Harley Benton SC Special Hybrid SGM

The guitar arrived with a poor set up (high action & badly intonated) which was quickly remedied. However, on initial tuning, the top E string snapped. Nevertheless, withing an hour of unboxing the guitar it was playing like a much more expensive instrument.

The bridge humbucker sounds muscular and beefy and, with a dirty sound dialed in, it cleans up nicely via the guitar's volume control. The P90 delivers all the tones you'd expect, from a jazzy purr through to a honking bark - imagine a tele neck pickup on steroids and you're in the right ball park. I can't see any need to replace these pickups or the pots, to be honest.

The neck, with its silky satin finish, is the star of the show on this guitar. It feels immediately comfortable and makes you want to just keep playing that little bit longer. However, given that Harley Benton offer an SG copy for about £250 which has stainless steel frets, I think this is a missed opportunity here. I would have gladly paid a similar price for this guitar had it had this premium feature. Maybe an idea for a future model, Harley Benton? Maybe offer it in a nice burst finish too?

As a one time owner of a much missed Gordon Smith GS2, this £169 guitar reminds me of that lovely instrument which is a very good thing.

I saw a you tuber playing a single cut with the Humbucker/P90 configuration and wanted one.(A Shergold Provocateur). I quickly discovered they were largely unavailable and outside my price range. Green one and the guitar has lived up to and gone beyond me expectations. Solid, professionally put together guitar, intonation spot on out of the box, great sounds from the pick ups. I love it. Thanks again HB and Thomann.
So, thank you Harley Benton for doing me a massive favour. I bought the