Harley Benton SC-550 II DFB 5-stars Reviews

Not just great for the money. Just Great.

I have had this guitar a little over a year and have had no issues at all with it. It looks good, sounds good, is easy to play, stays in tune, etc. I have nothing bad to say about it. I highly recommend this guitar. It is great as it is, or if you want to mod it more to your liking. Worth every penny.

Fantastic guitar.

I already have the SC-550ll FTF , which is superb. I couldn’t resist this at £195.

Beautiful instrument. I can’t fault it.

It is very similar the FTF in colour and very handsome.

Has full size pots too.

Strangely, at 8lb 4oz, it is heavier then the FTF at 7lb 5oz, but still good for this type of guitar.

Un-real quality for the price!

I really wanted a LP style Guitar. This was my second HB Guitar and I am blown away by the looks, feel and sound. The Tesla pick-ups are great.

I added alpha split pots to give it more range. Other than fresh strings which I change on all Guitars it is flawless!

Almost perfect

After watching what seemed like endless YouTube review videos, I chose this gorgeous guitar. It took a few hours shy of one week to ship to me in Texas. It arrived undamaged from shipping but there were two issues. The volume pot for the bridge pickup was bad and made static when turning up the volume. Also, the three way selector had a bad solder connection which broke loose. Having fixed all of that, I'm blown away at how good this instrument feels and plays. You won't find a better instrument for the money. I'll definitely be buying again!

Unbelievable Value!

I was blown away at the Quality of this Guitar... I could not find one flaw.

I prefer metal style of playing, but wanted to get a single cut design and I am very pleased at the versatility of this one. Bright, clean sound. At this price it is a no brainer.

Better than I expected

Straight out of the box it was playable. Just a few set-up adjustments and it was awsome. It really lives up to all that is said about it.

Frets are smooth and dressed very nicely, no fret sprout at all.

The neck joint contour is incredible

The shipping was amazingly fast. I received it in 4 days.

Overall it's a very nice guitar.

Amazing Value!!!

This was my third Harley Benton guitar that I ordered and my favorite so far. Other than adjusting the action and cleaning and oiling the fretboard this guitar is flawless right out of the box. Beautiful, excellent fret work,and great tone! I can’t think of another guitar under $900 that even comes close to this level of quality. Love it!

Top

The gutair plays awesome the maple cap is absolutely gorgeous desert burst the only things they could have colored the tuning keys aged cream same with the nut but other than that the gutair is beautiful plays and sounds awesome cheers

Great Singlecut

Sounds as good as it looks, This a good guitar, there is nothing that needs changing all, really good fit and finish, holds tune really well and the pickups sound better than most, they could be the only thing that might get changed by some owners, only because they have a particular tone in mindGreat sounding/performing S?C guitar

Exceeded my expectation

I will try to be informative as much as possible. Let's give you my context. I am playing guitar for 2 years or so. I am a "Strat Guy" (if the is such term) but lately I fall in love with Gary Moore's music so LP is must, you know :D .

I watch a lot of video reviews and read lot of articles about HB SC-550 ii so I pulled the trigger.

It arrived well package, so no damage by the carrier. First impression was good, the guitar looks amazing to me, it is a real beauty.

I spent one week or so with the guitar and here are my observation.

I will start with negatives first because they are not so much.

- It has few imperfections here and there on the finish small smudges, luckily they are so small so you have to inspect the guitar really close to see them.

- Up on the neck there are few dirty places on the binding

- One of knob hats playing a bit and was annoying. I managed to fix that with small piece of tape under the hat.

Positives

- Overall construction is great

- Very beautiful, even my girl appreciate the beauty (it is something believe me :D )

- Frets are insanely good. Smooth and nicely polish, I love how big they are, it makes bending such a pleasant experience.

- Pickups are good to my ear (I am far from expert I play for hobby so have that in mind)

- Nothing wrong with the hardware

- Tuning machines are perfect, no play, no jumps. They work smoothly and holds tune very well I like them. And I don't have problem with the coloring of the plastic part of tuning machines :D (this was big complain in the internet space)

- Pickup switch is solid as well

- Nut is well cut

Over all I fall in love with this guitar so I am happy with my purchase

Totally blown away!

