Harley Benton GS-Travel Spruce

Hij is niet geweldig, maar wel waar voor zn geld. Als je een gitaar mee wilt nemen op reis maar bezorgd bent dat er wat mee gebeurt, moet je een goedkopere meenemen. Deze komt daarvoor in aanmerking. Niet duur, best wel OK klank, zeker als je de snaren even vervangt door wat betere. Maar je moet niet te kritisch zijn. Zo is de intonatie hoger op de hals niet helemaal in orde. Ook heb ik de frets moeten polijsten, maar dan speelt en klinkt hij heel behoorlijk. Niet gek voor de prijs. En ook nog incl gigbag. Nice.

There aren't many reviews out for this product so hopefully mine will help some people out here.

TL;DR: Awesome small guitar with amazing sound, especially for the price. Finish lacking a bit but won't affect the performance of the guitar. Good tuners, matte neck and comes with a gigbag.

Having moved to Germany recently I was missing my guitar back home; a big dreadnought which is actually pretty hard to play. I wanted something small and robust I could take with me everywhere and wouldn't mind getting dinged or scratched up.

Lo and behold the Harley Benton GS-Travel. Of course, somewhat of a copy of the Taylor GS Mini. It has a shorter scale length than a full size guitar but is still about 50mm bigger than the Harley Benton Mini. When I first unpacked it I was kind of shocked, it's small! The sound however is anything but small. I was so surprised at how good it sounds and how well set-up it is from the factory. Neck didn't need any adjustment, action was perfect and the 10 gauge strings make it a breeze to fret.

The V-shape neck might take some getting used to, but for me it complements my playing style. For a tiny guitar, it is sufficiently loud. Its actually somehow louder than the auditorium guitar I used to borrow from a roommate but it doesn't project as far. Of course, this version doesn't have a solid top, but for about 20~30 euro's more you can get a solid top version (but won't be able to handle abuse as much as a laminate). Tuners work remarkably well and are accurate, even more so than the 350 euro guitar my roommate has.


The finish isn't perfect but honestly I don't mind and don't notice unless I look for it. The neck has a matte finish which makes it easy to slide up and down on and the headstock looks absolutely gorgeous in my opinion. The lower frets have some dirt/oxidation on them but it doesn't affect the playing. The bag that it comes in offers decent protection, just a normal gigbag.

If you're looking for something to play around the house or take with you and don't care about getting abused then definitely go for it. The V-neck might not be for everyone but I like it. For 80 euro's, I cannot figure out how they can produce such a good guitar. This easily beats guitars in the 120~150 euro's range from well-known manufacturers. I still have to try out 12 and 13 gauge strings to see how they perform, but the 10's are already impressive.