GS-Travel-E Mahogany : Harley Benton GS travel vs Taylor GS mini rosewood

To all of you out there wondering about the GS travel, I will share my own experience. I wanted a small guitar with a pick up and bought the Taylor GS Mini. The action was a little high (3.2mm) but there was nothing left to reduce on the bridge saddle. The neck was out of line with the bridge and would have needed to be re-shimmed, which Taylor could do, but in turn would make the action worse. The fretting was poor with some frets being 1mm higher than others so the guitar was returned.

I then decided to buy the cheeper option, Harley Benton GS Travel and I must say I am very impressed. No sharp fret ends, action 2.5mm on the low E, good loud acoustic sound for a travel guitar and a plugged in sound as good as any Fishman equipped guitar (to my ears). All in all, a very good package for around a sixth of the price of the Taylor GS Mini.

Yes, the tuners have plastic buttons, it has plastic saddle and nut, but so what? If you are the type of person that likes a brand name and is happy to pay for it, maybe the Taylor is for you. If like me - and probably the audience - you feel that the song is more important than the brand on the headstock, this guitar is great! I would gig with it and it is perfect for most amateur / semi-pro musicians.

You could spend forever splitting hairs over the sound of the Harley Benton versus the Taylor. You could talk about the fantastic case that comes with the Taylor, but from my experience, the Taylor went back due to quality control issues. The Harley Benton I am keeping and the saved £500.00 plus will come in handy. Maybe I was unlucky with the Taylor and have been lucky with the Harley Benton but that was my experience

Buy the Harley Benton GS Travel, play it, have fun and don't worry about it. A replacement is "only" £110.00