Harley Benton SC-450Plus HB Vintage Series

I had heard great things about the SC-450 Plus from all around the internet and finally bit the bullet. I was concerned that there might be problems as the price was less than it costs me to make a guitar myself.

Delivery
After some issues with PayPal the order was successfully placed and arrived in about a week. Packed in two boxes with no obvious or hidden damage. Nice to see individual protection for the pickup selector switch. One of the little bags of silica gel had torn in the packing process, but caused no issues.

Fit and Finish
The finish is perfect. I held off reviewing this for three weeks expecting that I would find some scratch or flaw somewhere, but I really cannot find anything. Really, the (presumably polyurethane) finish has been exceptionally well applied. The same applies to the paint job over the flame maple veneer (or photo-transfer). The colour is definitely closer to cherryburst than honeyburst, which is great and exactly what I wanted. The frets are well-fitted and neatly finished at their ends, though a little more polish (or playing in) will make bends even easier. The setup is excellent, perfectly intonated and the action perhaps even a shade too low for me. I will fiddle with the bridge height/truss rod when I fit my preferred Super Slinkys (008s).

Pickups, Hardware and Sounds
I fully expected to be changing out the pickups for a set of Irongears almost as soon as this arrived, but the Wilkinson Roswell humbuckers fitted as standard are perfectly good. They are slightly higher output than I would normally choose, but they have great articulation and still sound fine when the push-pull pots are used to select single coil mode. The pickups are wired such that the middle position is out of phase.
The machines are fine and work well, though the green plastic buttons do not look particularly genuine, I do not feel any pressing urge to change them. The bridge and tailpiece are both perfectly fine and do a competent job. The nut is plastic and well-cut and fitted. I might change it for a bone or Tusq model eventually.

Cons
Very minor issues. I will be replacing the tone pots as they have ALL their effect at the very end of their travel. This issue also occurs on much more expensive guitars, to be fair.
Some people might not like the Rosacea fingerboard. It is very light and looks nothing like what you would find on a Gibson. I might try a few coats of light finishing oil if I can be bothered. However the neck is really lovely to play and the trapezoid markers are well cut and fitted.

Now I need an SG....

So? I recently ordered my first HB guitars!

The Harley Benton SC-450Plus HB Vintage Series &
the Harley Benton SC-Custom Vintage Black

This review is looking at the SC-450Plus Vintage Series

First off? I have to admit that I was a little bit worried about making an order. I live all the way in the central US (Missouri), and I had no idea of how long it would take to get the guitars?nor, what kind of condition they would be in once I got them.

I placed the order on January 15th, and I received the guitars on January 23rd. From Germany, to the central US. In my opinion, that is pretty good time.

The guitars arrived with absolutely no damage. The large box carrying the equipment was full of those small packing air bags, which kept everything inside mint. The outside box did have a small bit of wear, but it wasn't anything at all substantial.

One reason I made the leap and ordered these guitars, was because I had reached a point in my playing where I was Stratocastered out. For years, that was what I played, and I had just reached a place to where I needed something different. I wanted something that could handle everything I've played in the past, but also something that would inspire me to go into a new direction.

The MWCHB alnico vintage-style humbucker pickups seem to be able to handle pretty much anything. I've played in choirs, at church, the blues, old fashioned rock, and really, just about everything in between. For the most part, Stratocasters get the job done, but I NEED something with a bit more edge. Both the SC-Custom and the SC-450Plus share the same pickups, and they more than meet that "dangerous" edge that I need from time to time in my playing. Single coils are nice, but they don't have that roar. With this, you are the king of the jungle!

The neck of the 450 is nice. I prefer it over the thinner neck of the SC-Custom. The frets are fine. No problem at all. The rosewood fretboard looked pretty. So far, I haven't had any tuning problems. I tuned it after receiving it, and it was only slightly sharp the next day. You have to remember though, this was after a lot of heavy playing!

The body of the 450 is solid. I'm guessing it weighs around 8 pounds? The neck is fixed onto the body tighter than the handle to an ax. No problems there.

I've seen some pictures of a few HB guitars where the flame top pieces don't match up very well. I've seen online one or two people complain about the ones they received. However, I can't do that with this. The pieces look fantastic together. In the right light, they look perfect. The right angle will show they aren't, but I'm not complaining at all!

To be honest, I find it hard to complain about anything. The only thing I wish would have been different is the pickguard. It's just a hard, blah piece of plastic. It doesn't really do anything for me..but it isn't a big deal. I could take it off if I wan't, but so far, I'm not planning on doing that.

Anyway, this guitar is amazing. It's worth the $150 or so price tag. You won't find ANYTHING nearly as good, for this price. More than likely, especially if you live in the US, you will have to pay 2..maybe 3.. times the price for something similar in quality.

These two guitars are the first of several I will be ordering. Thank you Harley Benton!

