bent but thankfully all OK inside. Plays well out of the box after a tune, action a little high but that's my preference, neck relief OK. Frets may get a polish if they don't play in after a few bends.

Lovely finish and colour, cant find any marks.

The only thing that lets it down are the tuning keys, they are a very cheap looking plastic, chrome plate or a less translucent plastic would have looked better.