Burns-bass Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 I’d hazard a guess that this is 10 times better than the Kay P-bass I paid £25 for in 1997. Adjusting for inflation I’d hazard that’s about the same price, but an awful lot better bass... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 1 hour ago, Burns-bass said: I’d hazard a guess that this is 10 times better than the Kay P-bass I paid £25 for in 1997. Adjusting for inflation I’d hazard that’s about the same price, but an awful lot better bass... I'm afraid not, having owned both the Glarry is worse. 😥 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 11 hours ago, gjones said: To be sold at that price at a profit, I assume it is produced in a sweatshop, on the other side of the planet, by 10 year olds, who are paid 50 cents a day. Out of interest, where was this bass manufactured? Don't think any company will own up to their stuff being made in a sweatshop, but it has been proven in the rag ( clothing) trade that even with loads of 'accreditation' much of what is made is produced in working conditions and with young workers that would make us blanch in the UK. Even iPhones which are made in China by Foxxcon have been in the news recently where they have been taking students on placement ( and the students have no choice if they want to pass their course) and making them work crazy hours for little or no money. I cannot see these Glarry's being made in anywhere but China at that price... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 8 hours ago, ped said: If they made them properly maybe! By the time they get to 12 they will be master builders, to rival any of the big name ‘boutique’ builders 😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 10 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said: I'm afraid not, having owned both the Glarry is worse. 😥 Crikey. That’s a bold claim! Having a terrible, heavy bass with a thin sound and poor set up never stopped me playing. I went to a jam session this week and there was an Axl jazz Bass there which was equally poor, but that didn’t stop a steady stream of players (good and bad) having a crack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 27 minutes ago, Burns-bass said: Having a terrible, heavy bass with a thin sound and poor set up never stopped me playing. . It does me I’m afraid... thin weedy tone with no bottom end? I can’t derive any enjoyment from that. A bass has to sound like a bass for me 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 12 hours ago, CamdenRob said: It does me I’m afraid... thin weedy tone with no bottom end? I can’t derive any enjoyment from that. A bass has to sound like a bass for me 😊 I meant when I started. Now I can afford boutique basses and all that, but I knew no better. It was a revelation when I picked up an Aria Pro II The Cat Bass. Loved that thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 On 15/09/2019 at 16:14, ped said: Full disclosure: This bass was sent to me by Glarry Music. We were in discussion about advertising and I wanted to try the product beforehand. They sent me a bass to try in return for a review on Basschat. The Glarry GP bass retails for an incredible £72.99 with free shipping. Yes that's right - this bass costs about the same as an effects pedal or a couple of packs of strings. It can't be any good, surely? Maybe OK for a beginner? I had to try one for myself to see just how bad a bass in this price range would be. Glarry GP in bright yellow I have had a few Precision style basses over the years, and my first bass was a Squier Affinity Precision Bass (now apparently only available as a PJ) in blue. P basses are often associated with beginners; they're cheap, simple and fit in with all sorts of music. That's why many seasoned players end up going full circle and purchasing a more expensive 'boutique' Precision years later. Someone new to playing bass may not have much money to spend, not knowing whether they'll play for long, and with so many other demands on finances - so one might assume a cheap bass is the way to go. I'm going to argue this can be the case, but with some exceptions. The paintwork is flawless The bass arrived in a triangular cardboard box with a styrofoam insert holding the bass. Included are wrenches for the bridge saddles and truss rod, plus a 1/4" jack lead. Although the lead is cheap and rather thin looking, it's a nice addition. Indeed, Glarry sell a pack including an amplifier for £104.99. This looks like the ideal starter kit, doesn't it? Immediately upon picking up the bass, I could see how well finished it appeared to be. The bright yellow paint was even and flawless to my eye - and the fit and finish of the accoutrements seemed every bit as good as I expected. The body is incredibly light, making the neck feel heavy, however as a whole the bass only weighs 3.05kg with the balance point being around the 15th fret. After tuning up I decided to have a quick play to see how it felt 'out of the box', which is how many beginner players would use the bass. I don't remember ever thinking about action or truss rods when I started playing; it wasn't until