Harley Benton GS-Travel Mahogany 4-stars Reviews

Fantastic budget guitar

I bought this guitar early december 2023 and received it soon after, initial impressions were very good no flaws on the finish and overall a beautiful looking guitar after around a month of owning it i have to say the bass notes of the guitar dont sound as bright as I would like but besides that for its price its a pretty decent guitar

Nice travel guitar

A mix of mostly very good and a few minor negatives

Overall I'd give this guitar 4*. I've owned a few Harley Benton acoustics over the years, I don't own any high end guitars, so I'm kinda comparing like for like in terms of price and expectations.

Sounds: This is the best part of this guitar. It is a small bodied shortscale guitar but its sound belies the small size- it sounds at least like a regular sized Om bodied guitar, perhaps a small or cutaway dreadnought.

Tuners:- they feel ok, they seem to hold tune but are a little imprecise, I would change them eventually

Weight:- it feels featherweight, you could play this for hours and not feel it.

Finish: generally very good- it came with some minor binding defects and a few pretty deep scratches around the neck

Fretwork: the frets themselves look well crowned and they were not dull or scratchy, however they are sharp all the way up the neck and will need a visit to the guitar technician.

Overall 4*. It stacks up well against the cheapest Harley Benton acoustics I've bought.

Cheap and very cheerful

Lovely travel guitar, frets were nice not scratchy, I like the slight v shaped neck, nice balanced tone from a small guitar, bought to take on travels on my camper, but play it at home all the time.

Cheap and Cheerful

I have bought about 10 of these for my students. they are a great entry-level guitars for a kid. Not expensive and good enough to get good use out of.

Super budget guitar

I honestly can't fault this for the money. The build quality is solid and it sounds pretty decent and stays in tune. The bundled gig bag is really good quality too, that was a big surprise. If you're on a tight budget for a travel guitar, this is well worth the money.

Very good travel/small guitar for the price.

Just received my GS travel mahagony to replace an Epiphone AJ220 which was too bulky for travel and camping. I also did not like the sound and feel of that guitar.

The GS travel generally looks nice, but closer inspection showed

- finish around the saddle a tiny bit different (effect of saddle glue?)

- some imperfections in the wood at the back (a small discoloration under the finish)

- poorly drilled holes for the bridge pins (looks like the drill wasn't very sharp).

- frets were allright, a bit sharp at the edge of the fretboard, and they could be smoother. Easily remedied. They look to be on the soft side, time will tell.

- some machine heads (tuners) were very poorly seated, with some nuts not tightened down at all. They feel serviceable, no more no less.

- the finishing inside is a bit rough here and there (bracing, neck joint block, ...)

Sound is loud and not bad at all for the size. This was even better for me after I put a medium-light strings on. Nothing fancy though, it's still a small laminate guitar ...

The action of the strings was 3 mm at the low E 12th fret, which is a bit on the high side. The neck bow was also more pronounced than I am used to. Adjusting the truss rod feels a bit weird, not smooth. Still, the neck straightened a bit after 1/4 turn, resulting in a more acceptable bow (0.2 mm on the 6the fret when fretting 1st and 14th fret). The resulting action was now 2.7 mm. No buzzing, even when digging in.

Intonation, while not perfect is certainely ok.

All in all nothing unexpected at this price point, except maybe for the loose tuners which should have been noticed by whatever simple QC is in place.

All in all, this guitar plays and sound like a guitar that costs much more (and I own several). It satisfies my requirements of a cheap small travel guitar that sounds decently perfectly. As an all laminate construction it should be quite robust, I hope it survives many a trip ...

Great job, great value for money!

A really fun instrument

Just got it in the delivery and played it for 2 straight hours. I've previously owned a range of acoustics, from Taylor 614ce to a number of Takamine, vintage Yamahas & old Yairi guitars.

PROS:

FUN. It just works. It looks nice, has a decent tone. There are lots of disappointing acoustics in the 200~400 range and I'd say this one is probably a wiser purchase than many of those. It's obviously reminiscent of the GS Mini it is modelled after but somehow I feel like this has a more open tone, albeit also a lighter tone with less defined midrange. Very fun to play on. Good setup. The bag that comes with it seems worth 20 euros already.

CONS:

1 VERY dry fretboard. You'll need lemon oil.

2 It's more of an upgrade suggestion, but getting a good saddle + pins feels like it would really make this guitar shine - I'm planning on trying this out.

So much value in this guitar (although if I had known about it earlier, I would've gone for the -e version with the pickup - even more value!)

An absolutely lovely guitar to play.

Pleasantly surprised

Wanted an inexpensive small guitar I could lug around to the beach or on camping trips.

Wasn't expecting much in terms of build and sound quality however I was quite pleasantly surprised when this came in. I find myself playing this more than I would admit.

Sometimes also makes it into my recordings. :)

Cheap But very good!

For this price extreem good!

GS-Traveler

Big price bump but I'm still thinking about sending on to my grandson, I had to finish the body really rough and the frets were sharp but once you clean it up and then play it it will be worth it. pro's it was cheaper con's now you'll have to pay more.

