Harley Benton SC-550 Plus EMG PAF

With one initial exception this is a 5 star guitar. Finish is beautiful with absolutely no flaws, action is low, fretboard and frets are level with no buzz anywhere, fret ends are excellent and intonation is spot on. Now, the only issue was that the low E locking tuner was stripped. A quick email with a video was sent and two days later a new tuner was on the way. Excellent service response! It arrived international in 3 days, just like the guitar did previously. Replaced it yesterday and now everything is perfect. I absolutely love the guitar and the active pickups.

The guitar came with a very good setup, only minor tweaks to the intonation but it was not really needed. Finish was flawless, could not find any problems. Only con was that the truss rod cover was missing, it has been there so i think it was removed during setup and forgot to put in place after. But i have contacted thomann and i will get one.
Great guitar with awsome pickups, they have very good clarity and does work well whitout battery but i will use the active function with battery because it sound great.

This guitar for this price is just a bargain! EMG's, stainless frets, locking tuners and really perfect finish. Nice tone, low string action ( 1.14mmE6 and 0.83mm E1) and no fret buzz (and honestly they don't look to be leveled just proper installed). Price could be easily doubled and still be a no brainer for me. I don't care about name on headstock and am sure if they will keep that quality, the future of this company is bright! And thanks fot Thomann for solving small issue, always helpful.

I have it now for almost a year. Great looking guitar. Love the sound. My only concern was the switch that came not working well. It could only switch 2 modes not 3, so i had to buy another to change.

Very balanced sound.
Pickups more vintage than modern.
Fretwork and nut action had to be corrected.
Locking keys are good quality.

Overall build quality and sound for the price - amazing!

Very pleased by my purchase! Beautiful instruments and very well crafted!

I pulled it out of the shipping container (which was solid and safe), plugged it in and played it. The tuning, after Germany to Indiana shipping was almost spot on. Well set up, no flaws.

I’ve never had such a good sound out of a guitar! Came set up perfectly, aesthetically very pleasing, the EMG active pickups are perfect for me retaining the PAF style but with a bit more punch. thinking of selling other guitars and stocking up on HB’s. Just gobsmacked with the quality for the price.

The reviews were right, this is a massive step up in quality from the SC-550 Deluxe, light years better, in fact. I have the 550 Deluxe but, although it looks great and plays well, I always felt the sound let it down. This, on the other hand, sounds fabulous, a real big sound but one that positively chimes! Get one while you can.

One small gripe, and I don’t know if this is a common fault, but the bridge volume control knob was off when the guitar arrived and won’t stay on, I suspect because of the way the body is shaped. Anyone else having this issue?

Before I bought Harley Benton guitars, I was a homeless, broke, dyslexic, amish midget, I was a mess. But then after I touched the simple tonewoods of the Harley Benton it changed my life forever. The once I put my nose and smell the wood and played the glorious frets I knew that this would be the only guitar brand that would ever buy from again. So buy a hb, and change your life.