Harley Benton SC-450 CB Classic Series

Visually flawless (no cracks, gaps, runs or other nasties, NONE!) except the fretboard was very dry but a bit of oil fixed that up. The action was extremely high, even the nut seemed too high. The nut popped off without drama and I sanded the flat bottom but then I took off *too* much and had to shim it. The bridge end was a simple adjustment of the two screws holding up the TuneOMatic style bridge. Oh, yeah, I loosened the truss rod about 1/3 revolution. Now it's about as low (and quick) as you could reasonably expect, although on the low E string it buzzes on the two highest frets. I may run a whetstone over them a time or two next time I change the strings. All other frets are buzz-free and don't fret out on big bends either. The 2nd fret failed the rocker test (using an old credit card) but a couple taps with the plastic handle of a large screwdriver fixed that, too.

As far as playing it, it's quite different from the HSS Strat copy I was playing before, but I'm getting used to it (4 days now). I wasn't impressed so much by playing individual notes, but the first time I played a cowboy style G chord I had to sit back a bit. I've never had a guitar that sounded this rich. One last thing, I read in reviews that the tuners and plastic pieces are "meh", but these tuners hold a tune and are geared much lower than any I remember having before, I don't have to hold my tongue just right hoping I don't overshoot the pitch. I also read about casting flash on the plastic pieces, but I see no evidence of that or even the seams of a mold.

Actually I wanted an HB SC-450Plus even though the web page said it'd take 2-3 weeks to get in stock, but as I waited that went up to 5-6 weeks and I asked to switch to this HB SC-450 CB which was available immediately. Once I switched, it took 10 days to get here to the East Coast USA in spite of the US Postal Service misrouting it one time.
Would definitely buy again!

EDIT: I've had it about a month now, and I still stand by my comments above. No additional issues have popped up in the meantime. I wouldn't have felt ripped off if I'd paid $500 - $600 for this guitar.

I purchased this guitar as my 9 years old first electric guitar so to " hook him up" and start studying a bit more.Bought this for the looks of it and the price of it ,thinking that no guitar can be good for the money i had to spend ,so why at least not look awesome?
Next scene... I was playing myself till five thirty in the morning!!
Awesome build,very detailed and careful manifactured.The body is awesome,the neck is so smooth to slide your hands like touching velvet.The fretboard too...You can slide and play whatever you want and it feels almost like a les paul gibson.The strings keys have no label but they are strong and stable,the knobs,nothing impressive but they are ok.No noise,perfect tones and sound.The only cons are that the last,last, last fret at the bottom E string is kind of dead,doesnt make a sound.The pickguard is kind of ...meh...but this is not important and it s the cheapest thing to replace if you dont like it.It s just aisthetic...Not about the guitars performance.The colour and the fonish are incredible,it s a solid guitar.
I ve read and read and read about these guitars and took a risk but found out that they are awesome!! No 144 euros guitar in the world can top this...And if you change the humbackers and key strings it s like a 1700 euro guitar. I own myself a fender tele and an sg gibson. And i can say for sure that this guitar is really awesome. I wont let the kid play with it :P :P

USA buyer; bought this as a gift for my 10 year old nephew as a first guitar. Figured the looks alone would make him want to play it. It was backordered for quite a while, but the Thomann CS team communicated well and I decided to wait for it.

Once in stock, the guitar shipped and arrived quickly, though shipping was expensive at over 58 eur. It came with a cord, but no strap, and the folks at Thomann even included an actual, old-school photo of the guitar, as this particular unit was the model used for the product images on the website, complete with wood imperfection below the tailpiece, which i thought was pretty cool!

Out of the box it was in good shape, though the included stings did not feel to be of great quality and the action was very high, and the frets were a teeny bit off. I paid to get it set up and now it plays like a dream! Very warm and rich tones, and individual notes are bright and clear now that there are good strings on it. As others mentioned the tuners aren't great, but they hold tune reasonably well, though tuning will be required fairly regularly. Definitely will work for a kid's first, though it's pretty heavy.

My purchasing decision was between this HB and an Epiphone Les Paul Studio for $250 at a local store. Really glad I chose this one. I've been playing a USA-made Gibson LP Junior for years and this HB is actually comparable. I almost don't want to give it as the gift it was intended to be!

I want to start by saying all scores are “for the price”. Obviously if I compared this guitar to the best guitar in the world it wouldn’t be 5 stars. I’m comparing it to other guitars at that price point.

First thing first, I live on a small island. The DHL was supposed to be $60 but it kept getting returned to Thoman. So they had to upgrade it for free to the $170 UPS. So at this point I’m pretty sure they already lost money. The guitar shows up looking amazing but the neck pickup doesn’t work at all, nor the middle position, only the bridge position worked. Thoman shipped out another ASAP and it showed up in good condition. Great customer service, they put aside the company to help the customer. Now good vs bad.

Good: wayyy better tuners than you’d expect to find on such a cheap guitar,definitely better than what came on my epiphone AFD Slash special. Nice neck shape, not too thin.. fret inlays and binding which is super rare to see at this price. For $50 more get the plus model which will add a flame top and coil split. I really like the pickups. I play a lot of rock and blues but not much metal. My other epiphone guitar’s pickups were really hot which is good for metal but these roswells have an underwound sound compared to most cheap LP pups… great for my style. SET NECK is so nice. The sustain on this thing blows my AFD special out of the water which costed 3x as much as this. Adjustable bridge. About 90% of this stuff (set neck, binding, inlays, gloss finish) I’m naming you will usually only find on guitars $500+ . Customer service rocks. Both guitars showed up set up nicely in terms of action/intonation and almost in tune as well.

Bad: first guitar had the wiring issue, plus I didn’t mention it had a piece of the very last fret missing, like it chipped off maybe? the second one that showed has no electrical issues or dents, but feels “scratchy” when you bend a string. My guess is the frets need polished or something, might get better over time with playing too. It isn’t really audible when playing but to have 2 guitars both show up with some type of issue obviously means the Quality Control is about what you would expect on a $100 guitar.. also I wish they offered coil split on the Cb classic because I like clownburst more than flame top but you either get both or you get neither. So I had to choose clownburst but no coil splitting.

I couldn’t really say much bad about it and for the money I feel like I got an incredible guitar. If the first guitar showed up NO issues I would say it’s worth like $300. However, due to the quality control and possibly needing to send one or two back to get a good one, I’d say it’s appropriately priced between $100 and $200. If you play blues, rock, classic rock, or anything like that it’s a great guitar. It takes heavy distortion well too but if you want to chug you might want to put some EMG or Duncan’s in it .

Totally recommend Thoman and this guitar !if you’re choosing between this and a cheap epiphone special or squier (under $400) I would pick this every time.