Harley Benton DC-580LH CH Vintage Series

Arrived in perfect condition - no blemishes at all. No problem there. No fret sprouts on neck - smooth as butter. Strings as usual showing slight signs of corrosion, but I always restring immediately. Fitted with D'Addario 9 gauge set and away she went. No issues with intonation and the action was already super low. The fretboard needs lemon oil as it was quite dry, but not an issue. This double cut is the equal to Epiphone for sure. I would recommend this (lightweight) guitar to anyone, newbie to seasoned played. We all need an SG type guitar in our arsenal. Only gripe is the lack of colour choice for us lefties.

I really liked the sound, which is my main interest. The pickups are quite nice and no need for upgrade. It is nice to have 24 frets in an SG type too. The action is good and easy to tweak, didn't need much adjustment to make it low and easy to play. The only thing that let me down is the quality control. There was a big nash of about 2.5cm by 0.5cm in the lower edge where paint was totally missing. It seems that it was brushed against something before the paint was dry, and so there was this big white dent. I decided not to send it back to Thomann because, the delivery service DHL here in the UK (at least in Yorkshire) is a nightmare to deal with. So, I bought a bit of paint that almost match the cherry red of the guitar and cover the missing paint. It does not look as it should, but I don't particularly mind about appearances. So, you have to keep in mind that it seems that Harley Benton "Quality Control" "passed" is a bit of a lottery and definitively not true in this case. It's a shame that they are not really careful and do proper quality control.

What can I say , what a great guitar for 130 bucks. Finish is spot on . Neck is perfect and appears to be one piece of maple. Pick ups are good to go. I might change out the tuners for quicker response , but they work fine and hold the tone. I would recommend anyone looking for a SG to buy this and avoid paying 1400. Heck you could buy 10 of then for this price, and still not pay what you would pay for one Gibson. Thomann did a great job packaging and protecting it on its journey from Germany to Arkansas USA. Thanks for the pleasant experience. I am able to get more guitars with what I saved on this one , and can still get my Angus Young on.

I ordered a new (not B-stock) DC-580LH because the DC DLX was not offered in a left-handed version. The guitar came with several notable defects:
1. Five high frets that caused buzzing on multiple strings, even after checking the relief and action height. It requires filing the frets to fix.

2. The bridge was defective. The saddles were installed in the wrong order (with the short outer one installed on the 3rd string), and the short saddle was itself made incorrectly; strings going over that saddle did not clear the rest of the bridge. At a minimum, a replacement saddle is needed, if a single saddle is available, or the entire bridge.

3. The back of the guitar has a large 10 cm x 10 cm finish blemish that looks like a large water spot.

The end result is that the DC580 has to be seen as a "project guitar" that you use to modify and improve your skills as a technician or luthier or to pay a professional. If you're looking for an immediately playable instrument, you may or may not receive one.

As a huge fan of Tony Iommi I was immediately attracted to this guitar. Instead of buying the Epi tribute for $1k I saved my money and got this DC-580. I couldn’t be happier. At the price it is a steal. The fretwork is great, although they will need a polish. Paint looks great with no blemishes at all. The pickups and electronics are very usable and work well. I may put in a set of P90s to get closer to the Iommi sound.
I have an Epi Iommi signature guitar and this Harley Benton is very comparable at almost 1/8th the price. The neck is a little fatter on the HB and the pickups not quite as lively as the Epi but it’s close enough to be in the same league.