YaY!! AdvancedGuitar!!
I’ve been there so many times…
Such a great shop!
Say HI to Jim for me, next time you’re there, from Denny (gizmo’s Brit Pal)
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$67 Glarry P-Bass
- Thread starter JamesNC
- Start date
YaY!! AdvancedGuitar!!
I’ve been there so many times…
Such a great shop!
Say HI to Jim for me, next time you’re there, from Denny (gizmo’s Brit Pal)
YaY!! AdvancedGuitar!!
I’ve been there so many times…
Such a great shop!
Say HI to Jim for me, next time you’re there, from Denny (gizmo’s Brit Pal)
I will. It is indeed, a small world. I saw Jim again last night at a Blues show. He's putting a trio together and asked if I'd play the drums. I told him I'd give it a go.
If they had a short scale, I'd surely be horsing around with a rebuild on one.
Too me - just about anything can be fixed/rebuilt on a low end instrument - as long as the wood of the neck is reasonable.
Would you guys say that the neck is reasonable? I would never mind putting another hundred dollars into a low bass - to turn it into something special. But only if the wood of the neck was good enough to hold the frets and to not warp. Anything else can be fixed, but you can't fix bad wood.
Too me - just about anything can be fixed/rebuilt on a low end instrument - as long as the wood of the neck is reasonable.
Would you guys say that the neck is reasonable? I would never mind putting another hundred dollars into a low bass - to turn it into something special. But only if the wood of the neck was good enough to hold the frets and to not warp. Anything else can be fixed, but you can't fix bad wood.
I will. It is indeed, a small world. I saw Jim again last night at a Blues show. He's putting a trio together and asked if I'd play the drums. I told him I'd give it a go.
For some reason I Never got round to seeing him play outside of the shop
-as a drummer, myself, I would to take him up on his offer if I were you! 
That’s a really difficult question to answer! To realise why you have to read the whole of this entire thread!!
In short it would seem that there are different levels of quality randomly scattered throughout the different sources of this brand and model although it appears that the earlier ones are the better
I can only speak from my own experience and Say that I am DEFINITELY in the process of changing the neck and selling the old one YMMV
I doubt anyone can tell whether the neck wood is stable until the instrument is a year old or so. At this price range, I seriously doubt there is any consideration given to aging the wood before shaping the parts. Therefore, we simply don't know if it will stay as it is until time passes.
If one was to buy one, invest in it to do upgrades and the neck changed over time, you could buy another to replace it for cheap! Or get another cheap brand to move the upgrade parts to.
I just suggest not getting too emotionally attached to these things, and just do what you want to to one. You lose little and gain more if it all goes well.
As a person coming from a guitar playing past, I would really like a short scale in this price range. Ibanez Mikro's and Squier Jaguar SS's are not really in this price range unless on a severely discounted sale or used. And as may be noticed in my recent posts about making one of these things into a fretless, a solid wood fretboard would have been greatly preferred.
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update: happy to report that I was promptly sent an email today stating the bass that was being held for me was in stock and being shipped within 24 to 48 hours. I only need to send authorization since I set up a pre-sale deal with them.
I think I won't tell the kid till I get the bass and set it up, should be a nice surprise
RTS
I think I won't tell the kid till I get the bass and set it up, should be a nice surprise
RTS
First impressions:
- The neck isn’t quite as comfortable as the P-bass, but it’s within my comfort zone. It’s wider than I’d prefer, especially in the higher frets. There’s a knot that shows as a discoloration at the very top of the neck. At this price point, it’s inconsequential.
- The tuners are functional and work smoothly. It tuned to concert pitch easily.
- The electronics and pickup are all functional and sound good, but not great. It sounds like a J-bass. No need to change them.
- The bridge is installed straight and properly. Intonation was good. However, all the saddles were either bottomed out or close to it, and the action above the fifth fret was very high. Examining the neck joint revealed that:
a) the neck was somewhat misaligned, and
b) the neck pocket was sloped.
I hope that shimming the neck (and realignment when the neck is reattached) will solve the problems. I’ve shimmed necks for bolt-on guitars and basses before, so it’s not my first rodeo.
As usual, a good setup is the difference between a playable instrument and one that fights you every step of the way. CNC manufacturing has revolutionized inexpensive instruments. Very few unfixable problems these days. It’s a golden age for guys like me, who learned to play at a young age with instruments my Mom and Dad could hardly afford; my parents bought my childhood home for $5,500, and paid $100 for my first guitar. I was just 11 when I got it for Christmas, and even then I understood what a big chunk of cash that was for them.
When you say “sloped” do you mean that it slopes down towards the bridge and not up!?!
Still,I’m sure you’ll have as much fun with this as I’m having putting together mine!
Yes, the neck pocket sloped towards the bridge. I removed the neck this afternoon, and shimming it with two thicknesses of a business card in the bridge side of the neck pocket brought the neck into line and took the action to a very low level. So much so that a truss rod tweak to add a little relief was needed. I’m still getting bad fret buzz on the first two frets, across the board, so tomorrow has me looking at checking the relief again after the last adjustment settles in. If the added relief does the trick, great. If not, a new, slightly higher (and better quality) nut may be needed.
Oh, yeah - as is my wont, that white pickguard had to go. A tort guard fit right in after slightly relocating the control plate. 10 bucks from Amazon. Ashtrays are on the way from China, too. The tug bar will be installed shortly. A fresh pic will be up for this intermediate stage tomorrow. BTW... this is a 21 fret neck. Didn’t notice that until I installed the new pickguard. Surprise, surprise. The tuners aren’t off the edge of the peghead, though. Still looks ok.
C’est le bébé nouveau, avec trousseau nouveau.
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That jazz headstock looks almost like a tele style 51 precision!
I think Roxy is the P and Velma is the J
I M H O!
Nope. Not gonna do it. It’s all (mostly) about the neck and time and time again I’ve fallen into the cheap bass trap only to replace the neck.
Jmo.
Jmo.
Every time I read "Glarry" I want to say "Glen Glarry, Glen Ross." : )
I have three SXs (two PJs and one J) and they're golden. Perfect. I'm not afraid of these cheap basses. In fact I bought the first SX thinking it would be a good bass to learn to modify. All I did was put flats on it. On the second one, a PJ, I changed out the pickups to some Geezers, isolated the cavity, and put some black knobs on it. The J is stock and it's my go-to.
I want a Glarry Jazz to see if it's just as good only 40 cheaper than what I paid for the SXs. I'm hooked! Plus I'd give one to a friend in a heartbeat. They're great players and no "golden handcuffs" feeling you get from an expensive bass. Sure, I want a Geddy Lee Jazz but I just can't justify it with these options.
I have three SXs (two PJs and one J) and they're golden. Perfect. I'm not afraid of these cheap basses. In fact I bought the first SX thinking it would be a good bass to learn to modify. All I did was put flats on it. On the second one, a PJ, I changed out the pickups to some Geezers, isolated the cavity, and put some black knobs on it. The J is stock and it's my go-to.
I want a Glarry Jazz to see if it's just as good only 40 cheaper than what I paid for the SXs. I'm hooked! Plus I'd give one to a friend in a heartbeat. They're great players and no "golden handcuffs" feeling you get from an expensive bass. Sure, I want a Geddy Lee Jazz but I just can't justify it with these options.
