Harley Benton SC-450Plus GT Vintage Series – On the Bench Today

Presenting Harley Benton guitar videos on the channel is something that seems to elicit either love or hate in the comments. I find it very entertaining to read. I am always inclined to ask someone who leaves a comment like – “Piece of Crap” in the comments whether they are just jumping to conclusions or have they actually picked one up and played one and actually have an informed opinion. I am chuckling now because as I type this script, I was alerted to a new comment on a HB video, and it was one word – “Crap!” and I thought 2 things. Is there some sort of monitoring device in my shop listening to me and is this person jumping to conclusions or has he ever actually played one.

I used to be part of the “What a piece of crap!” crowd - but it was my opinion and not something based upon experience. This will be my third guitar that I have covered in a video from Harley Benton.

The first guitar which was a DC-600 VI Vintage did not completely sway me. I bought it because it looked like Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Gibson SG and I thought it would be gool to put a vibrato on it and hang it on the wall. It was kind of an oddity to me and after taking it a part and putting it back together I was on the fence.

Next, I purchased a HB TE-52 Tele model and came away with the conclusion that my “What a piece of crap!” opinion may have been in error. The TE-52 is a fairly good guitar and a great modding platform. It is heavy – but that was pretty much the only failing I discovered.

Now, I have ordered a Harley Benton SC-450Plus GT Vintage Series which is a copy of a Gibson Gold Top Les Paul. I have covered a Chinese made knockoff Gibson and that is where I set the bar for low. I did not know what to expect on the Harley Benton.

Here is an overview of the guitar:

Body is made of Mahogany with a Maple top
Set neck made of Okoume (uh · kow · muh. Long O) , Fretboard is made of laurel with Trapezoid inlays.
There is cream binding on the body and neck
Neck profile is a C
Fingerboard radius: 12"
Scale length: 24.75
22 Medium jumbo frets
Double action truss rod
Kluson-style machine heads
010 - .046

Pickups: 2 Roswell LAF AINiCo-5 vintage style humbuckers
2 x Volume controls with push/pull function for coil split
2 x Tone controls
3-Way switch for pickup selection
Color of my guitar: Gold top high gloss

My opinions on the guitar are –

This is the very first time in a long time that I have checked for fret level and found not one single instance of fret rocking on the fret board. I have done this on about 30 plus new guitars of various price points and manufacturer in the past three months so that is a pretty good sampling.

The sides of the frets are pretty good for a guitar below $1000.

The neck plays well without any string buzz.

When the scale finally settled and locked onto a weight I had 8 lbs. 15 oz, so basically 9 lbs. Not bad for a Les Paul type guitar.

The overall finish of this guitar is awesome. I am really impressed with the body top, back of the body and the neck. Really nice. Granted it is a poly finish and not Nitro.

The gold color is a little different than a Gibson – but very attractive.

The inlays of the neck are not sloppy and do not have gaps.

Out of the box the neck is straight and did not need to be adjusted.

The electronics in the control cavity are soldered well. The components are the same type of quality you would find on lower end Squiers and Epiphones.

The pickups are clean sounding and there does not seem to be any hums or buzzing.

This Guitar is the answer to - why would you buy a Chibson? The quality on a Chibson is hit or miss and in some cases non-existent. The HB has consistent quality control. You can actually box up a guitar and send it back to HB for a refund or warranty work. Try that with a Chibson. The company on Ali-Express that I purchase my Chibson from no longer exists or has changed their name. I can guarantee the Harley Benton will still be here for support.

Last – this guitar is amazing platform for doing modifications. I really like the guitar and am sure I will like it even more when I make some modifications.

I will do the following in a future video –

Replace the pickups, electronics, and nut. I will leave the bridge components and tuners alone for now as I would rank them as adequate.