Refining the trussrod cover of the Harley Benton

Gibsons come with super elegant bell-shaped trussrod covers, attached with two screws, one on the top and one on the bottom. This is possible because on Gibson headstocks, you access the trussrod nut through a hole in the headstock, and there is room between the nut and the hole for a centre screw at the bottom of the cover. On budget guitars, the trussrod nut sits directly under the nut, so what you have on the headstock is not a hole, but a groove. As a result you need two bottom screws above and under the groove to attach the trussrod cover. Hence those ugly looking trapeze shaped covers you see on every budget guitar and building kit. Harley Benton is no excpetion to this, but this SC-450Plus model comes at least with the trapeze filed into a nicer, curved and roughly pointy shape.

Harley Benton VT Series trussrod cover.

You will have noticed, as I did, that this not only has a slightly nicer shape than the average budget trussrod cover, but it is also cut out of 3-ply plastic sheet. Now what does this tell you?

Examining the headstock of the Harley Benton

Most focus always goes to the body, so one may easily overlook blemishes or imperfections on the headstock. That would be a mistake since the headstock is where the strings are held and brought in tune. If the headstock and/or its gear are not up to speed, the guitar will likely be no good.

I had already noticed the A string's tuner shaft protruding a little. Anything else?

So far I've been rather pleased with the body, how lucky am I with the headstock?