Harley Benton DS-10 Mini

Bought as a short term instrument after moving country before getting my other instruments sent over at a later date. For the price a perfectly acceptable guitar. Sound is small/boxy as expected but not unappealing. The size means you can easily play it sitting in any chair or on any sofa. Never unwieldy like a standard sized guitar.
The overall build quality is fine. No issues with gluing of the binding/neck joints. The top seems to be a very soft piece of wood and will probably indent easily over time.
However, the nut wasn't properly cut so the intonation near the nut wasn't great - I was able to cut deeper slots for the two high strings and now it's ok. The neck didn't need adjusting - good relief straight out of the box. But overall the action is HIGH. Not much you can do unless you want to sand down the bridge (I don't). For this reason I wouldn't recommend as a guitar for a beginner, whose finger tips will naturally be much softer. They would probably find it quite painful to play for any extended period.
As a 3rd/4th/5th (...!) guitar to have around for noodling it's a perfectly good option, however, and could certainly be taken travelling without worrying about it getting damaged.

So I decided to get this thing for my kid as his first acoustic.
He's 7 and loves everything guitar.
I figured this would be good for a beginner and thought it looked beautiful on the site, so I got it.

Came nicely packed, box in a bigger box to protect it from damage and arrived right before Christmas so great timing too.
I was pleasantly surprised, not against low expectations, but this is a great instrument for a beginner, for kids, and for anyone really.
It's light but holds together very well, has a clean bright sound and bigger than you would expect to come from its small body. That puts a big smile on my kid's face! On mine too!
Action is a little high but he likes it that way and that's nothing that can't be fixed with very little effort anyway if you like it lower.
Tuners work okay and tuning holds well.
The matte finish is beautiful and it really feels nice to the touch.
There are few minor things but not even worth mentioning and most related to personal style and preference that can be easily fixed or adjusted.
I've seen way more serious issues with way more expensive instruments so you can't go wrong with this one.

Overall I think is a great little guitar, big bang for the buck, and I'm thinking of getting one myself. I always thought no barbecue or campfire feels right without the ol' strummin' and this one's great for the road.

unwrapping the box within the box, i was greeted by a well protected, well presented, quality looking guitar. It looks better than i had hoped for in terms of its satin finish, headstock and inlay style and overall appearance of the contrasting wood finishes. I couldn't fault the sound either, it's diminutive appearance does not lack any audible presence. If you have small hands or thin fingers you will do well with this as a travel instrument to be proud of and considering it's budget price it is in no way lacking. I on the other hand have sausage fingers and grossly underestimated what an 80cm long guitar would feel like for me. I will definitely buy another Harley Benson in a heartbeat as its replacement as, despite some youtube video review reservations, i have experienced first hand what great value for money and quality you can get from this brand.

I was pleasantly surprised by this little guitar. I bought it basically on a whim, since I already had shipping paid for with another guitar. For the money I figured it was worth the gamble. This is a solid little guitar. Out of the box it was nearly in tune and the action was a little high, but not too bad. The fretboard is a little dry and there is some minor fret sprout, but I've definitely seen worse on much more expensive guitars. It's an easy fix. The tuners are okay, nothing fancy but they work and seem pretty stable. Otherwise, it is a really well built instrument and is a perfect guitar for travel, practice at the office, campfires, kids, etc... It's a small body guitar with small body sound but for what it is it sounds pretty good. Definitely better than some of the full size "student" instruments I've tried at music shops. If you already have an order at Thomann you might as well throw one of these in as well since the shipping is paid for. It's absolutely worth the price if you're comfortable fixing minor issues yourself. I wouldn't buy one of these and pay to have a tech fix it, that seems like a waste of money. But again, if you can use a nail file on the frets and some lemon oil on the fretboard, that's about all you'll need to do.

Impressions are very mixed. Advantages/disadvantages:

Disadvantages:
1. The guitar does not intonate well;
2. The strings are located very high;
3. There is an undulating deflection of the neck, which limits its adjustment;
4. The guitar was over-dried.

Advantages:
1. Very good resonance;
2. Beautiful wood;
3. Holds the string tuning well.

Based on what I wrote above, we understand that the disadvantages are fixable. The guitar is actually very good, but it requires a lot of time, skills, money in order to make it what was expected. I ordered the guitar by mail and could not know in what condition it would come. Also, there is no guitar master for tuning in my city. I had to read guitar-building textbooks for 3 days, buy the right tools to tune it. Moistened the guitar with linseed oil, the wood returned to normal. I did not send the guitar to the seller for maintenance, because considering the cost of the guitar, it is not cost-effective. Here I can't find files for the grooves of the strings on the up nut in my city, I hope when I find it I will rebuild it to the final. I really like this guitar, I don't want to part with it, I'm upset, but I hope I can save it.
I informed Thomann about the problem and they suggested that I send it back. It would be better if they sent me a set of files (and void the warranty).

I've had this guitar for a few months now and I like it a lot.
Pros: It feels good in the hands, plays well and doesn't sound as bad as I expected. Very addictive.
The hardware is quite good, good action right out of the box and I don't really ever experience tuning problems.
Perfect for traveling or just to noodle around with on the go.

Cons: The body feels a little fragile. It's obviously not the same wood as the more expensive guitars, you can tell it will break quite easily if you aren't careful (Which you should be with any guitar anyway, but you get the idea)
Pretty cheap wood overall, but it is expected from such a low priced item.


Conclusion: If you want a guitar to use for practice at home or to take with you on magical journeys, this is the instrument you need. You won't necessarily play gigs with this baby, but it's okay because it isn't its intended purpose.
With a price like this, you shouldn't even hesitate.