I don't know what qualities other HB-SC450+ guitars have, but this one I received is one unbelievable good product.
I change strings from 010 to 009 and during the setup i had fall in love to this guitar.
Sound without plug in the amplifier is balanced. octaves tune perfectly, the acoustics noise produced by the playing guitar unpluged refers that the quality of the wood is High Class. I still can't believe I own a premium product, of les paul style guitar with beautiful looks and detailed finishing for 200 euros, simply amazing!!!!!!!!!
Update 10.2022.
I have bouth Mojotone 59 Clone Humbucker Set N, + capacitors and potentiometer instal on HB Les Paul, and WOW :-)
I would lke to say that my observation form previous review get confirmation with changing of pickups.
Now not only looks like Les Paul now sounding tunning great
I am very satisfied

The quality of this guitar rivals most Gibsons I have played. What an insane value for money.

The finish is flawless, the flame maple veneer looks absolutely stunning and the guitar plays great. I know it can be pot luck with harley benton and one of my other harley bentons does have flaws... but this one is pretty much flawless.

The only area where it might fall slightly short of a gibson that is orders of magnitudes more expensive could be the pickups... but even then they sound great and really arent that far off.

The only other criticism would be that the frets could use a good polish and although they arent sharp, they could do with a tiny bit of attention... but you are talking an hour of polishing and restringing to rectify this.

The biggest problem I have is that I bought this for my brothers Christmas and now I really really want one for myself!

Id say you are getting 95% of a gibson for a fraction of the price...

I've been playing over 30 years and have purchased 25 guitars and this is the best bang for the buck I've ever had. I was expecting to need to do some fret work and a complete setup, but none of that was needed. The frets were all level, smooth on top and sides, and ready for a final polishing. The neck is straight, C shaped and a chunky (which I wanted), no visible flaws in the fit and finish. The overall fit and finish of the guitar is beautiful. I can't find anything wrong with it. It has a nice solid weight to it and feels nice in any position. The only thing that isn't great are the pickups, but I almost always change those in my guitars anyway. They are fine for a new player or if you want to use this to practice, but they can't handle much distortion without getting a muffled sound. Their clean sound has too much of a hollow sound to it. But I didn't expect a guitar at such an incredibly low price to have great pickups anyway. All and all this is an amazing guitar at an amazing price. Congrats Harley Benton, you have a new customer that will be buying many more of your products.

I'm a proponent of super budget guitars, and I had been considering a Harley Benton guitar for a long time. The only thing stopping me was the high shipping cost to America. I couldn't resist any longer, and finally bought this one.

I've been playing a really nice low budget Strat from another company for 3 years, and I love it, but I've gotten into recording, and I wanted a guitar that offered an alternative sound to the Strat, something with more punch and power to counter the slinkiness of the Strat, and a Les Paul style with humbucker pickups is the perfect choice. After agonizing over color choices, I chose the Honey Burst, and pulled the trigger.

It arrived quickly, in only a few days, packed in a guitar box, inside of a larger box with a top quality gig bag that I also ordered. It arrived with no damage, other than a broken high E string.

The finish was perfect, everything worked great, and I couldn't find a single flaw, it seemed to be set up fine, and was playable out of the box (other than tuning it of course). I've had it a few months now, and I couldn't be happier with it. Switching between the LP and the Strat is like going from a high-powered SUV to a Ferrari. Both are great rides, but offer completely different experiences.

In short, I am 100% happy with my Harley Benton purchase. I've got a list of guitars I'd like in my collection, and plan on buying from HB when the guitar-buying bug bites me again.

I already had the SC-450 P90 GT and I already had other guitars with humbuckers, but what the Gold Top had showed me was the "feel" of that single cut design has a special quality of it's own.
Enter the SC-450Plus, same comfortable "SC" feel but with humbucker welly and Err well ... umm ... humbucking quietness.
These new Rockwell pickups are Good; a bit better than before, I'd say. The Split Coil sound is richer than with the older make, having compared them to the Wilkos on my lovely HB35+.
The curved cutaway neck block is definitely an improvement on the classic American shape.
There were no niggly little faults one sometimes gets on lower priced brands, even the fret ends were nicely dressed. A pleasant surprise not to have to get the needle file out.

Cons? - Common to all the budget TOM bridges there was a little slackness in the intonation adjustable saddles. I find that a drop of Loctite stops them from wandering or rattling.

Choosing a colour wasn't easy, all the options look so good.

This is a very difficult guitar to put down.
I highly recommend it.

I bought the SC-450Plus HB Vintage for a Christmas gift. It came late but the postal service is at fault. The Guitar itself is a Quality stringed instrument. Tuners are not bad at all stays in tune and Pickups are rather sweet sounding. It has coil tap but personally i like not engaging it. Is very balanced well built worth the money. It is away to explore the world of guitar for beginners and get a exceptional value and those who have played for awhile still a great value and a great feeling sounding Axe. But be warned. If you have a girlfriend she may get jealous of your SC-450Plus since you will have a hard time staying away once you get one. Also Thomann are ultra Professional and will take very good care of you. so what are you waiting for? Buy one!