Harley Benton ST-Junior HSS SBK

I bought this guitar for my 5,5yo son. He enjoys it very much. I'm really happy that the Thomann consultant Moses talked me over from buying bigger more expensive Ibanez micro with two humbuckers, because the bigger guitar would be less convenient for small hands. Bless him. He saved me from kid's disappointment. I'm really happy you have such professionals.

I had a tough choice between a classic travel Kremona with nylon strings and something electric. I followed my son's wish, because for me his passion and wish is more important than easiness for play. If he wish, he masters anything, I thought. It seems i haven't mistaken yet.

The box contains:
- The guitar itself
- The necessary toolset for fixing strings and fret height.
- Poor 3m cable that is better than nothing
- documents
Pros:
- Awesome fretwork: flawless. Doesn't need any fixes with a rasp.
- Prepared well: strings height is good, The scale is well fit. All screws are tight.
- The dark-gray paint looks absolutely amazing.

Cons:
- I noticed that sometimes plug is disconnected: had to disassemble the plug socket: it turned out the plug sometimes touched the internal wires. Now fixed.
- No tremolo machine: a bless for beginners.
- Sounds like a cheap one. But it could be perceived as a joke if I said that it's unexpected. 99 Euro! And it sounds! I heard some guitars 5 times more expensive and they sounded worse.

Cons:
- It's small, so the tune is A-based (while normally it's 2.5 tones lower -- to E). But this fact is articulated well in the description.
- The pickguard doesn't look so impressive as the rest of guitar. And also my son made a lot of deep visible scratches on it on the first day of play. Probably that's intended.

Experience of 5,5yo player:
He is amazed by how the guitar looks and it is felt in hands. The sound is pretty good for a cheap one and is absolutely enough for a young beginner. The belt had to be remade for him. If you are taking a belt as well, you need 20 cm shorter versions than a standard adult one. Probably, for the one for ukulele.

I also got an attempt to change the strings from 9ths to 12ths under my kid's pressure. He wanted to have the same scale with my guitar. I asked several times and warned that probably the strings will be too tough to play for him. He confirmed and reconfirmed he is sure. I spent 1.5 hours to change the strings and tune the bridge. When it was ideal, the little player said it's impossible to play and cried very loud. =\
Changing back to nines.
Do not make such a mistake. 12ths are too tough even for me.

Overall: it's the best choice for little beginners. Very satisfied with the good buy.

For a half scale guitar, this is so playable and so fun, it's crazy. Forget getting it for your kids, get one for yourself, you won't be able to put it down. Pair this with a portable mini battery amp and you can just throw it in the backpack and go! It will stick out of the backpack ofc, but still. Awesome fretwork for a 99$ guitar, I didn't have to file anything down. The value for the money pretty much blows my mind :) Put some heavy strings on it to be able to tune it in standard.

This guitar is a beginners dream. I would recommend parents to buy it to thair kids as a first guitar. (if the parents know how to show use of the el. guitars; if not buy a nylon acoustic). But mine has problems with the pins (that hold the strings) falling out when changing strings. (That can be fixed with a little glue) It has issues with the bottom string (6th) when hitting to hard (It flobs). It could use locking tuners, the electrics sound great. It can be tuned up to Bb but a controlled touch is needed. I use it mostly in the G# standard tuning with a set of 9-42 and a light pick (0.70). It's very resonant and very fun.