Glarry 5-String Bass - Unboxing, Setup, Review

[vid1900]

If you wanted to **test** different string spacings with the original bridge, just put shims between the saddles and find a spacing you are comfortable with

You can use wood, coins, picks.....anything to give you consistent spacing.

 

[ChuckMann]

I ordered mine.
It should arrive day after tomorrow!!!

 

[vid1900]

I ordered mine.
It should arrive day after tomorrow!!!

Nice!

I can't wait to see your Control Cavity.

Mine had the Audio Taper Pots on the Tone controls and the Linear Taper Pots on the Volumes; exactly backwards, lol

Fretboard turned out to be real wood, so that was an unexpected plus.

 

[ChuckMann]

Here is my new baby in all her glory
Waiting on me to inbox when I got home from work.
She needs some tinkering but so far so good.
Heckuva deal on a 5 string bass !!!!

 

[ChuckMann]

Nice!

I can't wait to see your Control Cavity.

Mine had the Audio Taper Pots on the Tone controls and the Linear Taper Pots on the Volumes; exactly backwards, lol

Fretboard turned out to be real wood, so that was an unexpected plus.

I will have to get a pic later for you

 

[vid1900]

INSTALLING SEYMOUR DUNCAN ACTIVE PICKUP SET
====================================

Of course, it would be dumb to install a $200 pickup set into an $85 bass, but.....

Stratosphere clearanced their Seymour active bass pickup kits (AJB5s) for $80, so they suckered me into buying a set

Since these pickups have a bar magnet, rather than pole pieces, it makes it easy to retrofit without spacing worries.

In the kit you get some really smooth small Pots, Switchcraft Jack, wire, everything except some sort of battery mount.

They also could give you a little more wire, but I'm sure everyone has some extra around the shop (think how many dead computer ATX power supplies you are keeping for some reason....).

 

[vid1900]

The shielded pickups are potted in Epoxy, so no worries about your body oils getting inside and corroding the fine coil wires.

The pickup with the blue band and the "N" on the sticker is the Neck pickup.

 

[vid1900]

Of course like many Asian basses, the jazz pickup routs are a little different than a Fender.

A small amount of wood needed to be shaved off to allow installation.

Score through the finish with an Xacto blade BEFORE you file or rout out the extra wood. If you don't, you risk chipping the finish!

 

[vid1900]

Here, you can see the copper foil used to shield the pickups and wiring from interference.

Yes, the pickup wiring is shielded, but it only takes a minute to guarantee 100% shielding.

The pickup cavities are connected together, and then back to the wiring cavity. So everything is at the same ground potential

 

[vid1900]

Although a few manufacturers just leave the copper foil exposed, I like it blacked out.

Here the bass is masked off.

You can see how the copper foil is soldered to be sure both cavities stay electrically connected, even if the foil's adhesive someday fails.

 

[vid1900]

A thin coat of flat black auto primer, nothing fancy.

Don't put it on too thick or it might chip in the future.

 

[vid1900]

Unmasked, it looks like a top quality job lol

 

[vid1900]

The Duncan supplied pots are full sized, and the Glarry pot-holes are small metric sized.

NEVER USE A TWIST DRILL BIT TO ENLARGE A HOLE IN A FINISHED GUITAR!!!!! You run a crazy high risk of the bit grabbing the wood and tearing out a chunk. (how many hundreds of headstocks have people ruined by **drilling** out the peg holes for new tuners?)

There is a $3 tool at any HF or Canadian Tire that is made jut for this purpose, it is called a Tapered Reamer. Since is it made to ream out metal holes, it will last forever for woodworking. Get one, now:

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Shave out your holes, and check often with a pot. The reamer is so smooth, you may ream too large of a hole if you are not careful .

 

[vid1900]

Here you can see the shielded inside of the control cavity.

You can also see the black grounding wire from the bridge

The smaller Duncan pots fit the cavity without having to remove any wood (like I would have had to do to install full size CTS pots)

 

[vid1900]

Before you clutter up the cavity will all the pickup wires, it's easier to take care of the grounding and signal wires with everything else still out of the way.

Some shrink-tubing around the new jack terminals will prevent then from shorting out against the copper foil, should the jack ever become loose in the future.

 

[vid1900]

Here you can see everything installed

Note that there is a Strain Relief mounted to keep a future owner from pulling the 9V power wires out of the circuit (or if the battery should ever come loose).

The battery itself is mounted with a zip tie connected to a second strain relief. Just snip the zip tie to replace the battery once a year.

 

[Charlzm]

NEVER USE A TWIST DRILL BIT TO ENLARGE A HOLE IN A FINISHED GUITAR!!!!! You run a crazy high risk of the bit grabbing the wood and tearing out a chunk. (how many hundreds of headstocks have people ruined by **drilling** out the peg holes for new tuners?)

View attachment 3790965

Guilty as charged. At least the damage wasn't AWFUL.

 

[vid1900]

Final bill for the bass:

Bass $87
Active Pickups $80
Bridge $13
Stainless Jumbo Frets $7
===================

Total $187


Not too shabby for a great playing, 7 pound, 5-string

 

[selowitch]

@vid1900, I love the clean, precise nature of your work!

 

[selowitch]

So you replaced the stock frets with stainless ones? That can’t have been a trivial task.