much later that I started to tinker and get any bass playing better. As some have pointed out, those hard won early battles against high action and poor setup allow us to later appreciate a finer instrument and may even help develop our playing early on, but with budget basses being so well made these days, it's hard to argue now that someone should put up with something poorly setup. The trouble is how the player would know that their instrument can do better. The attractive headstock As such, out of the box, I found it difficult to play. The action was quite high and there was some back bow to the neck, choking out the first two frets. The strings supplied were steel rounds which felt about 0.045 standard gauge - they felt a little rough and there was some 'chorusing' on the E string which I've had with dud strings before - however, the bass was playable; it had a decent output and I'm sure a younger me could have lived with it like that, no problem. Often at Bass Bashes I play someone else's bass and find the action way too high for my tastes, so I think my own preferences should be ignored from this perspective - I should think someone more used to a higher action would have found it perfectly comfortable. I did wonder if it would be helpful for the bass to come with a brief setup guide, but that could appear daunting and I suppose most people would be able to find out some basic tips online if they were so inclined. My own worry would be that some people might not realise and it could put them off playing. The tuners are where the cost cutting is most evident Let's start with the top of the bass and work our way down. The headstock, bearing the quite stylish looking Glarry logo is unfinished maple, as is the back of the neck. It's generally smooth to the touch but has a very slight roughness, though the back of the neck feels great. The tuners are fairly poor quality - after a little grease they started to work more positively but they are quite rough and stiff to turn, especially when stringing up from scratch. Once you're in the right ballpark they seem to hold the tuning well and adjustments are easy and accurate, but their stiffness really gave me a workout as I strung the bass up and down whilst I adjusted and dismantled the instrument. I should have bought a motorised winder! The fretboard is a dark rosewood. It's quite a thick slab and it looked very dry, with small pieces of fluff stuck in the grain from where it has been presumably wiped down during construction. I gave it a liberal application of Planet Waves Hydrate which really helped the look and feel of the board. The neck itself is quite rounded and fairly deep which took a little getting used to but familiar to many with a 42mm nut. Worth mentioning is the fretwork - it's extremely tidy!! No high frets I can detect, not yet at least - and although the fret ends are cut a little roughly they can be easily addressed. Before - a bit dry! After - looks much nicer! Action post shim showing fret ends The neck joins the body in a conventional bolt on fashion. Here, there's a plastic spacer between the neck plate and the basswood body and a four bolt arrangement. I found the neck pocket to be too deep, so I ended up adding a shim to lift the fretboard up, allowing a lower action. Even by normal standards, with the bridge saddled flat on the floor, the action was quite high and I noticed how close the fretboard was to the surface of the body, almost more like a neck thru design. I'm not sure if this is normal or whether mine was cut a little deep, but I added a shim of about 2mm to bring the action into line. I should note that I also had to file the saddle of the G string down another 2mm in order to get a super low action - again, not something everyone would need to do. Neck with shim added I restrung the bass with Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwound strings, 0.040 size, which instantly made it feel better and reigned in some of the uneven response from the round wounds. Worth mentioning though that the rounds that came with the bass are for sale at only £6.99. The Cobalt flats alone cost more than half the price of the rest of the bass. Worth mentioning and also noticed at this point was the nut - it was quite rough and had a few sharp edges which I removed with a knife and some sandpaper. Otherwise it seems to be cut just right and functional enough. The nut before tidying up New strings The precision bass pickup is a thing of great mystery - there are so many types, overwound, underwound, alnico or ceramic magnets, vintage or modern, poles or blades, you name it. The pickup use here is actually perfectly acceptable - it has a good even response which is particularly snappy in the treble range and though I think it lacks some low end, the output is decent and it has a truly authoritative sound. The pole pieces sit quite proud of the cover which I don't like the feel of because I keep touching them, but I've seen others which are flush with the cover so I'm not sure which is most common. The height of the pickup was a little bit low, and the lack of foam underneath or springs on the retaining screws