Harley Benton SC-550 II FTF

I bought this guitar just to have an LP type/style in the collection for occasional use. I have yet to put this guitar down since it arrived. Out of the box it only required a bit of tuning. Intonation was spot on, the neck was perfectly straight & the build quality, set up and QC are top notch. Beautiful top, great feeling comfortable neck and good hardware/electronics made the introductory impressions pleasing. Even after seeing several positive reviews and recommendations I was still pleasantly surprised with this guitar overall. The Tesla pickups are quite versatile and provide great tone. The neck pickup does not have the ultra dark or muddy tones of many other neck pickups on guitars of this type. Both pickups are very dynamic and offer plenty good tones. The neck is very comfortable and a joy to play. The improved body shape and neck heel lend to great comfort, upper fret access and playability. Although I’ve heard a few complaints on the tuners, I find them quite serviceable and have had no issues with operation or with them holding tune. They are a bit odd visually but not absurdly so. Hardware and electronics on this guitar are impressive at this price point and exceeded my expectations based on other reviews. The only “flaw” I was able to find was the binding is less than perfect in some places but is minimal and hardly noticeable outside of close scrutiny.
My point of reference and comparison for this particular HB model are several Epiphone LP Plus, Tribute and Custom models as well as a few Gibson LP Studio models. The SC-550 II provides an experience and quality on-par with or better than those guitars in my experience.
This one has been immediately promoted from an occasional use stand-by/backup to having a spot in the main rotation for studio/session work and most likely in my live rig as well. The chambered weight relief makes this a very comfortable and useable live instrument for long gigs. I will definitely be recommending this guitar to my peers and students. This one along with my Harley Benton TE-70 BP (another phenomenal HB guitar) will soon get their public debut here on the stages around the Home of the Blues & Birthplace of Rock n Roll (Memphis, TN US)!

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.

After watching all the You Tube videos on this guitar, including a so called "deep review" I found that not one went "under the hood" (or bonnet for you Brits) Sure it looks great but what is inside. First I'll start with the 3 way switch. This is a CTS style 3 way switch. It works as it should with no loose movements. The cavity is paint shielded. The cover has a metallic tape shield. Next for the pots. They are full size made in Korea Alpha pots. The cavity is also paint shielded. The wiring and solder are very neat. The cavity is clean of any debris. The cover is also shielded as mentioned above.
Next I go to the look of the guitar, as this is the first thing that you see. It looks great the AAAA flamed maple top has a quality look, although, I can't see what the difference is between AAA and AAAA except perhaps marketing. There were no imperfections found anywhere on the guitar.
The guitar itself comes in just over 9 lbs. (over 4 kg.) The guitar is listed as having weight relief, It is not light by any means but is right in the Les Paul weight catagory.
O.K. how does it sound. I love the Tesla pickups. I have guitars with Seymour Duncan pups and they are right up there with them. The pots roll off good for different flavor at different settings.
The neck feels great a true 60's profile, not a baseball bat 50's. The fretwork was perfect and setup was spot on. It's nice to know that I'll probably never have to re-fret the guitar as the frets are stainless steel.
The only thing that I changed were the tuners. They were perfectly adequate, but I prefer locking tuners for ease of string replacement.
All in all I like this much better than my Les Paul Studio, which I am now going to sell. If you want a quality sounding great looking guitar, you can't go wrong with this.

So, I've been hankering for a single cut for a long time. Much to the annoyance of my wife. I finally managed to sell the pedals I didn't need any more and got this. It's a beautiful guitar to look at. The flamed top is gorgeous and I'm glad I got the FTF finish after trying to decide between this and the Desertburst. The edges aren't entirely black and you can see some grain there and the back is a very dark brown too, not the black as per the images on the website.

Mine, unfortunately, came with a chip in the finish by the toggle cavity cover. A bit of a dissapointment with a new guitar, but Thomann offered me a small refund, which I was happy with.

The combination of the green tuner keys, white nut and cream binding is pretty odd in person. I'd seen it written about, but was reserving judgement till I'd seen it in person. It's just a bad look. Fortunately (?) the tuners were also terrible, so I had no qualms swapping them out for some AliExpress locking ones that function a lot better and look good with chrome keys. I had to drill out the headstock holes to fit the 10mm posts, but that wasn't too bad. The nut was also slightly too high. I made some adjustments, and went too far, so I ordered a new cream nut. Now the headstock looks great.

Mine is really light at just over 3kg, which seems mad. My TE-52 is over 4kg. It's comfy on a strap, but there is a hint of the neck wanting to level out. Not a problem for me, but thought I'd mention it.

Playability wise, I love it. The frets are SUPER smooth, the upper fret access is great, the neck is comfy and workable even if quite a lot smaller than my tele. All of the pots have a suitable taper on them too, so I don't feel like I need to change them. I have no complaints about the pickups either. They sound great through my Orange Crush 35-RT and via headphones into my GX-100.

To get it set up in drop C with 10s, I did have to change out the bridge, which wasn't that easy. It seems that the centre of the posts isn't quite standard, so bare that in mind if you want to do the same. I've also swapped out the top hat knobs for speed knobs, just as a preference thing.

I have modded it, but I like mods... The tuners were a must and the nut looks a lot better now. Great bones and just needed a few tweaks to get it where I wanted it. Really happy now, I love playing it and I'm VERY glad I bought it.

