Harley Benton SC-550 II, worth it? Yes if you upgrade it!

[Oilid]

Hi !

The meranti body is relatively light.
The AAA flamed maple top is beautiful but don't be fooled by the videos and photos which make it sublime.

The neck is a thin D, rather pleasant in the format but very unpleasant, for me, with its layer of varnish.

The frets do not protrude on the sides.
Only frets 2 and 3 are slightly raised (at the fret rocker) on the model I received.

The nut is poorly cut, the tuners are useless, turn with difficulty.
The nut + tuning heads pair guarantees re-tuning every 3 minutes.

The bridge saddles arrived with non-regular treble strings.

The pau ferro fingerboard remains dry and "grips" the fingers during bends even after proper hydration.It's not very pleasant. I'm going tos andit with 000 steel wool.

The Tesla pickups are much too dull (muffled, absent, distant).
The electronics are poorly made and poorly soldered.

However, I keep the guitar!
Why?

Because, in my opinion, like all guitars at this price point, it is, above all, a suitable basis for upgrading.

So I replaced all the electronics (shown as is in the video below).
Pickups by Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem Set.
The tuners are by Gotoh blocking ones.
The nut by a Graph Tech.
The bridge by a Gotoh Japan.
I sanded the varnish off the back of the neck, it's now a smooth highway.

The electronics by a CTS PCB from the ObsidianWire brand which can split the 4-conductors pickups, and, above all, the option of choosing between 60s or 50s type wiring independently for each pickup.
I stay on the 50s wiring which lowers the tone as the volume decreases.
I really like it!
SwitchCraft toggle switch and jack output.
Plan to widen the knob holes to go from Asian format to US format.

CONCLUSION :

After spending around ten hours trying all the Gibson LPs, I preferred to customize a guitar with everything I wanted to have, especially the sound and neck profile.
With stainless steel frets!
For 3 or even 4 times cheaper than a Standard LP.

I play it on amp and plugins, it's heavenly.
I've taken the time to document this process in the video below in case you're tempted to do the same thing.



Bye bye!

 

[Zhysick]

I have had two of these (one I still have it).

Both have perfect frets, both have totally usable tuners, stable and easy to turn. Both with the Tesla pickups are very clear, PAF sound, perfect for metal if pushed/overdriven the same way they are perfect for cleans or bluesy drive. Is what a good PAF does.

On the other hand, the laquer of the neck is disgusting, the fretboard is dry and while the nut is poorly cut it works flawlessly (ugly but functional).

So I cannot agree with your review I guess

 

[ZLE]

Never trust a man, who puts a thumbnail "The ugly truth about <name>".

 

[gnoll]

Hi !

Go away!!!!

 

[Oilid]

Never trust a man, who puts a thumbnail "The ugly truth about <name>".

I'm not proud of the thumbnail but it's how social medias work nowadays.
I'll even say that I'm ashamed of this thumbnail.

 

[Oilid]

Go away!!!!

Thank you, i'd like to be your friend, you seem a very nice and kind person which life allows him to comment things like that.

 

[Oilid]

I have had two of these (one I still have it).

Both have perfect frets, both have totally usable tuners, stable and easy to turn. Both with the Tesla pickups are very clear, PAF sound, perfect for metal if pushed/overdriven the same way they are perfect for cleans or bluesy drive. Is what a good PAF does.

On the other hand, the laquer of the neck is disgusting, the fretboard is dry and while the nut is poorly cut it works flawlessly (ugly but functional).

So I cannot agree with your review I guess

Hello!
I guess you were luckier than me!

 

[gnoll]

I'm not proud of the thumbnail but it's how social medias work nowadays.
I'll even say that I'm ashamed of this thumbnail.

Then why do you use it? And why do you need to post it here? 100 posts in 7 years and then you return here to post this? That's not a great look.

Honestly, if you want an audience, then focus on creating something cool that people can get value from. Don't focus on attention seeking. It looks desperate, and your audience won't stick around long term when they realize the video wasn't as dramatic as it first appeared.

Good luck.

 

[SalsaWood]

Thanks for making an actual post that didn't just lead us directly into watching the video. We get a lot of posts that pretty much go:

HEY GUISE!
(Some stupid bullshit)
I talk about it more in this video (plug)

That's why folks have thin skin about it. Don't take it personally, they weren't going to contribute to your thread either way.

 

[Oilid]

Then why do you use it? And why do you need to post it here? 100 posts in 7 years and then you return here to post this? That's not a great look.

