The SC-550 has been a huge success for Harley Benton – and it's not difficult to see why. As our SC-550 review noted, this is an single cut electric guitar offer a lot of value as ready-to-go option or project for further upgrades. Now Harley Benton is improving it and doing some of the latter for you with the SC-550 II.
Hardwearing stainless steel frets are now fitted – something even the SC-550 Plus doesn't offer, as are pau ferro fingerboards in place of the previous jatoba for the standard model. The nut has been upgraded from ABS to graphite too.
An AAAA flamed maple cap ups the aesthetic and in place of the previous Roswell humbuckers, a pair of Tesla Opus-1 pickups are now offered.
Harley Benton describe the CR-N neck and bridge CR-B humbuckers as versatile with a "rounded low end, velvety, defined mids and clear treble for the flexibility modern players need."
Like the original 550, there's a weight-relieved mahogany, mahogany neck as a well and finish options including Faded Tobacco Flame (shown above), Desert Flame Burst, Black Cherry Flame, Silver Burst and the Paradise Amber Flame you can see below.
And the best news are the prices…
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Price start at just £229 (inc UK VAT) / €269. Just to repeat, this guitar has stainless steel frets!
See the full range and options over at Thomann.
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
“Man, this is a hit!”: Roger Waters’ vision, David Gilmour’s classic solo and a disco groove - the magic combination in Pink Floyd’s freak Christmas No 1
“The way I use them while listening to music, they don’t sound like hearing aids. They just sound like the ears I used to have”: Session ace Tim Pierce on dealing with hearing loss as a pro musician and how hearing aids changed his life