Harley Benton Custom Line CLGS-10S Travel

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.

Bought as a gift to a young girl just learning to play. Personally have the lower priced mahogany version and will upgrade to this if I can sell it on.

Surprisingly good sound and finish for the price and size. But expect imperfection in the "Selected" solid spruce top.

Most notable faults where frets sticking out do to neck shrinked and fretboard not oiled properly. This is the fourth HB guitar I've had my hands on and all of them came with dried out fretboards. Not that oil cost much so one can speculate as to why this is?

Although the guitar are stable and holds it tuning well there is nothing Deluxe about the machine heads other than the name.

Gigbag is ok, but padding could better for real traveling.

Overall this is a great beginners guitar for smaller hands, but also good fun to have laying around for parties and traveling. At this price point it's surely recommended if you can give it an hour TLC to sort out the fretboard yourself.

The solid top really resonates! I have this guitar for one year. It has been my most played guitar. SOUNDS AMAZING for a 100€ instrument. It is so pratical because it's small and u can just pick it to play on the sofa, on the car, on the bed, when something creative comes up in your head. I have 3 Harley benton Guitars, (2 eletrics, each double its price) and this is my best one. I would have payed twice the price for it, I am really impressed... Just had to change to a heavier gauge strings and...wow! Really really nice sound coming from this solid spruce top, it's a pleasure to play it!

Wonderful little guitar. Fully playable out of the box. Nice finish, low action, comfortable V-shaped neck, decent frets and tuning machines. No buzz or truly dead spots anywhere. Some frets are a bit quieter then their neighbors but that’s not a big issue. Resonance and playability can’t match those of an expensive full-sized acoustic guitar, but they’re quite acceptable. I’ve played for several hours without any strain. Actually it’s quite a pleasant experience exploring the possibilities of that tiny little treasure. Perfect for my upcoming travel. The gig bag is nice. Very light, compact but absolutely playable guitar for the money. It’s a good idea to use some oil for the fretboard. The frets are a little rough on the edges but that doesn’t affect the playing unless you favor some crazy slides. Stable tuning. In tune along the fretboard, no matter if you play solo or chords. Changing the strings with Elixir 10-47 phosphor bronze was a trade-off - increased speed, playability and bending but less resonance.

I received my guitar in the post yesterday and I was delighted. Everything looked tge way it should. The big problem I have is that the frets were literally like razors. After jamming for a few after unboxing and tuning I looked at my finger and thumb that had been sliding up and down the neck (along the edges of the frets) my skin is torn to shreds and if I was a kid or a learner with softer skin it would have sliced and caused blood and possibly the early giving up of learning an instrument. I got a small file and after about an hour I got them nice and smooth. I should have had to do that, no matter the price of the guitar, you don't expect your skin to be shredded for playing a brand new guitar for 2mins. Overall I love the little guitar, great sound for the price. Thomann, get your act together and watch out for those razor sharp edges or you'll have a lawsuit on your hands.