Harley Benton Traveler-E-Steel

I needed a small guitar to have on a boat... I know, not the best environment for an instrument except for a foghorn…
I didn't have any great expectations (about 70 Euro with a decent pickup and a gig bag!) and for the odd nights entertainment on board anything would do. To my surprise the little ugly duckling was more like a little cute duck! The workmanship, I suppose one still calls it like that in spite of almost all being machine made, was surprisingly good and the little guitar is actually quite good looking and very suitable for small spaces as a travelling guitar! The fretboard is a bit narrow for me but playable, and if don't have shovels for hands like me, it should really be acceptable. Now, of course, don't expect the sound of a jumbo because you'll be disappointed. I found the sound, considering the small corpus, quite adequate. After changing the strings for decent ones the whole experience improved. The neck is straight but the ends of the frets needed to be filed – otherwise they would have made my fingers to minced meat! The bridge had to be lowered, but admittedly, that's a personal matter and many would be happy with setup as is. All in all I would by this little gem again – have tried a well known backpacker guitar (about 300-350 Euro) and feel the difference in price is absolutely wasted… you can get a little holiday for the price difference and bring your new little duckling with you!