Harley Benton SC-550LH II Gotoh AFB

I've been a lefty strat player for over 30 years, but my prefered music and sound has always been more of a humbucker/LP tone and crunch. While the options for lefties have never been better and more easily acquired, I couldn't justify jumping in with a single cut from the big manufacturers.

This model and configuration was the perfect guitart at the perfect time. I believe it would benefit from a true professional set up, but out of the box it's joy to look at and more importantly, to play. I did raise the pickups and it really sings/crunches like the model to which it plays tribute (had an opportunity to play one just last week!).

Neck is a true 60's slim taper and really easy to play- i can't find any issues with the frets, binding, tuners, nut... everything is first class!

Except ... the wiring. Not the end of the world but the guitar I received is wired righty, meaning the pickup selector switch is functionally upside down (up position selects the Bridge PU. down selects the Neck). Likewise the volume and tone controls are opposite of a righty (Upper set for the Bridge, Lower set for the Neck)--I actually like it.

The numbers on the knobs don't correspond as you'd think. As such an old lefty, this is not surprising nor the end of the world, just mentioning as the "originals" does have lefty pots and are wired traditionally. All considered, at this price, this guitar can't be beat!

Simply phenomenal! the quality is superb, flawless finish, looks so like the real thing and it sounds better than It's predecessor. I have the first version which was made in Vietnam, had a few quality issues, thank God they changed the factory and now it's produced in Indonesia and trust me I couldn't find any flaw. For the price you get more than what you pay; gotoh tuners, stainless steel frets, graphite nut, good quality hardware, Tesla pickups (better sounding than Roswell). It's a little pricy after adding shipping/duty/taxes but worth it.

My first HB. Very surprised by the quality of work. I tried it basically to see if the neck and fretboard would suit me and it really plays very smooth. Did not expect the neck to be that slim, so first I was worried (coming from Ibanez), but the diameter makes it pleasure to play.

Fretwork - pretty good, no sharp cuts, 2nd fret I hit with hammer few times to level it bit.

Nut - the only part that looks ugly as it was filed and not polished afterwards (the sharp plastics stick around where strings sit) - also not perfect, two strings are higher, but nothing too distracting.

String action was set very high - like someone did not even care :) To me it is not an issue, but for a beginner or as a gift to someone trying to learn this sole thing would make it a bad guitar or borderline playable. On this bridge, it literally take only few minutes to adjust.

And guess what, I lowered it to 1.5mm/1.2mm - no string buzz at all, no truss rod adjustment needed. Still sounds full. Very happy with the result. This single thing already makes it an amazing instrument for me.

Tesla Opus pickups are fine, especially when both are selected. Neck volume almost closed makes the bridge fuller. On Tesla website it says it has pronounced mids. Did not have time to experiment with pickup height yet, but definitely playable. I am not 100% sure, but I think mine does not have the "lefty issue" mentioned by another reviewer. Also do not know much about wiring, but coming from non-lespaul guitars, it surprised me that volume acts more like another filter cutoff. There is almost no gain loss when closing volume. Not sure if a feature or a bug, but I love it! (inspecting inside both pickups seems to be grounded on bridge volume pot..)

The only real complain is that strings and frets must be from very ugly and dirty environment, my hands are still getting dirty after cleaning it multiple times.

Also HB, please make more lefties on different colors. Pretty much all lefties are these conservative traditional /bland colors.