Harley Benton SC-Custom II Honey Burst Flame

If we only have had this kind of quality for this kind of money back in the day.
Only things I can nitpick about - frets could do with a polish, and the neck pickup isn't the prettiest at clean/low gain sounds.

Other than that, unbelievable good for the money, and cost aside, it's stilla really, really nice instrument.

Fit and finish is flawless, adjustment was spot on (I was prepared oto bring out the nut files, and have a go at intonation).
Nice, solid feel, proper weight to it, and the tuners particularily surprised me, at this price, I wasn't expecting really nice tuners.
Most impressive.

I looked at all the reviews and sellers available online for a LP type guitar. There were a number of companies selling instruments that looked very close if not identical to this guitar. There were a number of good reasons to go with Thomann and Harley Benton.
1. Prior experience. My past transactions with Thomann have been better than my purchases from large US retailers.
2. They provide sound samples and photos that are descriptive and honest.
3. Their customer service is reliable, responsive and customer oriented. My guitar arrived in So. California from Germany in 6 days in perfect shape.
4. The guitar is beautiful, not a flaw to be found, electronics work as they should. (And I love the coil split function. Its not a tele but it does have a convincing single coil sound.)
The fit and finish is as good maybe better than much more expensive guitars with the same specs. UPDATE April 2021. i've had a few months to try this instrument and am still quite pleased. I have only 2 minor caveots:
1. It does have significant neck dive whether sitting or standing. for me even if sitting the lower horn is nnot sufficient to hold the guitar in a proper playing position. solution? i will propbably try weights either in a back elec. cavity or attacha counter balance to the lower strap button. Or more probably i'll just live with it.
2. The strap locks will not accommodate the common 2 ply leather strap ends on a guitar strap. I finally unscrewed the knurled thumbscrew from the lock inserted it through the hole in the strap and screwed it back in. This seems to be a workable solution. I'm likely to replace the OEM locks with a set that works without compromise. I would really be unhappy if the guitar took a dive. These 2 points are really minor I'm very happy with the instrument still and have ordered the SC custom 2 with the Floyd Rose tremolo. (I just wish it was available in some color choices. I'll probably have it painted by a pro service and add different pickups. If the twin of this model with the EMG pups came in color choices I would buy it. It will end up being more expensive to modify my order but I'll have the guitar I want.) Another picky guitarist? Yea I feel silly even writing this.
So a good job all around and I will not hesitate to purchase from Thomann again.
Thank you Thomann from a satisfied customer.

I ordered this guitar I believe on a Thursday it shipped the following Wednesday and was here on Friday to Indiana USA that's pretty fast in my book.
Arrived in great shape and was even in tune.
The finish was flawless no scratches nicks or any type of fade marks.
The binding was smooth and lines very defined no chatter on the edges.
Fret board straight no adjustments needed on truss rod.
Frets were nicely finished no burrs on the edges.
Came with strap locs, Grover tuners nice and tight stay in tune.
String height was fine but I dropped the bridge down just a little for my own preference.
Pickups sound nice and full with the coil split push pull you can get a variety of sounds options.
Still have a few guitars on my list to purchase!