Just...wow

I originally ordered this as a secondary cheap guitar I could take out and about and not worry about it getting bashed around. I had a much more expensive (£600-700 price range) acoustic which I have now sold because of how much I love this guitar.

It sounds great, it's a small body so it isn't mega bassy, but I've had issues with boomy acoustic guitars whilst recording in the past, and this thing records better than any other acoustic I've ever used. It plays amazingly well, especially for the money. The action and feel is very light and easy to play, contrary to my "proper" acoustic.

If I had to be super picky, the only thing about it I don't like is the neck profile feels a little weirdly shaped, but that is me TRYING to find fault with it. A neck strap nut would've been nice too.

My friend tried mine and ordered the electro-acoustic version, which also plays and feels awesome. I regret not getting that version myself. If this guitar got damaged, I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Nice travel guitar, but you cant cheat physics

I bought this guitar thinking it would be a good learning guitar for my girlfriend and it is, but it does have a sacrifice on sound because of how small it is. It manages to put out more than i would have imagined but in the end it was a little bit hollow for my tastes, so I picked something a little big larger and was happy!

If youre looking for a small guitar to travel with, I would openly recommend this but if you dont mind something bigger, you should go bigger. This is a great little guitar but just not what I was looking for.

Arrived yesterday very well packed.The guitar is outstanding value for the price a couple of problems a small scratch and scuff mark on the back and a small over drill mark on the bridge.This said it is a very good looking guitar with beautiful wood and good tuners. The strings suit the guitar and give a really nice warm tone, one you would expect from a guitar four times the price. Overall I am very,very pleased with the guitar and haven't put it down yet it's a really playable guitar with a fantastic sound.

Good guitar

I was looking for an affordable folk guitar that could easily be carried around and was positively surprised with this intrument. It is a good value for money so I recommend this product (especially for beginners).

Pros:

- The sound quality is globally satisfying

- The neck is comfortable

- The finishing is very neat and the guitar looks good

- The guitar's travel size makes it easier to carry around

Cons:

- Some frets make a sizzeling sound

- The guitar looses tune quite rapidly

- The sound saturation level is pretty low

good - especially considering the price

I have the GS Travel Mahogany version - without a pickup, sounds really nice to my ears, both strummed or fingerpicked. The bass is a bit quieter, but I guess that's expected. The fret ends stick out a bit, not very much. Really comfortable to play, while sitting on the couch :). I would have liked it to come with a second strap button, but that's no big deal. The included gigbag is very useful and provides good protection.

Looking for a cheap travel Guitar...

... Look no further!

This is an absolutely fantastic little travel guitar - for the money - I've tried a Martin mini, Taylor Mini, Takamine ... all exceptional sound for a small body ... but they will lighten your wallet and for that price you'll be scared to bring it on a beach or throw it in the boot of your car.

This little baby offers all that and some - in a acoustically treated room you will be able to tell that this is not a high end travel guitar ... but don't feel that this sounds like a plank, far from it.

The finish is good - frets sprouted a bit on my one, bridge needed filed a bit - an afternoons work with some sand paper and cup of tea - well worth it.

Changed strings and would possibly suggest investing in a set of decent machine heads to keep the tuning accurate. But for the price it is totally worth it. It smiles at me and I find it irresistible to pick up.

The neck has a chunky feel ... which may not be ideal for a small child wanting to learn on, but that is just a personal preference.

If you want a cheap great sounding traveller - do yourself a favour and check this out.

Finally - if you do some home recording - Hi-string this guitar - the sparkle you get on your recordings are really dynamic.

Great starter guitar

I bought this guitar for my girlfriend to start learning on, managed to play it a few times and it's got a great sound for the size and price. I would probably put thicker strings on it, I found them to be a bit flimsy for playing harder styles, but overall a great product. Works great for folk styles. Would definitely recommend!

Ridiculously cheap but efficient. Decent sound, perfect gibag. With this price really unbeatable.

Good guitar for the price, still needed a huge set up

Its a little bit funny how a guitar - not bad at all quality - can cost so little. Still, the frets were badly mounted. After I took it and made the set up guitar was revived, and now is pretty good sounding guitar. The price for that set up was half od the price for whole guitar.

For the price - amazing

This is a nice guitar. It plays nicely and had a sound that is very comparible to the original Taylor it is based on and I tried in a store once. That one is 10 times more expensive!

Drawbacks. I had to tighten the tuner keys, some of them were really loose. Not a problem to do so.

The frets are not even across the neck. It looks that some of them are also not completely pushed in the fretboard.

Overall, I think that some filing the fret ends and some leveling would fix this. I haven't done this yet, but next time when I change strings I will.

Currently I am using it as my main guitar (just started playing - I came from a Spanish acoustic with a much higher action, so this HB plays great in comparison). I am going to buy another western guitar as my main one and use this for my summer vacation to take along in the nice sturdy guitar bag that is included.