Harley Benton Custom Line CLGS-10S Travel

Ik heb deze gitaar gekocht omdat ik veel positieve geluiden hoorde over de gitaren van Harley Benton. Na vervangen van de snaren heeft het geluid van deze compacte gitaar mijn verwachtingen overtroffen.
Absoluut een aanrader voor iemand die om zoek is naar een reisgitaar of een gitaar voor thuis die je makkelijk oppakt om op de bank te spelen.
Ook zeer geschikt voor beginnende of jonge gitaristen door de kleinere schaal lengte.

CLGS-10S is exceptionally well built guitar. It looks 5 times better than it's price. The wood binding around the body is beautiful. Solid top makes it closer to Taylor GS Mini (even if the wood is not AAA grade).
Naturally it doesn't sound like a full size, all solid wood guitar, but just changing the strings to Elixir Nanoweb Extra Lights is more than enough for a decent sound. All additions like bone nut&saddle or bridge pins will further improve the sound.
The size of the guitar and the shape of the neck (V neck) is ideal for a beginner below 1.70 height. Short scale and extra light strings reduce the string tension dramatically, even at the standard tuning. You can bend the strings like an electric guitar.
Action at the 12th fret is 3mm. It's a little high for an experienced player, but it's actually ideal for a beginner who needs to learn the correct positioning of the left hand fingers. It can easily be adjusted by sanding down the saddle or maybe replacing them with a bone saddle as the guitar deserves it. It would further improve the sound, too.
[Edit] I bought 2 of these guitars, one mahogany and one spruce (this one). Both of them have problems at the 13th fret 1st string. It's more than buzzing, it's muting. Might be solved with a higher saddle, but then the action would be too high.
Summary: Ideal gift for your teenage child or petite spouse who wants to learn playing acoustic guitar. Much better than buying them a classic nylon string guitar.
Buy this guitar, take it to a luthier and ask for a bone nut and saddle replacement with a new set of Elixir Extra Light PB strings (of course an action setup will come with those). You can also ask Thomann to do it for you before shipping the guitar.

I ordered 2 of these.
1 arrived in flawless condition while the other one had pretty bad shipping damage. This review will be based on the one without damage.

First of all, the finish is gorgeous and the inlays around the soundhole really makes it pop. The action was low with no buzz, the intonation was good and it held the tuning pretty well. I love that it has glossy finish on the body and satin finish on the neck, so it looks great but also feels great to play.
The tuners could be better as it's can be annoying to tune it because of the gear ratio, but it's not something I would upgrade on such a cheap guitar. When it's in tune, it's stable enough. It's quite loud for such a small body, and the solid top resonates nicely.
It did seem to lack some treble, and had some unwanted sizzling highs.
When I changed to phosphor bronze strings, the sizzling went away and the sound became nicely balanced.

For this price, this is a great guitar for sofa use or as a travel guitar.
It does not seem too sturdy though, so be careful.