Harley Benton GS Travel Vs Taylor GS Mini.. FIGHT!!

So on my search for a Taylor gs mini I stumbled upon the Harley Benton Gs travel, is it too good to be true? How does it compare with the guitar it is a copy of? Let’s find out

[rocafella]

I got both. My only two acoustics. Taylor is my main that I only play at home, at a practice, or at a show. Harley is my beater that I will take to the beach, camping, etc.

[andreasvullings]

Die Taylor ist sieben mal teurer klingt aber nicht sieben mal besser. So gesehen ist das Preisleistungsverhältniss der HB unschlagbar. Ich habe selber eine und für unterwegs reichts sie völlig. Zumal der Klang nichts zu wünschen übrig lässt. Leichte Verarbeitungsmängel stören bei dem Preis überhaupt nicht und lassen sich schnell selber beheben zB. Buntstäbe polieren und eventuell entgraten. Alles andere ist jammern auf hohem Niveau. Wir reden hier von einer 100 Euro Gitarre. Dafür ist sie überdurchschnittlich gut und lässt sich super spielen.

[hammondsfromtexas]

Harley Benton all the way. For the price range it's just amazing.

[darrencunningham]

Thanks you for the Review. I was looking for a small acoustic to start teaching my daughter with. Gonna grab the Harley Benton

[rpeirce]

Cool informative video, but it was recorded at such low volume I had to crank up my TV nearly all the way up to hear it. Then an ad breaks in unexpectedly at full volume. I about had a heart attack, my dog jumped up from sleeping on the couch, and I’m sure my neighbors are wondering what the hell is happening over here at 1:45 AM on a Sunday night! The HB GS Travel E is currently in my Thomann cart waiting for me to pull the trigger. Cheers.

[jamesdoherty]

I like this fellas reviews, very thorough and very little bias. Great review!!

[Musikministeren]

Thank you for this, being waiting for this video for years...

[TheWootify]

Great playing and honest review! I'm starting to get curious how the mahogany HB GS would sound with upgraded bridge pins and a graph tech nut and saddle, might buy one :)

[acque]

what would you prefer: harley gs travel vs. fender fa 135 concert?

[Terjei]

Awesome video! I like your honesty. Another thing to consider is the fact that the Taylor have had 11 years to "open up". I have a Taylor DN4e from 2011 and it sounds way "fuller" now than it did back then. How do you compare the spruce vs the mahogany?

[hayzie]

Thanks for this excellent review. Has helped me to decide to opt for the extra £££ on a 2nd hand Taylor. Cheers mate.

[MrChris]

The Taylor is 5 times more expensive. If you buy the hb in Mahogany it is matt finnish.Not a fair comparison. I think you got a dud, you should send it back if its got a bad neck joint.Normally they are spot on.I think the HB headstock is really nice.

[DavidMorgan-es]

The Taylor is 5 times the price .Is it 5 times as good ? Not had any dealings with HB acoustics but have dealt with loose braces and bridge on a baby Taylor

[andycrouch]

Great balls out review. Was thinking of getting the HB but I will always be wanting the Taylor and for the extra £250 ish it will be worth it. I must admit though when I closed my eyes I couldn’t really tell a lot of difference.

[Jeronimo]

Really helpful video, thanks. I bought the HB for my seven year old and expected it to be low rent but I actually love the sound (for what it is) and I was thinking I was crazy for wondering if it was worth making the changes you talked about to an £89 guitar. But it would appear my ears weren’t deceiving me. Of course it doesn’t compare to my Martin but as I already own it, this has confirmed my feeling that it would be worth a little investment. I do find it hard to tune, the low E especially so replacing the tuners would be a great start.
Thanks again for a really helpful video. 👍🙏😎

[The_Flannelmeister]

Nice comparison. the cheaper Harley Benton does sound pretty good to be fair, certainly for the price. A fairer comparison though might have been with the Harley Benton Custom Line CLGS-10S Travel guitar which has a solid spruce top against the laminate top on the GS Travel and is only about £35 more.

[stu-j]

I have the GS Harley Benton in mahogany and it's a fantastic guitar for £110 as I don't like large body acoustics. I'm blown away to be honest as I've always wanted the Taylor but being a tight North east bloke lol I can't justify the extra almost £300!!

[thebouncinghearts]

Great, well balanced review, and love the sprinkling of expletives...I've been looking at getting a Taylor GS mini for a while now (I currently have a fender Malibu all mahogany, which sounds surprisingly nice for it's size) At first was taken by the looks of the koa mini, then the sound of the mahogany mini had me, now I'm falling for the rosewood...I sort of wish there wasn't so much choice.

[philipmumford]

I've got a mahogany and spruce hb GS travel for messing with camping, alt tunings etc. I found the spruce harsh and not very nice to listen to. The mahogany though is LOVELY great little guitar to have on the sofa in the sitting room to just pick up and play. It has a lovely rich tone for such a small body. Trouble I've had with both though is tuning stability so I wouldn't use on stage or for recording. Luckily they now come with tuner (originals had pickup but no tuner) built in but even so it takes a while to get it stable and then next time you come to it you'll find it's drifted depending on temperature and humidity. My Yamaha cpx 700 ii is way more solid in tuning in the same room. Tbf it's a £600-700 guitar though!!!

Like in the vid I want to change the tuners and also string pins - one just cracked in half when I changed the strings!

I've played 4 of the Harley Bentons. The 3 mahogany all had the same mellow tone. The action was fine on all of them and frets were fine for me - nothing bad I noticed. The reason I played 3 mahogany was because I bought one as a present for a friend and I had to ask for a replacement as it was clearly a Friday afternoon job! Hairs in the lacquer, dents and some finishing issues on the neck joint. Hb replaced it quickly though! It played fine just like the others though. The gig bag is fine for chucking in the back of the car.

At the end of the day I'd say don't get the spruce, get the mahogany. Also don't expect it to be usable for live. Get something solid designed for that : higher end Yamaha, Martin, Taylor etc!

[nikolacvetkovic]

I had two old guitars from sixties with V necks, they are quite good to play when You do not jump between them and electrics too often. Those necks feel bigger in hand and those two oldies had necks strait as an arrow after 40+ years. Changing tuners is a must on all Bentons I had. Benton with tuners, bone nut and sadlle is still under 200 euros if You replace it by yourself.