Description
Review of the AKLOT GN01 38 Inch Mahogany Acoustic Classical Guitar Travel Kit
The AKLOT GN01 is a 38 inch nylon string guitar built from mahogany and sold as a travel oriented kit with a thick gig bag, tuner, capo, strap, string winder and picks. AKLOT positions it for children, teenagers and beginners who want something portable rather than a full sized instrument.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 18:1 ratio tuning machines. A higher gear ratio means each turn of the button changes pitch less, which makes fine tuning far easier. Budget instruments usually fit coarser 14:1 machines and this is a real upgrade.
- Nylon strings, which sit at roughly half the tension of a steel set and press down with much less effort. That is the deciding factor for most beginners in the first few weeks.
- A thick padded gig bag rather than a thin sleeve, which matters on an instrument bought specifically to be carried around.
- A capo and a string winder are included, two items that starter bundles usually leave out and that both get used regularly.
Cons
- The size and scale figures cannot both be right. The instrument is sold as a 38 inch three quarter travel guitar, yet the spec table gives a scale length of 25.6 inches, which is a full size classical measurement. A genuine three quarter nylon string guitar has a scale nearer 22 to 23 inches.
- The listing calls it a classical guitar and a folk guitar in the same title. Those are different instruments with different neck widths and different playing traditions, and no nut width is published to settle which this is.
- The string material is recorded as “grystal nylon silver-wound”, an obvious typo for crystal nylon. Small errors like this are a reasonable signal about how carefully the rest of the sheet was filled in.
- The spec table lists a CR2032 battery as required and a pickup configuration of “ACOUSITC”. The guitar has no electronics. That cell belongs to the clip on tuner in the kit.
- The stated weight of 7.58 pounds is the packed kit, not the guitar. A 38 inch nylon string instrument weighs closer to three or four pounds.
- No statement about whether the mahogany top is solid or laminated, which is the detail that most affects the sound.
Detailed Product Description
Top, back and sides are listed as mahogany, with an okoume neck and a walnut fingerboard. Mahogany is a warmer and more compressed sounding timber than spruce, with less top end sparkle and a strong midrange, which suits fingerpicking and quieter playing. Okoume is a light African hardwood related in character to mahogany and is a common neck substitute. Walnut has become a widespread replacement for rosewood on fingerboards since trade restrictions tightened, and it behaves similarly: comfortable, slightly open grained and needing an occasional wipe of oil.
The strings are crystal nylon with silver plated windings on the bass strings. That is the standard construction for a nylon set: plain filament on the trebles and fine wire wound over a nylon core on the basses. It also means this instrument must never be fitted with steel strings, since the bracing and bridge are not built for that tension. The difference between the two string families is explained in the guide to nylon versus steel string guitars.
The bridge is fixed, with the strings tied at the bridge in the usual nylon arrangement rather than held by pins. Action height is set at the factory and can only be lowered by shaving the saddle, which is a workshop job. The 38 inch overall length puts the instrument between a full size guitar and a child sized one, which is the point of it: small enough to fit in a car boot or an overhead locker, large enough that an adult does not feel cramped.
What Comes with the Product
- The 38 inch nylon string guitar in mahogany finish
- A thick padded gig bag
- A shoulder strap
- A clip on tuner
- A spare string set
- A cleaning cloth
- Picks
- A string winder
- A capo
Not included: a hard case, a footstool, a guitar stand or lesson material. The listing does not confirm whether the CR2032 cell for the tuner ships with it.
Who It Suits
This suits a teenager or an adult who wants a nylon string guitar that travels, and a household where the guitar needs to live somewhere other than a stand in the corner. The soft strings, the mahogany body and the well specified tuners make it a reasonable instrument to learn on, and the capo and winder mean nothing else needs buying for months. Smaller bodied options generally are discussed in the guide to guitars for small hands.
It suits less well a formal classical student, since the nut width is unpublished and classical technique depends on a specifically wide fingerboard. It also suits less well anyone who wants the bright ring of a steel string acoustic for strumming, because this instrument cannot take steel safely. Comparable small bodied instruments include the Cordoba Mini II M nylon string, the Enya Nova Go carbon fibre travel acoustic and the ADM 30 inch nylon string kit. The full range sits in classical and nylon string guitars and travel and small body guitars.
How to Maintain
Wipe the strings after every session. Nylon does not corrode but it absorbs skin oil, goes dull and loses pitch stability, and the wound bass strings wear through long before the trebles do.
Keep it in the padded bag when travelling and out of car boots in hot weather. Heat and dryness shrink a thin wooden top and can open a glue seam.
Never fit steel strings. It is the most common and most expensive mistake made with nylon strung guitars.
Tips and Recommendations
Measure the scale length on arrival, from the nut to the twelfth fret and doubled, before ordering replacement strings. The published 25.6 inch figure does not match a 38 inch instrument and should not be trusted.
Expect constant retuning for the first fortnight. Nylon stretches a great deal before it settles, and the fine tuning that the 18:1 machines allow makes this much less tedious.
Product FAQ
Is this a full size guitar?
No. It is 38 inches overall, which sits between a child sized and a full size instrument. The 25.6 inch scale length in the spec table is a full size figure and contradicts the stated body size.
Is it a classical or a folk guitar?
The listing calls it both. It carries nylon strings, which points to classical, but no nut width is published and that is the measurement that separates the two.
Does it need a battery?
The guitar does not. The CR2032 cell listed applies to the clip on tuner supplied in the kit.
