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Harley Benton SC-550 Desert Flame Burst

88 ratings

Watching

Electric Guitar

Weight relief chambered mahogany body
Arched AAAA flamed maple top
Set-in mahogany neck
Fretboard: Roasted jatoba
Fretboard inlays: Pearloid trapezoids
'60s neck profile
Fretboard radius: 350 mm
Scale: 628 mm
Nut width: 43 mm
Bone nut
22 Frets
Pickups: 2 Roswell LAF AlNiCo-5 humbuckers
2 Volume controls and 2 tone controls
3-Way pickup selector switch
DLX chrome hardware
DLX Tune-O-Matic bridge
DLX Wilkinson machine heads
Colour: Desert flame burst

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♪♪ Metal
♪♪ Mosh
♪♪ Bluesrock
♪♪ Prog
♪♪ Soul

Further Information

Colour	Burst
Body	Mahogany
Top	Maple
Neck	Mahogany
Fretboard	Jatoba
Frets	22
Scale	628 mm
Pickups	HH
Tremolo	None
Incl. Case	No
Incl. Gigbag	No

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87 Customer Ratings

5

73 Customers

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4

12 Customers

12 customers have given this product a 4-star rating.

Of these, 8 customers have written no texts or given their feedback in another language.
3

2 Customers

2 customers have given this product a 3-star rating.

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2
1

4.8 /5

features
sound
quality

I wish I could love this baby

Brunkmann, 01.03.2021

Where to begin?
The SC-550 Desert Flame Burst is a very good-looking guitar and oh so well put together. The front flame is beautiful even if it is a thin veneer or paper.
As to the neck, frets, tuners, and headstock, it's all there, beautiful with no fret sprout or high frets. The tuners are certainly adequate and do the job, which is all one can ask out of a 200 plus dollar guitar.
The nut is great, no buzz, and cut correctly for each string. It is advertised as a bone nut which is a big plus in my book.
The pots and switch are great, no problem, you can roll off the volume and still keep the sound and resonance which says a lot about the construction of the guitar.
The pickups, well that's where it all fell apart for me. The neck pickup is dark, muddy, and without clarity. The bridge is a bit better but still not very good. I do find this weird as I have bought several Harley Benton guitars and they all have been great with great stock pickups. As a matter of fact, the Harley Benton Fusion-T HH EB OCT is one of the best-sounding guitars I have with a sound that is fantastic. Maybe they should start using those pickups in the SC-550. Maybe mine is one of the dice rolls that came up snake eyes with regard to the sound and output of the pups.
The guitar is too well made to send back, so this one will have to have new Humbuckers installed along with better pots.
So my bottom line is it is a great-looking and well-made guitar with pickups that unfortunately brings my scoring down to just ok. Again it may just be mine, so don't let it stop you from buying it, just be prepared to do a little work and spend a little more money and you will have a very nice guitar that you will be proud to play and show off.

UPDATE:
I originally gave the SC-550 just an OK rating. After playing it for a month or so, I can say that I was wrong. If you play the middle position, then the guitar sounds pretty darn good. So if you want a very good LP-style guitar, you can't go wrong with this one.
I still say that it is one of the best playing guitars I have ever touched. It is made for playing and I have not switched strings, they sound fine straight from the factory.

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Absolutely gorgeous LP copy - (tribute)?

itsonlyme, 03.03.2020

I am not a professional musician so you can take my opinions as just that - opinions. I play for pleasure pretty much exclusively.

Beauty is subjective, but the finish on this guitar cannot really be considered as anything other than gorgeous.

I did not have a LP style guitar to play, so I decided that I would buy one for the sound that my strat or hollow body couldn't provide. I originally purchased a "licensed LP version" (standard pro) from another dealer to chase down the LP tones that I was looking for. (I'm not sure if it's allowed to mention a different brand name.) Unfortunately, It arrived with some tone pot issues, so I had to send it back.
I was very disappointed then, but I believe now that it was a good thing. I came across a you tube demo of this model on EytschPi channel and decided to take a chance and add it in to the order I was placing for another guitar from Thomann.

This guitar sounds incredible. My non-professional ears believe that the pickups sound about as good as the pickups in the licensed version. I don't believe they sound the same, but different doesn't always mean better or worse. At less than half the price of the nearest budget LP equivalent, the quality of the sound is more than acceptable.

Did I mention that the finish on this guitar is gorgeous?

Con:
There was a shipping mishap that left a small crack across the headstock. It's noticeable, but doesn't appear to affect the structural integrity of the guitar and so far doesn't affect the playability. I worked with Customer Service and rather than wait another two weeks or more for a replacement, we agreed on a reasonable discount to be credited on another purchase. -- I've already used it. -- If the headstock snaps on me, then I will have made a mistake, but at this price, I'll just buy another one and hope that the shipping department packages the next one a bit better.

Subjective opinion:
The neck is fantastic for me. The frets were fairly good. There was one slightly high fret around 13 or 14. I took care of that, and no more issue. Sound is very nice clean and particularly nice dirty.
And it's gorgeous.

Aside from the shipping mishap, I am very happy with this guitar.

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I was gobsmacked

RoyMattblack, 07.01.2020

I'm a guitarist of over 50 years experience in numerous bands, solo's and currently, a duo. My main guitar is a 30 year old Strat but I fancied something a bit different.
When I unpacked the guitar, I couldn't believe what I was holding.
The finish is incredible. A deep, lustrous gloss all over.
I looked closely but there just aren't any flaws in the finish.
The maple top looks almost 3D - the striping literally moves as you tilt the guitar.
The binding is perfect around the body and along the neck edges.
Frets are well finished with no sharp or snaggy ends anywhere.
I like a low action on my guitars so a few quick adjustments had the strings much lower and the saddles were also adjusted to keep the intonation correct.
Checking all the strings all the way up the fretboard, there is no buzzing or string binding anywhere.
The guitar exudes quality.
I've only minimally played it plugged in so far and it sounds virtually identical to my Gibson LP Tribute - at a fraction of the price.
For looks though, it leaved the Gibson for dead.
This is my first HB and it certainly won't be my last.
I currently have 5 solid body guitars - Strat, Gibson LP, Burns Marvin and a PRS.
This guitar is as good as any of them and looks every bit a mega-money instrument.
My only minor gripe - if that's the right word - is that the outer sunburst colouring is more 'brown' than I thought it would be.
I had hoped there would be a bit more red to the dark shading.
Not a problem though as the guitar is a stunner.

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Amazing

Julio C., 06.04.2021

It is my first electric guitar, and i can’t be more satisfied. It looks really nice, and my first impression out of the box was - “What?, How can the y do it?. Good finish, absolute incredibly quality control (plug&play, i didn’t need anything more). Low action, tuners work fine. Perfect neck pick up, bridge one a little bit sharper that i would like. Nothing terrible, i can solve it with a good eq. Fretboard too dry, i think after indetermined time storaged. Not too heavy (3,270 kg). No sharp edges in any of the 22 frets. Easy and confortable to play.
If you are looking for a great guitar, nice looking and great sound, cheaper than other Les Paul copies (two or three times more expensive ones), this is your choice. It worths every coin you pay. Incredible value to cost relationship . Well done, Thomann !!.

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sales rank in this product group	2
at thomann.de	167

item number	463838
sales unit	1 piece
available since	June 2019

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Harley Benton SC-550

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	40% bought this exact product Harley Benton SC-550 Desert Flame Burst Available immediately Available immediately This item is in stock and can be dispatched immediately. Standard Delivery Times	$269 Add to Basket
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