Yes, mine is a custom guitar. I sent a simple question to Thomann and asked if they could/would convert this guitar into one with split coils on demand. They gladly did so (for a few dollars more- I had to buy the pots to switch out) and man, did they deliver!
I wanted the single cutaway design and the FTF finish, but I wanted the split coil feature seen on many other Harley Bentons, especially the CST-24, another guitar I plan to get. I simply wanted the LP-style, my favourite, before I bought a PRS-style guitar. The single-cuts are in my opinion, superior as far as the old standards, the SC-550 II, being no exception.
The humbuckers (Tesla 2) are hot; switching from my SG Custom to the SC-550 startled me into a gain-cut reflex action. I wasn't expecting that. The DAW input needed to be trimmed, and so on, etc. So, I'm impressed with the heat.
Switching back and forth regarding the split-coils, I'm blown away. What do you think of when you're switching between a single coil neck and bridge to a humbucker neck and bridge? What do you expect to hear?
I expect to hear exactly what I get with the push/pull tone pots that switch between the two.
Mixing the single coil in the bridge with the humbucker in the neck, or vice versa, or both, or not at all is like playing three different guitars with the variety of screech and scream and mournful La Llarona-style wails to chonky cave monsters eating people like Snickers. She is an amazing machine.
The colour/finish I chose is the Faded Tobacco Flame Gloss.
It is beautiful, and better than what you see in the pics. At home, the angle of lighting makes her a chameleon, low light hiding the sweet central burst and increasing light bringing out the flamed maple grain and spectacular finish. The back is the deepest wine or burgundy that is out there and appears black if you're not looking closely. This is definitely intentional as it is uniform and clean. The finish will blow your mind.
The neck came finished and glossy-slow, but that is easily fixed with a half hour of sanding and 0000 steel wool, and now she's as fast and smooth as your high school gf/bf.
The stainless steel frets demand abuse, and I'm looking forward to years of administering it.
The electronics are silent at rest and have given me no problems at all.
She arrived slightly out of tune- (c'mon guys, we're only 9 time zones apart, you can't ship me a guitar that I don't have to tune the B string up from an A#?
Savages . . .) but tuned up quickly with the high-ratio (feels like 18:1, but don't quote me) machine heads and have stayed in tune since.
I always retune between takes and in this case there's no retuning involved. Just picking and staring at the tuning rack of my DAW. Crazy. My less Pauls needed retuning if they sat for 15 minutes. I exaggerate, but so does everyone all the time.
I love this guitar. She does what I ask of her, and Thomann did what I asked of them. They delivered a truly customised LP-Style guitar that I could turn around and sell for a grand, all for $300 USD.
If there's anyone else out there with an SC-550 II split coil on both neck and bridge humbuckers I'd love to hear what you think of it. Was it worth the swap? Mine was. I make strange and delicious exotica via the licks of my unique instrument, and the guitar is awesome, too. I love this machine.
My fourth big ticket Thomann purchase, a Baton Rouge acoustic guitar, is set to arrive on Friday, so stay tuned. Get it? Wink wink, nudge nudge, know whatta mean?
There was a problem with a completely different B Stock item I had a while back but Thomann's customer service department handled it perfectly and professionally. Ever pump yourself up for a fight and instead everyone is kind and friendly and won't be happy until they figure out how they can fix it to your satisfaction? Where you get everything handled by nice folks who just want you to be happy? And then you're all bummed out because you are treated the way you were going to demand that you be treated?
Exactly.
So as you can see, Thomann has a customer for life.
If you want an LP-Style that looks and plays like this instrument, this is the guitar for you. Look no further; she is the answer.
She's solid mahogany and heavy and I'm not 100% that she's been chambered at all. She feels like an '81 Les Paul.
Other than that, she is accessible to all guitarists 12 and older. My first guitar was my brother's 1981 LP Custom. I would have been happy if this SC-550 II was my first, and I'd recommend this guitar as a first guitar for anyone. Not only is she an affordable guitar, but as-is she just might be the one and only you'll ever need. She is that good, and she'll spend more time in my hands than in a case or on a stand or on the wall.
Good axe. Get one or two.

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!

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.

Honestly I was a little concerned about damage from shipping but Thomann did not disappoint. I received the item with no issues.
The guitar is beautiful. It is however darker than the pictures but nonetheless still a very nice looking instrument. It's also lighter than I anticipated.

The pickups are thick with decent definition. The fretwork is excellent for the price but I will likely do some sanding to round the edges.

The intonation is a tad off but the action is perfect. I was a little worried about fret issues since it's tough to work with stainless steel.

The volume/tone knobs feel a bit flimsy and cheap. But I had a feeling about them that's why I bought new knobs ahead of time.

The machine heads are decent but plasticky and greenish. So I also bought regular chrome Klusons.

All in all very happy. No surprises. Thanks Thomann and to the excellent customer service people.

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EDIT: A few months in and want to give an update.

Still a good guitar but the toggle switch got buggy--the bridge pickup toggle stops working and requires some fiddling with to get it to work.

I did notice that the pickups are a bit noisy.

Will probably replace the toggle switch and maybe replace the pickups.

This is my first LP style guitar I own, so my expectations were based only on what I have seen in guitar shops and on YouTube videos.
I must say this guitar has a very nice finishing, I love how it looks and how it sounds.
It came with no scratches, no specs, no smudges, QC done pretty well. :)
The fretwork is very well done as well, with no sharp edges, the frets are polished nicely and the fretboard and neck feel great when playing.
The tuners work pretty well, they're smooth and feel like good quality, and they also keep the guitar in tune even with heavy string bending.
I would mention only a couple of details that are not so perfect as the rest of it. There is a some string buzz all over the fretboard, especially on lower strings, so this will necessitate a bridge and neck setup.
The screws used to fix the jack could have a flatter head and a couple of pots don't have a fixed turning axis, but tend to "wobble" a bit when turning.
Having in mind the attractive price of this instrument, overall it is much more then I would have expected in terms of quality, esthetics and sound, so I would definitely recommend it as a quite accessible, but nevertheless very beautiful LP style guitar.

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.