Harley Benton GS-Travel-E Mahogany Reviews

for this price it is ok. but when you look at it you think it was assembled quickly and hurriedly. also plastic keys are the least funny.

Great guitar with a great price

This petite size guitar has an awesome sound!

I’ve been searching for a smaller size guitar and after watching reviews and comparing a few ones I decided to buy this. I love the bright and grand sound, as well as the matte finish design and the color which I really like! Really great for jamming around and traveling of course as it comes with a nice beige gig bag. The gig bag is not too padded, which I wish it were, but it has velcro straps inside to keep the guitar fixed so that makes it alright.

If you’re looking for a great guitar with a great, affordable price, don’t skip this one!

Poor quality

I've bought this as a couch guitar and to some extent it has fulfilled this duty.

But after some time it started buzzing around 12th and 13th fret to the point that now those two frets are completely useless. I cannot tell if it's a high fret, neck, nut, or saddle problem. If I take it to a luthier he'll probably charge me more than the price of the guitar to fix it.

I guess it that was to be expected from such a low price?! Don't know, but now I only play until fret 11...

my best purchase ever!

This is by far the best money I have ever spend in any piece of instrument.

I bought this guitar for traveling and playing in jam sessions. In such occasions, I don't want to worry about my expensive gear. I am always asked by many other musicians about my guitar and no one believed it costed only 109 EUR. I receive compliments all the time.

I had a chance to compare this guitar with other mini travel guitars and the quality of this instrument is unbelievable for the price. These small travel guitars sometimes sound "boxy", so does this one. It does not deliver huge range of bass frequencies by its nature and it is not super loud. Nevertheless, I can easily plug it into an amp or sound system in concerts thanks to the pickup system. It is great for busking with a portable battery powered amp.

Here are some very minor cons:

• The gig bag is nice but not sturdy to coup with my extensive usage. The shoulder straps started to come off. I would suggest not to put heavy items to the pouch.

• The finish has small pointy spots. It should have been buffed.

Buy one

This is an amazing sounding guitar, and is flawless in its build quality, get one , you won't regret it.

Awesome Guitar!

Does exactly what I want it to do, work as a guitar to quickly record ideas and add bits to my work.

For the price, amazing quality and wouldn't fault it at all, other than wish it had a graphtech nut/bridge saddle.

Unbeatable

I will do my best to be short on this. :)

Out of the box this guitar knocked me out....this is so unbelievable that at this price point you get something superb as this...

Pros: Awesome playability and awesome neck, no need to set anything except to tune the strings, very light, and sound is huuuuge for 3/4 size....This guitar will listed your hands whatever you want to play and im serious about this!

Cons: I'm gonna be honest, the tuners could be better even if this means that guitar has to be more expensive but the tuners are the weakest point on this guitar.

2nd thing is this battery pocket which is located in the whole so in case you are playing it plugged somewhere and battery is dead you will have to at least unscrew the tuning machines to have the battery replaced.

These are the only 2 reasons why i dont use this guitar live on gigs and that's why 4 stars for features.

I was blown away once i have received this guitar that i seriously thought about using it live instead of my Taylor...

i can't give it less than 5 stars, love it

I mainly use this at home, playing to my little 2yo daughter, making up songs and stuff like that. She loves it

I didn't expect much from a guitar of this size, but the sound is amazing. Very clear and defined, bright sound with enough low end.

I prefer this to the standard dreadnought guitars, which have a deeper bassy and usually less defined, muddy sound (at least within the same price range as this one).

I heard that this type of guitar is mostly for finger picking but I mostly strum, to me it sounds great either way.

PROS:

- travel size

- nice, defined bright sound

- built-in pickup

- very nice neck, comfortable

- decent tuners

CONS

- can't think of any. Guitar seems well put together, didn't notice any issues so far.

I was having trouble making up my mind between this and HB blues mjce model due to cutaway, but I figured I didn't need the cutaway and I was right.

Also, I like the small size, very convenient and comfortable to play.

Hope this helps someone make a decision.

Strangle recommended

i just fall in love with this guitar , from the first moment that we touch each outer. Good looking good an well done instrument , Sound is amazing compare to price - we didn't deserve for this luxury !

Wonderful Guitar!

Overall I think this guitar is well worth the money. Although I would recommend a good setup too to get the most out of it. So keep that mind when buying a guitar in this price range.

Cosmetically it is beautiful, really nice wood and finish. I love the colour.

Playability: I thought the action was a little high at first, so I got it professionally setup. I got the action lowered and new strings After a good setup, I loved it even more.

Sound: Lovely sounding guitar, I like it a lot. For a small guitar it is warmer and louder than I expected. Pickup is ok, not really sure how it compares to other pickups. But it works and I had no issues with the jack or electronics. Although the adessive backing on the pickup isn’t the best. In the end I had to glue the pickup so it would stay in place.

I don’t really use the pickup but it is a nice option to have. I’d much rather mic this guitar/

Neck: Please also be aware the neck is a V shape neck. I forgot that when buying. Initially I wasn’t sure about the V profile neck. It was just different to what I played before. But over time you will get used to it and it just feels like a normal neck now. I think it is a comfortable neck to play and it is easier to do the thumb over the neck thing with a V neck. So it’s good if you like fretting notes with your thumb.

Tuners are ok, especially at this price point.

The gigbag is a very very nice addition too!

