Harley Benton Custom Line CLA-15M

Set-up:
Out of the box, it wasn't great. The action at the nut was okay, but it gradually got higher as you moved up the neck. I had to tighten the truss rod a quarter turn and sand 1.5mm off the bridge saddle to correct it. (That may not sound like much, but believe me, it is.) The frets were very scratchy, but level. I gave them a polish and now they're great. The tuners work great.

Looks:
1 slight blemish near the soundhole, but otherwise it's perfect.

Comfort:
The neck is rather thick and very flat, I suspect a 14" radius. This makes "thumb over the top" chords rather difficult. A lower radius would've been more comfortable for me.

Sound:
The stock strings were very dull. Replace them ASAP. Even with the new strings, the guitar sounded rather dull out of the box, however, after a week of heavy strumming it's starting to open up. If I could go back in time, I'd rather get the spruce version for some more clarity, but it's still a nice sound.

So, I bought this guitar as my first 'full-scale' steel string western guitar.

I own a HB GS-mahogany - and for me as a beginner, that guitar is a dream to play - but I wanted to have something with a fuller sound.

All my expectations came true! This is an amazing guitar. It looks great, it feels great and plays great as well.

When it arrived, the high e-string was broken, but Thomann immediately put credit on my account to replace the strings. Great service.

The only problem I have with the guitar is the higher action compared what I was used to with the GS-Mahogany. It appeared to be twice as high, which is not a problem in itself, but with the longer scale length and thicker strings, it was more difficult to play for me as a beginner.

So, I gave it a setup. I removed the nut (check out youtube for videos how to do that - not difficult, just be careful) and I used sandpaper to make the nut a bit smaller - it is beautifully cut, so I did not wanted to mess that up. Now, the guitar is a dream!

Highly recommended guitar!

This is a sold as a budget guitar but with the benefit of a solid wood top.

First I can note the drawbacks of the guitar I received from Thomann, there is a very faint trace of filler around the neck pocket where it joins the body, this in no way affects playability and also the wood on the neck shows some slight discoloured streaks where the wood dye may not have taken in the wood.

There are far more positive aspects to this guitar, the top is solid mahogany and looks very nice (better than the stock photo) and gives a surprisingly loud and deep tone for an 000 sized acoustic. The neck is slim and very easy to fret, the fingerboard is a really nice thick slab of rosewood with nicely levelled and polished frets, tuners are a bit vague but work smoothly and are all aligned properly and they keep the tuning stable.

It it obvious that care has been taken over the setup with a medium low action out of the box, I have taken the bridge down slightly and I suspect the action will go quite low. I really cannot fault this guitars playability and feel and tone, it is a nice guitar which punches way above its price point on this aspect. Only a couple of minor issues as mentioned but for the price and playability and warm tone these are very easily overlooked.

I really think there is no better bang for your buck than with this nice mahogany acoustic, very nice for fingerpicking with a fast feel and action.

If you are looking for a first guitar or a second axe to take the daily knocks then this should be on the shortlist

All delivered with the usual Thomann efficiency.