This feels like a much more expensive guitar! It was flawless in every way and it sounds great! I was surprised at the setup right out of the box, needed tuned and thats it. If anything, the knobs were a bit stiffer than normal, but thats just nitpicking, VERY happy with this guitar!

AWWWWWWSome

I didn't even want to play this thing just wanted to look at !

The wood grain top a finish is amazing.

I did end up playing it only adjustment it needed was the bridge dropped down a little.

Absolutely no complaints.

WOW!

Like most guitarists, I've played many makes of guitar (usual suspects!)

Thought I'd give this a try (mainly because of price and other reviews).

Looks stunning, well set up and a joy to play. Will certainly buy other Harley Bentons. Thanks.

Certainly Improved

I just received the guitar today and it met all my expectations. Just needed to lower the action a bit to my liking. This is my second SC550 and 5th Harley Benton. They certainly improved upon the existing model. The stainless steel frets had no sprout and we're all level when I checked with my fret rocker. The pickups seem decent and will leave them in for now. My last SC550 I put in a PG in the bridge. The volume and tone controls are okay for now and they do what they need to do for the most part. I may add a treble bleed circuit to get more clarity when I turn down the volume. Stays in tune extremely well with no buzzing whatsoever very happy with the purchase. I have had several Les Pauls and the SC550 with a few tweaks stands on it's own. What a tremendous value.

Its a beauty

In terms of quality, its on par with my epiphone guitars, looks amazing, definitely inspires you to play the guitar. May need a little bit of setup( string height and fret polishing). Overall I am very pleased with my purchase.

SC-550II

Beautiful finish, high quality. Very comfortable. Full rich sounds. I like the Tesla pickups. The guitar lives up to the claims I saw on YOU TUBE.

Amazing guitar!

Totally satisfied - I have Gibsons, Epiphone, Fenders, and this rates on par with them. The stainless steel frets are smooth and no fret sprout.

Beautiful Guitar

I wanted to try an LP style guitar without paying the Gibson premium. This SC-550 II DFB did not disappoint. It looks beautiful and sounds amazing.

Well Impressed and stunned.

What can I say? I’d seen so many video reviews of this guitar, in which all say, (with differing blogger credibility) that it’s astounding for the money and worth buying. Being a Harley Benton fan, and owning a few Gibson Les Pauls myself, even though a single cut is not my go-to design, I do use them in the studio so thought it was worth a punt to see if the ‘hype’ was true.

Straight out of the box it was playable. Only a couple of personal set-up tweaks to get it how I like it and … WOW! It really lives up to all that is said about it. The HB-SC550 Deluxe (as it says on the rear of the headstock) I don’t think can be beat for twice the money. It looks beautiful and it plays beautifully. The body seems to be 3 slabs of mahogany, one even has a flame that is visible around the side of the guitar. An improved neck heel allows easier access to the dusty end of the neck, whilst the 22 chunky frets are clean and even all the way over the fingerboard, allowing great contact and good grip on the strings when bending.

I did an A/B test with my LP Standard (a 1991). OK, it doesn’t feel the same, but I have played more modern LP guitars that are not far off and you soon forget you’re playing a Harley Benton. The Tesla pickups are not quite as bright maybe as the Gibson’s, especially the Tesla neck which is even a little darker, but they ring nicely and are comparable. I don’t think the Kluson style machine heads are any worse than the real thing either but maybe a new set, maybe locking would improve things. The volute whilst being a nice looking addition to the neck, will undoubtedly reduce the likelihood of neck breaks.

It’s a very useable guitar, which I will use often, as I do my other HBs. My only gripes, and they are little ones, is that the body binding could have been thicker and more visible, and whilst the figured top is very nice, I think I may have preferred it more plain and simple. Flames and quilts seem to be the big trend and they are everywhere. Regardless, the HB SC-550 is a stunning guitar. It would be worth it at twice the price, however, the price is good as it is and will sell far more units than if it was higher.

For those like me who really don’t need another guitar or can’t justify a huge cash outlay for a new working instrument or for a little fun, or for someone needing a great guitar to learn on, this guitar cannot be beaten.

quality

this guitar is everything all the reviews on u tube say it is. what can i say that hasnt been said. all the superlatives are absolutely true. i have tried a lot of high end guitars that i would love to own(or so i thought).this one is just brilliant.