means that can't be adjusted easily, and I'm not taking the strings off again to add some springs until I have that motorised winder! Electronically all seemed in order - it’s a simple wiring harness, the soldering looked quite neat and the pots are freely rotating and with a nice amount of resistance. However, after reassembling the bass (I removed the pick guard and removed the debris in the cavity and sandpapered off a few rough edges on the plate itself) I found the tone control no longer worked. After some poking about with a screwdriver I found the cap on the tone pot had one leg touching the wire to the volume knob - the post are quite small and the legs are quite close together. I probably bent it a little bit whilst removing the plate, so I bent it back into position and all was fine again. I'm not sure that would have been a problem otherwise. The Glarry P bass pickup The guts and wiring - would benefit from a little extra shielding And finally, the bridge. A classic 'bent tin' affair, with five bolts at the back but also an extra two at the front corners. The saddles are free to move side to side of course, but once strings are under tension it's stable enough. Adjusting the intonation was fine, but as mentioned I did have to file down the string slot on the G string as those barrel saddles are quite tall - but I've had to do that on all sorts of basses, not just cheap ones. Otherwise it's business as usual at this end. The bridge after adjustment My overall impression? I now have a super playable and excellent sounding bass which is great to look at, comfortable, light and CHEAP! I definitely recommend that you buy one if you're confident with doing setups or just want to have a play around - even for the painted body alone you can't say fairer than the price. Others have pointed out how these basses could be the ideal testbed for modifying, but personally I think it's just great fun playing such a cheap and cheerful instrument. Would I recommend one to a beginner? I think so, with a caveat - honestly I think once set up properly these make superb basses for beginners or otherwise, but they really do need some fettling to make them more playable, which ultimately might mean a beginner sticks with it. The trouble, as mentioned, is getting a beginner to realise that they should put some cash aside for a setup when they buy one - however with a test sample of one bass, I'm not able to judge how well setup there are generally. As mine had a little backbow on the neck I think a beginner would be reluctant to try and adjust that themselves. The sound? well, I know some magazines and reviews give a star rating but I don't think it's possible to judge the sound with stars - all I'll say is that this bass sounds great now, with good strings it has all the snap and clank I like from a Precision. You could say it's a little 'poky' sounding, but it has a really nice character and I really do like the treble response of that pickup. Soon I'll add some sound clips to the post but in the meantime, please ask away if you have any questions! Cheers ped So, aside from the need to rebuild it to make it play properly it was great? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 Yeah for £70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Just discovered this post. It's bizarre reading. A positive review of an incredibly cheap instrument with one essential caveat - it needs a thorough set up. The responses that followed are then utterly negative as if you'd slated the bass from finish to fretboard! Not great for a beginner but superb for someone who knows what they're doing and is strapped for cash. That's how I read it 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 I’m pretty sure ‘out of the box’ the setup would have suited a lot of people. I’m just very picky about a super low action and almost zero relief and I couldn’t begrudge this bass for not allowing that right away - I’ve had basses ten times the price that wouldn’t either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 FWIW I gave it to a colleague at work who’s been really enjoying it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 As I say, I thought the review was positive. Where Thomann beat the competition is their stuff is perfectly playable straight out of the box. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 15 minutes ago, stewblack said: As I say, I thought the review was positive. Where Thomann beat the competition is their stuff is perfectly playable straight out of the box. I’m pretty sure I’d be filing down G saddles on a HB too, but I’m weird like that 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 22 minutes ago, ped said: I’m pretty sure I’d be filing down G saddles on a HB too, but I’m weird like that 😂 We all have our proclivities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 (edited) I'm considering buying one of these just to stir the pot or at least give a proper, objective reply. They're £86 now so they'd better be amazing! As I'm sure you all know I have no deep care or desire for P basses, so if I end up liking one, you know it's good Edited October 31, 2021 by neepheid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 11 minutes ago, neepheid said: I'm considering buying one of these just to stir the pot or at least give a proper, objective opinion. They're £86 now so they'd better be amazing! As I'm sure you all know I have no deep care or desire for P basses, so if I end up liking one, you know it's good Wasn’t mine proper enough? 