Glarry: a really cheap way to get into unlined fretless?

[Rojd]

You're on thin ice if she is going to take you out for $99.

My wife's ok with it, if I want to. Now, if I spent 1-2K+, not so much.

 

[Inara]

So I got this one unlined so people would realize what I'm doing and be impressed by it.

Hey man - it's all about getting the girls, right?

That's certainly why I play fretless. I had to switch from unlined to lined, though, because too many women were frantically leaping onto the stage when I played. Men were angrily accusing me of trying to recruit their wives and girlfriends to my evil unlined fretless lesbian gang. It got tiresome.

Now I only play my unlined basses when we need new members.

 

[Gaolee]

That's certainly why I play fretless. I had to switch from unlined to lined, though, because too many women were frantically leaping onto the stage when I played. Men were angrily accusing me of trying to recruit their wives and girlfriends to my evil unlined fretless lesbian gang. It got tiresome.

Now I only play my unlined basses when we need new members.

You forgot the part about it being a biker gang, too. Unless you have to play a Thunderbird for that part.

 

[dkelley]

Easy to fix. Buy a marker - the fancy paint ink type, like white or whatever color you want, and put dots at the right places.

Ok, maybe not easy... gotta find those notes... at least octave and 2 octave (what is that, fret 5?) are accurate to find by pitch that way.

sorry I forgot the word "harmonics" with the 5th fret and octave points there.... ;-) I guess it's understood though.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

That's certainly why I play fretless. I had to switch from unlined to lined, though, because too many women were frantically leaping onto the stage when I played. Men were angrily accusing me of trying to recruit their wives and girlfriends to my evil unlined fretless lesbian gang. It got tiresome.

Now I only play my unlined basses when we need new members.

Now that was funny!

 

[DylanB]

I'm skeptical with stuff this cheap on an ethical level. I get it that Squiers etc are manufactured in countries where the labour costs are lower. But when you're talking about instruments sub $100 it feels like someone in the supply chain is probably getting ripped off. But I could be wrong.

 

[GretschWretch]

A couple of caveats: the factory strings are pretty bad, and on most of these shimming the neck is mandatory as part of the initial set-up. Otherwise, the bridge saddles will bottom out before really low string action can be achieved. But these basses are light, and most of them have highly figured wood which put the traditional woods to shame.

 

[Passinwind]

That's certainly why I play fretless. I had to switch from unlined to lined, though, because too many women were frantically leaping onto the stage when I played. Men were angrily accusing me of trying to recruit their wives and girlfriends to my evil unlined fretless lesbian gang. It got tiresome.

Now I only play my unlined basses when we need new members.

Ah, so nice. No one's caught on to our agenda in the Slide Bass Cartel yet, thankfully. Working in the shadows is so much easier.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Glarrys are very fun instruments!
My only word of advise: I have no clue what the fingerboard wood they use. On a fretless, I would only use flats, or rounds under VERY CLOSE supervision.

Actually, my suggestion was going to be to get a fretless ABG, like the Aria FEB-FL... I have one and I love it! Problem is, they seem to be pretty rare these days...

There are a couple of them on Reverb from Japanese sellers .. they aren't expensive and they do look good .. how's the piezo?

 

[AndyPanda]

If you have a Fender spec P or J style bass in your collection already, you could just pickup a MightyMite unlined fretless neck with ebonal fretboard and swap necks back and forth as desired. I'm pretty happy with mine. They show up used frequently (I bought mine here in the TB classified) but aren't very expensive new either. The side dots line up with where the fretline would be.

 

[diegom]

There are a couple of them on Reverb from Japanese sellers .. they aren't expensive and they do look good .. how's the piezo?

Piezo is cheap-sounding, quite "quacky". Just for fun, I added a contact pickup and really woke it up! At this point, is just attached to the top with putty. I'm planning a more "formal", internal installation. The bass itself is a dream to play. Only caveat, it is pretty big!

Diego

 

[B-Mac]

At $99, this may be too cheap lose if it doesn't work out. It is better than paying $1,000 for a used Warwick only to find out I want to keep my lines.

Official Exquisite/Glarry/Burning Fire Bass Club?

 

[swarfrat]

What can you expect? I bought a Raptor mini for my son. He's only kinda sorta interested, a bit young, very distractable, and has low frustration tolerance. But he's left handed and interested in bass, so when I saw a left handed 24.5" scale P-bass I scarfed it in a nanosecond.

Both it and the SX mini strat came with right handed nuts. The SX they at least flipped it around, but it was cut wrong. The raptor actually had a right handed nut and the 100 Didn't fit in the 0.045" groove. I made him a new nut. But other than that it's a decent instrument and world's better than the beginner instruments of the mid 80's

 

[Pocket4]

Neck swap option? Let's say you've got a P or a J and its maybe 2nd or 3rd in your playing preference lineup. The bass could use some more love and a neck swap can be the ticket. Suggest the Mighty Mite ebonol neck for short money, or shop Allparts, Warmoth or other vendor you like if you want to raise the stakes a little.

 

[ERIC31]

Here's the fretless collection at Harley Benton/Thomann. A few unlined here. These basses are a lot better quality than Glarry, imo, and are still affordable even with shipping and VAT.

Harley Benton Fretless Basses – Thomann United States

This HB fretless looks ace! The reviews are very positive on it as well. For that price plus shipping it's still a great deal.

 

[b_carville]

Mine aren't bad action wise but I do use light strings.
One thing to remember put some lube on the tuning gears. They are completely unlubed


& the gear will probably strip if you turn it out of the box. I used Vaseline 'cause it was what I had around but 3in1 oil or graphite's probably better.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Mine aren't bad action wise but I do use light strings.
One thing to remember put some lube on the tuning gears. They are completely unlubed


& the gear will probably strip if you turn it out of the box. I used Vaseline 'cause it was what I had around but 3in1 oil or graphite's probably better.

Thanks, the info about lubing the tuners is important.

 

[Herbie Chesnutt]

View attachment 3864563

This HB fretless looks ace! The reviews are very positive on it as well. For that price plus shipping it's still a great deal.

I had a Glarry and a Harley Benton jazz in black with blocks. There's no comparison. The Glarry was, um, not good, sorry. But the Harley Benton was a fantastic bass on par with a Squier VM.

Let me clarify, the Glarry body was fine. Even the pups are fine. That neck though is a disaster. about as think as a baseball bat and I don't even think it has a real wood board. Seems more like a paper product or some kind of partical board made to look wood-ish. Just my experience. Others seem to love em.

 

[brianrost]

I have not heard anything about that. Even improper side dots can help, as long as they are consistent.

Actually, side dots that end up "between the lines athat aren't there" will drive you totally insane. Trust me on this one.

 

[Rojd]

I'd give the HB a try if it was stateside. I had to return something to Thomann once and it is was a logistical, multiple hoop jumping nightmare. Never again. I figure if the glarry went sideways, it'd at least be easier to deal with.