Honestly, if you want an audience, then focus on creating something cool that people can get value from. Don't focus on attention seeking. It looks desperate, and your audience won't stick around long term when they realize the video wasn't as dramatic as it first appeared.

Good luck.

Because I was at the hospital fighting against death.

 

[Oilid]

Thanks for making an actual post that didn't just lead us directly into watching the video. We get a lot of posts that pretty much go:

HEY GUISE!
(Some stupid bullshit)
I talk about it more in this video (plug)

That's why folks have thin skin about it. Don't take it personally, they weren't going to contribute to your thread either way.

Thanks man!

 

[Oilid]

Hi!

I mounted “Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem Set” pickups on a “Harley Benton SC-550 II DFB”.

I had a specific sound in mind and I also had in my possession:

- "Seymour Duncan Slash first generation”

- "Gibson Burst Bucker Pro”

- "Seymour Duncan SH4 (JB)"

and many others.

But I did not re-order those mentioned above because the Slash signatures were too powerful but above all "sloppy", the "Burstbucker Pro" were replaced by a new marketing line which did not convince me, I tried all variants "Burstbucker 60s, 61T&R, 1, 2, 3", etc. but the "Burstbucker Pro" remained unobtainable in second-hand market or new (several months of delay).

Too bad, because I like them a lot.

The legendary pair of “Seymour Duncan SH4” remains too imprecise for my taste!

After several tests, therefore, I set my sights on the "Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem Set" because they have this sharp sound, this definition capable of handling hi-gain without flinching.

This unfortunately comes at the expense of cleans, almost never clean unless you lower the gain (this can be problematic if you own and play several guitars on the same amp settings).

Apart from this very high output level due to the ceramic magnets, the crunch, heavy and hi-gain sounds for metal are very powerful and very precise!

I really like them!

I think that these pickups are made more for strong rock and less for clean funk style sounds, folk strumming, old-style blues like "P.A.F" etc.

To conclude: no need for more to easily get out of the mix!

They maintain a fairly good quality/price ratio despite inflation.

I'm not talking about the more expensive and "boutique" pickups because I think the prices outrageous.

I leave you with a complete sound demo of the clean, split (4 conductors), crunch, heavy, hi-gain metal and lead sounds recorded on “Neural DSP” and “Bogren Digital Ampknob” plug-ins (chords, riff, lead , licks).



Bye!

 

[Whoman Bean]

Because I was at the hospital fighting against death.

But Death doesn't exist since Chuck past away, there's "Death to all" though...

 

[STRHelvete]

I will not click it in a box
I will not click it with a fox
I will not click it here or there
I will not click it anywhere
Despite whatever you may think
I will not click the YouTube link

 

[Oilid]

But Death doesn't exist since Chuck past away, there's "Death to all" though...

 

[Oilid]

I will not click it in a box
I will not click it with a fox
I will not click it here or there
I will not click it anywhere
Despite whatever you may think
I will not click the YouTube link

Thanks for making me laugh, I really need it between 2 hospital stays!
I like your music a lot! "The Godhead" is a banger!

 

[Emperoff]

Well, I'm perfectly fine with somebody doing a post/review AND adding their youtube video at the end of it. The post definetely has some effort on it. Meaning I don't have to click on the video to receive the information. So kudos in that regard.

It's completely different to people using the site as spam **coughs**guitarj**coughs** with the thread just being a link to their video, with no other actual content on the thread itself.

The thumbnail is stupid and lame, though.

 

[SalsaWood]

For me, if I'm here, I'm also somewhere else on the internet probably listening to something already. By the time it's going to be over I'll be somewhere else or something else will start playing. I come here to read and gander, I'm already doing other things 99% of the time.

That said I think this is a as good a thread as any, probably even better since there's more to conceivably dive into with the video.

 

[STRHelvete]

Well, I'm perfectly fine with somebody doing a post/review AND adding their youtube video at the end of it. The post definetely has some effort on it. Meaning I don't have to click on the video to receive the information. So kudos in that regard.

It's completely different to people using the site as spam **coughs**guitarj**coughs** with the thread just being a link to their video, with no other actual content on the thread itself.

The thumbnail is stupid and lame, though.

Yeah for the record, I'm fine with someone having an actual post and a YouTube vid. As much as I complain about people always ranting and raving about how something revolutionized their tone and playing but they never have ANY sound clips or proof, I can't possibly be mad at a video for actually showing it. If you don't wanna watch the video, the text is there to read about it instead. Everyone wins.

 

[Oilid]

Thanks for you support guys!
Yeah, I'm just a passionate guy loving to share (as all of you, passionate guys).