Harley Benton SC-550 II FTF Reviews

Did not live up to the hype

After doing a lot of research and seeing literally at least 100 positive reviews (written or on YouTube) I decided that this would be my next guitar. Oh boy, was I excited. I got the guitar after about a week (I live in Sweden) and as I opened the package and saw the beautiful guitar (it is beautiful) my expectations were met, but that didn't last long. As I picked up the guitar and took a closer look at it I quickly noticed some quality issues that I wasn't expecting even on a more modestly priced guitar. The big no no for me was the poorly mounted frets (some serious gaps between the fret and fretboard) so I returned it and hoped to receive a better copy. The whole return/exchange process was slow in my opinion, it took a month to return it and receive a new guitar. When the second copy arrived I was less excited because I didn't want to get my hopes up. And as I opened the package and inspected the guitar I was struck by the poor quality of the fretboard, it looked like someone had tried to polish it with a key... just ugly and lots of visible scratches. Not something I'd expect.. even on a modestly priced guitar. And the setup was terrible, for instance the high E-string was resting on the pickups. It's quite obvious they don't even try to do a decent setup or any quality check. I decided to return it and get a refund and will be buying a completely different guitar. I'm not sure I'll give Harley Benton another try... was I just unlucky or is this a common thing.. or did I have too high expectations (I don't think so).. ?

Excellent Instrument!

Surprise! is the word to describe this excellent guitar. I still can't believe how good it is within this price range. Good looking, great sounds, good feeling. Amazing experience! Definitely a premium! Thanks HB! You Rock!

Brilliant guitar

This is a brilliant guitar for the price. It played right away out of the box. Only requires some minor fretwork that any guitar may have regardless of the price tag. It sounds both deep and bright, very please with the right intonation. And the finish is eye-catching. Thank you, HB, for such a great product!

Beautiful guitar for the price.

Upon opening the box and wrapping, the guitar looked absolutely stunning. I closely inspected the guitar, and finish wise, it was perfect. My only criticism being the flamed maple top, it was not evenly flamed, the right side was perfect, but the left side was not a good match. Another small problem (for me) being the frets, they were rather dull and not gleaming as in the promotional pictures, so they were duly polished with a fret rubber. Also, the frets were rather sharp at the ends, but a half hour with a fret file later, they were much more comfortable to handle while playing. Sound wise it was superb, on par I would say with similar guitars two to three times the price. The guitar had a reasonable 'set up', the intonation and neck straightness being good.I was surprised to see full size potentiometers for volume and tone, and the control cavity lid was foil screened, as was the pickup selector cavity lid. The PU selector itself was of a good quality. The pau ferro fretboard was bone dry and crying out for a drink, so I applied several applications of lemon oil. Needless to say I changed the strings, mainly because I only use 9-42 gauge. So to sum up, a fantastic guitar considering the price, there were a few small glitches, more annoying than being a problem. I am pleased with my new guitar.

Unbeatable for the price

First if you just consider the specs with the price...Mahogany chambered body, mahogany top with flame, set neck with high fret access, graphtec nut oh and I almost forgot the stainless frets, that should be enough. But the guitar I bought was beautiful and flawless. The Teslas sound good to me and after a slight action lower, plays effortlessly. I don't care that it doesn't have Gibson on the headstock

Unbelievable value for money

This is a fantastic guitar, only thing I did was replace the tuners with locking ones for convenience… Perfectly set up on delivery. The stainless steel frets make this such a playable instrument, it plays as well as any other guitar that I’ve ever owned. The weight relief is a plus for my older shoulders as well. Lovely tone both clean and driven… You really can’t go wrong with this guitar 

Headbangers Ball here we come

Truth up front here, I bought this HB SC550 II guitar as a beater. I play Fenders, but I always had an itch for a les paul style guitar. I watched all the reviews, and now I own this guitar. It's shocking when you find out that the reviews are true. I've compared this to my friend's Gibson and the workmanship is right up there. The sound is good. Maybe later I'll upgrade the pickups but right now, they are fine. I mainly play classical guitar but rock out a lot on my electrics, and right now, this HB SC550 II is never out of my hand. I absolutely love it, great craftsmanship, great sound, lovely weight, great neck. Buy one, it will not let you down, and you'll have a smile on your face and have saved yourself thousands of Euro.

Great guitar

I ordered mine almost a year ago, and it's flawless. Once set up, the guitar is absolutely incredible. The finish flawless, and the components sturdy and reliable.

My 6th HB and best yet

Having felt I was missing an SC in my lineup I chose this model to add based on the decent hardware, meranti body and the beautiful flamed top.

In the hand this guitar feels amazing and looks even better. I was worried that the neck would be too fat but it is great and plays beautifully. It is slightly thinner than my Epiphone SG Standard. The curved neck heel is a great touch and makes reaching the upper frets a breeze.

Fret ends are all good without any sharp edges. All it needed was a little setup and it's playing super fast with a nice low action and minimal fret buzz.

The pickups are reasonably hot and you can get a great range of sounds out of them with good clarity and no muddiness.

My only two negatives are more of a personal preference - I don't like the glossy neck so I have sanded it to a satin finish and I am not a fan of the look of the 'vintage green' tuners although I can't fault them functionally.

My first mods will be to switch these with tuners with the Gotoh SD90-05M which I think are a drop-in replacement, as well as adding some coil tapping and phase switching. I don't think there's any need to upgrade the bridge or pickups.

Overall I am very happy with this guitar - it has quickly become my favourite and is very difficult to put down!

