Harley Benton SC-550 Plus EMG FTF

Well I waited, (expecting for it to arrive two weeks later) to find a pleasant surprise on my doorstep. Yes five days later it was delivered!!!!!! ( I did pay the 74.00 pounds import charge to the U.K. proactively from the ups website). Now for the unboxing.
I bought this after reviews from the mad German Henning and Steve from Boston had reviewed it, both said they were shocked at the quality and the sounds they produced from it were well.......in their words “shockingly good”.
On opening the box I must say at least I concur with the the both of them. Unbelievable build quality, beautiful flame top ( veneer) it looks very similiar to the Gibson desert burst, maybe a touch lighter brown in the darker areas with quite a beautiful carve.
Now I did notice the action was a little high but it was no problem to lower this (very low as I like it) with buzz free results, meaning the fretwork was spot on, in fact the frets were beautifully rounded on the ends and the binding was perfect, I was SHOCKED!!!!!! ) no truss rod adjustment was necessary!
And that’s it, it was now set up to my liking ie like my Sg standard exceptionally low.
Well! Time to plug it in to my Marshall jvm.
I THOUGHT I’ll hit an E ( that always sorts the men from the boys) and wow this thing kicks ass!!! I mean on playing it (Henning was right) it was fabulous, it was a joy and almost played itself.
How do I describe this sound.......as Henning said it’s not a les Paul.......I think ( and I got my Sg out to compare) it sounds somewhere in between an SG and les Paul classic ( which I used to have) which is fabulous as I never really liked the heavy thick bass on les Paul’s ( yes that’s their signature sound) but through my jvm I always had to dial it down.
The thickness of the neck very near to a sixties profile and they carved back the bout again made this much easier to play on the higher register(much better than the on a traditional model. Overall this guitar is damn beautiful, perfectly built with really great locking tuners and I can’t put it down. You’re going to find it hard to buy one of these as I believe the word is out now, Thomann you did it! The shift to Cort in Indonesia of production of these higher end HBs was a stroke of pure genius, Thankyou Thomann. What about a double cut Sg model in white next time ?

I don't get it.. That's the frase that came out of my mouth multiple times the past week. Recently I purchased a Sire S7 which I'm very impressed with. So it was time to add a budget type single cut to my collection. Last week I've received the Harley Benton and just wow. I really don't get it. The fretwork was spot on, no sharp fret ends. Very low action and good set-up out of the box. I really couldn't find a real flaw. Unfortunately, one of the potentiometers had died so the neck pickup didn't work. These things happen, but Thomann offered me a nice solution. Great service! Back to the instrument: this is a no brainer. Looking for a single cut with some badass pickups? Look no further. If this is the quality Harley Benton always delivers then the competition will have a hard time. The guitar is on par with PRS SE no doubt. If found in the shop for €1000,- no one would have doubts. Great instrument for a even better price.

This is my second Harley Benton's guitar (the first one was SC-Custom VB and it was pretty "shitty") and what can I say, it's just amazing. The guitar definitely looks and feels like a guitar x2 or x3 more expensive. The pickups are simply magical - armor-piercing sound on the bridge and creamy in the neck. The finish also did not let me down - I could not find a single (!) defect.

Overall impression:
Pros:
+ EMG pickups are by far the guitar's strongest point - everything from creamy cleans to crushing higain tones is possible
+ The guitar is perfectly tuned from the factory
+ Potentiometers and switches looks solid
+ Easy to tune
+ Really looks and feels like 1000$ guitar
Cons:
- Frets would be nice to polish

I want to give just a bit of context about myself before I go into reviewing this thing. I started playing guitar around the age of 10 and played pretty much daily until I went away to college, when I sold my Fender Strat, Les Paul, and Marshall half stack for beer money. I haven' t played much in the 20 plus years since until about 2 months ago after having major knee surgery. I play anything from blues to metal and am a Les Paul guy through and through. I bought this model along with a PRS replica and have now played both considerably.

If we are doing an apples to apples comparison on a Gibson Les Paul Standard, this thing is 95% of the instrument for 10% of the cost. The craftmanship is SICK good. I am so far beyond floored that this thing costs $350. The tone is 99% of a real deal LP; to the point that it produces the famous Les Paul tones almost perfectly. Whether it be the rich, velvety robust clean blues tone of the neck pickup, or the bold, crunchy, aggressive rock/metal tone of the bridge pickup....I'm floored.

Is it a perfect replica? NO. I have found 3 main differences between this and the real thing. First off, the neck is a bit thicker than I would like and am used to from Gibson. Second, the volume and tone nobs feel cheap. Last, and most importanly, this thing is significantly lighter than the real deal. In fact, I'd say it's too light and that is the only thing I can truly find wrong about this. But at $350, who gives a rip? When I play it standing up the head tends towards even to slightly below the body. In a real deal LP, the body is so heavy that it naturally sits perfectly below the head.

When I compare this to the CST-24T (that was $100 less) that I purchased along with this model, this one wins hands down. I'm likely going to have to put as much money into that model as I did purchasing it in order to get the full potential of that instrument. This one is completely maxed out straight out of the box and I won't have to spend another penny on it.

In terms of any issues that I've had; I am not a luthier but I did a full setup on it. There is some very slight buzz once the setup was done, but it doesn't come through on an amp. I probably broke 7 strings (high E and B) stretching them when I first put a new set of strings on, but once I took a round filer to the tuners, this problem went away.

Overall, I'm floored with this. I can't give recommend this guitar enough.