This is my preliminary review of the Harley Benton SC 550 II FTF Deluxe. When the box containing the guitar arrived, I noticed its very light weight. I briefly wondered if it actually contained the guitar I ordered. After unpacking the guitar, I was struck by its light weight. I now own six Les Paul guitars, and this one is by far the less heavy one. At first glance, it's a beautiful looking guitar, but I quickly noticed a few things that I wasn't so happy about. The binding is sloppy, not tightly applied. The tailpiece studs and screws are crooked in the body and not tight and level. I don't think this will really affect the tone, but it is very sloppy and I am a bit afraid it could cause problems. I'll see if I can fix this when changing the strings and possibly replacing a few other parts. I addressed this issue to Thomann and I am waiting for their reply.
Furthermore, it seems like the two tone knobs are sitting crooked on the potentiometer shafts, or the shafts are crooked in the body. The shaft of the bridge tone potentiometer is a bit loose. When I pull the knob, the shaft rises slightly. The potentiometers with knobs work properly, though. The AAA flamed maple top, as specified, is unfortunately only nicely flamed on one half of the body. On the lower half, where the volume and tone knobs are located, there's barely any flame visible. It's a shame the two pieces of maple don't match up nicely. I unfortunately have the same with my HB SC 550 Deluxe.
Out of the box, the guitar was tuned almost a pitch too high except for the D string, and the strings were much too high. I lowered the bridge to get a low action and retuned the guitar. Fortunately, there was no fret buzz. The stainless steel frets are neatly placed and there are no sharp frets. They all feel smooth. Then I adjusted the Tesla Opus 1 pickups to the correct height and also slightly turned out the poles of the D string and the A string to achieve a good balance between the strings. What I noticed after loosening the screws was that a white, greasy substance came up with them. This is proof that these pickups had been heavily waxed. I'm not sure what to think of these Tesla pickups. It's hard to describe. They certainly don't sound bad (slightly better than the Roswells), but I feel something is missing. The neck humbucker sounds a bit dry, lazy, and lacks bite. I like the bridge pickup a bit better, but it's not great. After experimenting with the settings of my amp, pedals and volume/tone knobs on the guitar, I got a good tone though, which comes close to the famous “Burst sound”. So after all not bad. For now, I'm leaving these pickups in the guitar to get to know them better and perhaps appreciate them more. The three-way pickup selector switch wobbles slightly in the middle position but works well except for one time (I had no sound on the bridge pickup for a while). Regarding the guitar's neck... I prefer playing a guitar with a slightly thicker and slightly wider neck than this one. As an example, I'll mention the HB SC 450 Les Paul. It just feels a bit better to me, but this is, of course, a personal preference and simply a matter of getting used to it. The HB SC 550 II guitar is very good, easy to play (once you've set the strings to the correct height). The fretboard is a bit dry and could use a little oil. The fretboard inlays are neatly applied. I have no complaints about the graphite nut. The nut slots could perhaps be cut a fraction deeper, but for now, I'll leave them as is. The tuners are of mediocre quality but so far they hold the guitar's tuning quite well.
In summary, I think there are too many sloppy construction flaws in this guitar. That's why I can't give it 5 stars. Honestly, I expected more from this guitar in terms of the finish (and made in Indonesia). My most annoying issues are the studs with screws that are crooked and not flush with the body, and the sloppy, poorly applied binding. If you can live with these shortcomings and perhaps plan to upgrade (like I do), then you've got a good guitar here. I now own six Les Paul guitars, five of which are Harley Benton's (all of which I've upgraded). Generally, these HB guitars offer good value for money and are a good platform for upgrades. It's still a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, even with the little more expensive and Indonesian-made guitars. You can be lucky and find everything is top-notch, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. You should take the attached tags with a scribbled record of an inspection/check with a grain of salt. Not consistent or the bar isn't set that high. I might update this review some time later.
Update:
Ik reveived an e-mail from Thomann about the crooked studs of the stop tailpiece. According to the guitar techs I don't have to worry, as the upper part is curved. I am not sure, I hope they are right. I've decided to keep the guitar and will make the first upgrades at the next string change, which will include replacing the stoptail piece with studs, the bridge, the tuners, and the volume and tone knobs. Later, I might replace the pickups and potentiometers with 50s wiring. Without these upgrades its still a good guitar for the price. Its just me who likes to make guitars better without spending a fortune.
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