Harley Benton has rolled out a new range of cheap electric guitars that come with a $195 price tag but with their single-cut shape, plain colour tops and P-90/humbucker pairing, they’re making us thinking of something a little more upscale.
Just take a look at these SC-Special Hybrids at the top of the page. Then close your eyes and think of the most dreamiest of dream guitars on the high-end electric guitar market…
That’s right, while most budget models tend to draw inspiration from the archetypes – riffing on Les Pauls, ES-335s, Telecasters, Stratocasters and all that jazz – Harley Benton is coming out with something that makes us first think of Nik Huber’s venerable Krautster II, a guitar you’d pay north of three grand for. And okay, there's a little bit (a lot) of Les Paul Junior/Special inspiration in Huber's Krautster II design but let's not split hairs.
Of course, the price reflects the vast quality differential but still, we dig these. The SC-Special Hybrid has a neat look with that cropped pickguard against a solid colour top, the back and sides left natural – especially with that single-ply binding tying it all together.
The P-90 at the neck and humbucker at the bridge, might just be one of the best electric guitar pickup combinations you could get (here Harley Benton has used its Isola pickups, the VT-500CR Alnico V ‘bucker and CL-P90 single-coil).
These are controlled by volume and tone pots. Selected by a shoulder-mounted three-way switch. And that glued-in neck joint looks like it will be very forthcoming when it comes to access to the upper frets.
The body is solid okoume. The neck is medium-roasted Canadian maple. As with most beginner-priced guitars, this has a mainstream C profile, and sounds like it’ll be fairly accommodating, measuring 20mm at the 1st fret, 23mm at the 12th.
The general dimensions are Gibson-esque, with a 12” radius rosewood fingerboard (dot inlays further hint at the Junior/Special inspiration) and the 24.72” scale.
That wraparound tailpiece looks nice and tidy – the kind of hardware you’d expect on a rock ’n’ roll machine.
There’s also a set of Kluson-style Harley Benton-branded locking tuners.
You colour options comprise Vintage White Satin, Smoke Black Satin, Sherwood Green Metallic Satin and Maya Gold Satin. Looking at these models, Vintage White Satin takes home the Palme d’Or but they all look pretty sweet.
The SC-Special Hybrid is available now. Head over to Harley Benton for more, or indeed straight on over to Thomann.
