I have always been wary of purchasing acoustic instruments online without being able to play or see how they feel first. After having a look around the nearest music stores and not finding anything that was jumping out at me in the 200euro price range I said what the heck I'd give this one a try, even though there were no reviews on it yet.It was for my son to learn on so I figured it had to be good enough for that purpose and if he stuck with it he could always get a better one in a year or so.
Arrived in the usual prompt fashion from Thomann. At first glance it looks good -simple but nice, it obviously doesn't have fancy beading etc. but I think it is
still well finished and the only obvious flaw I could find was a tiny bit of roughness on the neck which I have to say wouldn't bother me but if you were being picky, maybe.
I left the strings that it came with on for a week or so, which were ok but I prefer 10's on an acoustic and these were I'd say 11's. The action on the strings as it came was again ok but I figured there was space to go lower. So when I changed the strings I took the action down and I have to say it's really nice to play now, not quite as good as my 4 times the price Tanglewood -but close.
As for the most important thing; the sound. It's very good. I teach guitar so sometimes I end up having to listen to beginners who are using guitars that are not up to much. Teaching my son on this Harley Benton I have marveled a few times at how good it sounds.
It's folky but clear without any muddiness and a nice medium sustain. Through the pickup it sounds good too with no feedback through a Roland cube amp..
For the money compared to others I've tried I was definitely surprised, this guitar is really good value.