La calidad es buena, hay un ligero ruido en la sexta cuerda, pero esto se puede arreglar.

Harley Benton SC-550 II FTF

You cannot beat this guitar for the price. Set was very good, plays and sounds very good.

Ridiculous value for money

I had high expectations after watching reviews, but even after that it managed to exceed them. This guitar rivals my much more expensive guitars in terms of features, quality, and playability. It looks absolutely beautiful in person too. This guitar is not just good for the money, it's just a really great guitar. If you're looking for the best value LP style guitar, look no further.

good guitar but

I ordered my guitar about a month ago and paid extra to have someone to go over it to see if it needs any additional adjustments.

I have explained them in my email that I am disabled and if the guitar comes with problems it will be difficult for me to send it back so please take care.

I received my guitar the action is quite high although i paid to have it fixed/checked/adjusted.

the guitar sounds great but now I cannot even leave my place to take it to a luthier as I explained above.

if you wont adjust it, why did you charge me?

Unbelievably good

I read the reviews for this guitar and couldn’t believe it would be as good as others have said, but for the money, I thought why not. It is astonishing, I do not know how they have produced an instrument of this quality for under £300! The finish is faultless, frets are smooth, no buzzing the binding and finish are flawless, the tuners solid and accurate (although the green finish is a bit meh) and the sound, this thing is a beast. Clean tones are gorgeous, add some drive and blimey, it goes off. No muddy tones in the lower registers, crisp and ballsey like an LP should be. Why would you pay more, apart from snobbery label envy! Buy one, you’ll not regret it

TERRIFFIC

like all my guitars, I had to adjust it, but loving it!

Great instrument but some serious quality issues

First one i got was unplayable, had electrical faults and obviously was not new due to damages. Replacement was new but needed some serious work on the frets to be playable at all. Neck has a weird curve that does not entirely respond to trussrod adjustments, but the fret level job made it playable anyway. This must be a bargain of a guitar if you receive a good speciment, but two bummers in a row my way did not look very good. However, neck profile is fantastic and the Tesla pickups are top notch.

Hard to beat for the price

Bought the SC-550 II just to have a LP type guitar for my home studio. Read / watched some reviews and decided to take the plunge and I couldn't be happier. Stainless Steel frets, genuine maple cap, you don't get that on an Epiphone!

The best Single Cut in that price range.

I have to admit I had huge expectations from this guitar as they were built for a few months by multiple reviews and I didn't disappoint myself. This guitar looks great, feels great, and sounds great for that price.

Best bang for your buck

In the middle of a gear cleanse and build up I stupidly sold a couple PRS guitars and ended up with no functioning guitar, so I needed an affordable replacement quickly, so I pulled the trigger on this one and I am super glad I did. Whilst being on the affordable umbrella I was used to the quality of PRS guitars and this one didn't disappoint, there are a couple tool marks, a paint spot that didn't set quite right but that's about it.

The neck is amazing, it feels a tad fuller than a strat-esque neck but not fat. The tall frets are amazing, they are a wee bit scratchy, but I was expecting to work them a little bit anyway so it's fine.

Something that surprised me is the tuning stability, I pick hard and bend the strings a lot, and it holds surprisingly well, I have no idea how they accomplish it with the flimsy tuners and the plasticky nut but I'm blown away by it. Those tuners will be replaced eventually but I actually want to wear them out first, see how much they last.

Set up from the factory is pretty decent, it has a very minor buzz, but I haven't made any adjustments to it yet so I think some truss rod adjustment should do the trick.

Now as far as pickups go I don't like them at all, they are a little too mushy for my taste and a little too weak, yet, this department is totally up to the player's taste and frankly they are usable as they are, since I am used to playing high output pickups these ones might be right for you, if not, replace to taste.

Lastly, its pretty light. Mine at least seems to be 8-ish pounds, most likely below that weight, yet no neck dive, which is AWESOME. Bear in mind that I use a suede strap a bit on the wider side, so it might have an effect on this matter as well.

Bottom line, you are not getting a 1000USD guitar here, but you will be getting beyond it's pricetag's worth, so be mindful that will have to put a little work into it and you will be rewarded with a great guitar, not for the money but a great guitar in general.

Everything amazing, except the nut and knobs

I got this guitar expecting myself to instantly swap out the pickups, but I am not so sure anymore ! I own a Kemper amplifier and it is taking these Opus pickups so well I am afraid to mess with this guitar. It sounds f****in amazing (even unplugged, quite resonant). My last Indonesian HH style guitar (another brand) came with seymour duncans and did not sound nor play this good.

As far as the finish goes, I was a tiny bit disappointed to see a few (3) tiny black specks here and there on an otherwise perfectly flamed AAA top. A shame, but nothing deal-breaking, and I can only see them if I look really closely while holding the instrument to my face, and not while actually holding the instrument. The rest of the instrument is impeccable. This feels quite premium. I see a few people hating on the green tinted tuning pegs but honestly they grew on me and they give the instrument character.

Hardware quality was perfect except for the nut which is a tiiiiny bit crooked (not sitting flush with the neck) but notched properly so that is okay. I will eventually replace it with a bone one possibly but no need right now.

Otherwise the tuners,bridge,frets,neck are all in top shape and I am honestly amazed at this guitar at this price point. I have paid double for guitars I ended up selling (like the seymour duncan loaded one I mentioned earlier).

The only thing that really does need changing are these volume/tone knobs as they are not really functional (they suck too much tone too fast or suddenly drop in volume) but I am glad this is the sacrifice that was made to keep this instrument at this price.