Perfect guitar for travelling

The guitar I got required initial setup. After trust rod adjustment and lowering the bridge done by the luthier it is now much better guitar. Certainly I think of it as one the best options if you think of guitar for travelling. Comparing it to 5 times more expensive Taylor GS-Mini has no point. Of course there is a huge difference in quality of both instruments but after the adjustments mentioned above the playability of GS-Travel-E is great. For a bit more than 100€ you get a perfect guitar for travelling in the elegant gigbag and piezo pickup which is really impressive. Since the purchase I take this guitar with me wherever I travel to and each time it gives a lot of pleasure. Short scale together with 10-46 strings also gives a possibility to practice some electric guitar licks as bending does not require hands of steel. Definitely recommend it.

Harley Benton GS-Travel-E Mahogany

Awesome compact instrument with full sound!

I bought this guitar as a beginner, having become frustrated trying to learn on my husband’s very, very lovely mahogany Martin D15 dreadnought. I specifically wanted something smaller that was more comfortable for me to hold and play, and having my own, inexpensive guitar meant I was more likely to pick it up and practice without feeling intimidated by learning on someone else’s (very expensive) guitar.

I bought it six months ago now, and my plan has worked. I’ve improved vastly thanks to buying this guitar. The sound obviously isn’t as beautiful as the Martin dreadnought I’m able to directly compare it to, but It sounds like a small guitar is supposed to sound, and now that I have six months of solid practice under my belt, I’m able to make it sound much nicer than I could when I first bought it.

A few small issues that I’ve had were that the glue holding the pickup inside the guitar came unstuck within a few days of playing, so we had to reattach it. We chose a different position than the original location to try and work with gravity a bit better, and made sure to stick it down nice and firmly, and it hasn’t been a problem since. The second issue is that my B string in particular does not hold its tuning well, but I check my tuning each time before I start to practice anyway, so it’s not a big deal. The last issue is that the neck is shaped in such a way that using a capo can be difficult. I use a Shubb capo, and the back of the neck is shaped in a way that doesn’t give the capo a lot of surface area contact and it can be easy to nudge it and have it move or unspring and fall off completely.

suitably impressed

I visited the site to order a bouzouki, but spotted this guitar at the same time. It took my fancy and the price seemed ridiculously low, yet the reviews seemed so positive. So I gave in to temptation, and I can only say I'm as delighted with it as the other happy pluckers who have praised it. The tone is good, even with the factory strings (I may change them for my usual favourites later, but seems to be no need right now) and the finish is better than I expected for the price. The lack of a second strap pin was the only alteration I've needed to address, easily done.

Highly recommended.

Amazing deal!

All I can say is that you should really change the default 10-47 gauge to something heavier (minimum 12-53 or 13-56) then you'll see a big smile on your face!:)

In my opinion 10-47 are too floppy and simply cannot drive this baby enough plus you got lots of unintentional string bending/buzzing.

I believe that's the reason why Taylor puts 13-56 on their GS-Mini.

For the moment I'm using D'addario EJ16 Phosphor Bronze 12-53 and I just love the sound. Next will be Elixirs medium with half step down tuning. Already tried that with 12-53 but the tone was affected too much and I could hear some buzzing down the frets.

I don't know if it's normal with a small scale body (V-neck) but the neck is kinda stiff and I couldn't add more relief even with the truss rod being loose. Not a big issue but worth to mention.

The V-neck feels nicely in my small palm, short finger hands.

Frets are OK but could be better polished.

The piezo pickup sounds surprisingly good but man the signal is too hot! An additional volume control would be nice. The end jack came loose after two weeks. I had to remove the strings and tighten from the inside.

Btw, my wife loves the look and the sound of this guitar more than my FG7300s tobacco sunburst:)

A thing of beauty

I don't know how Harley Benton do it. This guitar totally lives up to all the fantastic reveiws. Looks and feels like an instrument that would cost 5 x the price.

Set up great out of the box, I will change the factory strings, but that's about it.

Just a thing of beauty.

Took the plunge, last month and bought a Single cut 450 P90 gold top, that's awesome too.

I've always gone for Fender Squires, but I can't wait to be able to order one of Harley Bentons Fantastic looking strats now.

Brilliant Little Guitar

Bought this as my first acoustic after a while playing electric. Was very pleasantly surprised by the quality, after changing out the factory strings for Daddarios it sings beautifully. Great small guitar, very comfortable to play compared to a full size dreadnought acoustic. Pickup isn't amazing plugged directly into an amp but a preamp pedal should sort out any issues. Would definitely recommend to a beginner, comes ready to play out of the box and is very comfortable, makes you want to play it. The included gigbag is good quality too, it's a nice addition. Definitely worth the money, but would probably save on the pickup and go for the pure acoustic version unless you know you're going to use it.

H.B gs travel e mahogany

A great little guitar that gives hours and hours of pleasure , for the money You pay , which is very little You get a friend for life , it will keep You company and give you many special moments , a great asset for anyone ...👌

Sounds good and plays well ,a great couch guitar ..✌

First time buyer

Great sound, Great feel, ringing Tones, Beeuuutful! Frets are a little dry though. Other than that Wow!

What the $#%????

I can not believe the quality of this guitar. The looks, the Feel, the sound are amazing. I am not going to lie, I did change the strings out, but that is it. The action feels great. The finish is almost flawless. For this price it is almost a joke if you don't buy this thing.