Harley Benton L-550 paradise guitar!

A friend of mine bought this beautiful L-550 Les Paul style guitar recently via Thomann.de :
www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_l_550_paradise_amber_flame.htm?partner_id=73786

Here are its official specs:
Harley Benton L-550 Paradise Amber Flame
Deluxe Series electric guitar,
set-neck construction,
mahogany body w. arched flamed maple top,
mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, 60s neck profile,
22-frets, pearloid crown Inlays, 628mm scale,
42mm nut-width, bone nut, 
2 x Wilkinson WVHZ alnico humbucker pickups,
controls: 2-volume, 2-tone & 3-way switch,
DLX Chrome hardware,
DLX tune-o-matic bridge,
DLX Wilkinson machine heads, strap locks,
Daddario 010-46 strings,
finish: paradise amber flame


 The guitar was first brought to me for initial testing and a quick setup. That was not really necessary this time! I only had to lower the action a little bit and set the intonation just right. The guitar came fitted with original d'addario 10-46 strings that had to be simply stretched.
 What a playable guitar! It's got a very playable, slim taper, 60's profile neck. The neck is made out of 3 pieces of wood glued together and it's got a scarf joint for extra strength and truss rod stability. This is a good thing you can find on much more expensive guitars such as the Ibanez Team J-craft (made in Japan) models.
 It's got a dual-action truss rod which is a really cool and expensive feature, The neck relief can be practically adjusted for any set of strings or any (non)standard tuning. The original bone nut is cut for the set of 10-46 strings but it will accommodate 9-42 strings as well. For heavies string gauges, filing the nut a bit would be a good idea. The attention to detail is also really good.
 The hot Wilkinson zebra humbucking pickups deliver plenty of output and lots of mids while keeping the notes defined. They are perfect for melodic rock and hard rock stuff. The guitar comes fitted with a set of strap locks! On the headstock, you can spot the vintage looking tulip tuners that work smoothly,  Its beautiful flamed maple top is not only nice to look at, it's thick too! Having a thick maple top means you get more treble out of a set-in neck LP guitar. The L-550 is very close to some V100-icon guitars I've tested but the V100s cost significantly more. Here is the V100 afd model which costs approx. 400 Euros and it's basically from the same production line: http://www.thomann.de/gr/vintage_v100afd_paradise.htm?partner_id=73786







Cheers,
Thanos