Harley Benton SC-Custom III Ocean Flame

I did a lot of research before I picked this beauty, because I wanted to make sure tha I am not going to regret this. I wanted to replace my old guitar that I started out with 10 years ago.
After I watched every possible Harley Benton review on youtube I was a little hesitant. But let me tell you when this guitar finally arrived, it was a love on first sight. Not only the finish was even more beautyful than on the picture, but it was set up and ready to play right out of the box. I did not even ned to lower the strings, and I had zero issues woth the fretwork.
The Tesla pickups have an interesting warm tone, which I like, and the coil split function is suprisingly great feature. I am a big fan of it.
This is a great guitar, even compared to a high end gibson les paul custom that i had a chance to try. The Harley Benton feels lighter, more modern and slimmer.
For this price, it's a no brainer!

After receiving the guitar, my first reaction was that I wanted to return it. The factory setup was extremely poor. String height was 2.5 mm on the 6th string and 2 mm on the 1st string. The truss rod relief was incorrect — the neck looked more like a bow than a guitar neck. The 20th fret was slightly popped out and was buzzing. After about a month, the fret ends started to stick out a bit and scratch my palm. The truss rod itself is installed slightly crooked: the nut is recessed into the neck, with a lot of empty space above it. Still, it does its job.

However, after I tapped the 20th fret back into place and adjusted the truss rod to a proper relief, I managed to set the string height to 1 mm on the 6th string and 1 mm on the 1st string. One-and-a-half to two-step bends work perfectly all over the fretboard without choking on other frets. You won’t even get this on Fenders — there you usually have to level and polish the frets right away. Here, the frets are perfectly leveled and polished straight from the factory.

The stainless steel frets are simply amazing — reliable and durable. They should easily last around 7 years of intensive playing without issues. After a year of playing, there is almost no visible wear. This really should become the standard for all guitars.

The tuners are excellent. They hold tuning well, work smoothly, and make tuning very comfortable. My fretboard is black — it looks better in person than the brown version in photos. The photos represent the guitar’s color accurately. In sunlight, it can show a subtle shimmering greenish tint.

The neck is great. There is a volute on the headstock, which adds extra strength. The neck heel is smoothly contoured directly into the body, making access to the upper frets very comfortable — especially if you have small hands. You won’t find this on any Gibson or Fender (and I own both).

The potentiometers do not crackle. The tone knob, which is also a push-pull, rotates more easily and with almost no resistance compared to the other knobs, but it still works as intended. The wiring is done well and correctly. You can see that the control cavity is coated with graphite, although the shielding is not fully even, so it’s not 100% uniform.

The pickups are not high-gain. Both are around 8 kΩ. For comparison, standard Gibson pickups are usually 8 kΩ for the neck and 14 kΩ for the bridge. The bridge pickup is naturally more aggressive, but even with high gain it sounds perfectly fine.

The factory strings lasted a full year. I replaced them only because I got bored of them. They didn’t even lose brightness. They seem to be D’Addario, or at least they have colored ball ends. I usually use Ernie Ball and Elixir strings, and these factory uncoated strings were a real discovery for me.

After fixing all the small issues, this guitar turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever owned. I pick it up more often than my Gibson because of its versatility and comfort. It’s also very light — around 3 kg.
Looks: 10 out of 10.

I've had this guitar since August, and I'm very happy with the purchase. It looks absolutely stunning and sounds full and warm — the stock pickups perform quite well to my ear. It's a bit on the heavy side compared to my Ibanez RG, but still very comfortable, especially with a wider strap. The neck feels great, and the stainless steel frets retain their polish exceptionally well. The finish and binding are nearly perfect, and it even comes with strap locks!

That said, my particular instrument did have a few minor flaws. There were small tool marks on the fretboard, which didn't affect playability, but were somewhat unsightly. Thankfully a bit of scraping and sanding between the frets got rid of them. Then, after about six months, the pickup selector started acting up — the neck pickup occasionally has very low output after switching. I imagine the warranty would cover this, but it’s not a big deal for me right now, and it should also be a relatively easy fix.

Overall, I think this guitar offers excellent features for its price and, despite a few minor issues, is an absolute joy to play.