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Just now, ped said: Wasn’t mine proper enough? 😂 Smiley noted, but apologies all the same - my barbed comment was meant for people who reacted with a surprising (or should that be unsurprising) amount of scepticism to your review. I wonder how many people have actually tried the instrument in question before dismissing it simply based on its price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 4 minutes ago, neepheid said: Smiley noted, but apologies all the same - my barbed comment was meant for people who reacted with a surprising (or should that be unsurprising) amount of scepticism to your review. I wonder how many people have actually tried the instrument in question before dismissing it simply based on its price. Yeah only messing. Tbh one of the reasons I don’t do reviews in return for free stuff (get offers quite often) is that it’s really hard and I like to be honest. Otherwise you end up like the magazines that give everything 5 starts to keep the advertisers happy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 20 minutes ago, neepheid said: I'm considering buying one of these just to stir the pot or at least give a proper, objective opinion. They're £86 now so they'd better be amazing! As I'm sure you all know I have no deep care or desire for P basses, so if I end up liking one, you know it's good Beware. I hated Precisions until I got my hands on a Sue Ryder, which I got just for a bit of fun and modify it... Since then I've bought probably 7-8 Precisions 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 1 minute ago, ped said: Yeah only messing. Tbh one of the reasons I don’t do reviews in return for free stuff (get offers quite often) is that it’s really hard and I like to be honest. Otherwise you end up like the magazines that give everything 5 starts to keep the advertisers happy! I met a guy who used to write for the Guitarist magazine. When chatting about reviews and how honest they can be he said that indeed, they sort of have to give good reviews since their advertising pays their salaries, and that the way to get the best info from the reviews was 1) for the good stuff, read the review, and 2) for the bad stuff, check what catagories didn't get 4 or 4.5 stars instead of 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 4 minutes ago, mcnach said: Beware. I hated Precisions until I got my hands on a Sue Ryder, which I got just for a bit of fun and modify it... Since then I've bought probably 7-8 Precisions Dinna worry, I've had a Squier P and a Fender Cabronita P in the past. Also got a G&L L-1000 (the ultimate evolution of the P bass by the man himself, you could say) so I think I'm good. I'd be getting this just to see for myself how good (or not) a sub <£100 bass is these days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Weird this should come up.....accidentally came across a video on youtube of that really really talented english bloke who has appeared rivaling davie504 on his videos (sorry, I've forgot his name). Anywho, he makes it sound like a million dollars. Also good to see top players playing instruments easily affordable for beginners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 1 hour ago, neepheid said: just to see for myself how good (or not) a sub <£100 bass is these days. Careful , that can be a dangerous path to take. Bought a £76 Harley Benton just to see how little £76 got you . Come April it'll be 8 year since that fateful decision 😮 Turned out £76 got me a cracker of a bass. A few grand of basses were made redundant after buying that it. Still has all the original hardware , never even did the peghead reshape 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 15/09/2019 at 16:14, ped said: Full disclosure: This bass was sent to me by Glarry Music. We were in discussion about advertising and I wanted to try the product beforehand. They sent me a bass to try in return for a review on Basschat. The Glarry GP bass retails for an incredible £72.99 with free shipping. Yes that's right - this bass costs about the same as an effects pedal or a couple of packs of strings. It can't be any good, surely? Maybe OK for a beginner? I had to try one for myself to see just how bad a bass in this price range would be. Interesting stuff. A couple of related queries. You mention notes choking at the first couple of frets. Doesn't this make the instrument as is basically unplayable or was it only when bending etc ? Related to that - unless I missed it - there's no mention of the neck relief or any truss rod adjustment you made. Would be good if you could clarify these points. Thanks again for the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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