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

[frankie5string]

Reading comprehension is a good thing. I want to try out an unlined fretless. This is my Pedulla:

Why not just not look at the fingerboard while you're playing?
Not looking at the fingerboard is also good for your posture and your neck. A fingerboard is a fingerboard. How do you know the Glarry is even planed properly for playing. A properly levelled fingerboard is important for fretless.

 

[frankie5string]

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

You just described the typical sound of an unbuffered Piezo pickup. Even ultra-expensive RMCs will quack and sound cheap sounding without proper buffering.

 

[delta7fred]

Seems more like a paper product or some kind of partical board made to look wood-ish.

To put the record straight the Glarry fretboard is real wood, square section strips glued together, see photo below.

The nut is on the right hand side, centre to the left side is where the fretboard is tapered to meet the headstock. For an idea of scale I believe that is the D string in shot.

 

[diegom]

You just described the typical sound of an unbuffered Piezo pickup. Even ultra-expensive RMCs will quack and sound cheap sounding without proper buffering.

So, I just need to get a proper preamp and I get a better bass? YES!!!

 

[frankie5string]

So, I just need to get a proper preamp and I get a better bass? YES!!!

Yes, a pre-amp with VERY high input impedance and a good set of tone controls. Should be able to smooth it out and make it more natural sounding.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Why not just not look at the fingerboard while you're playing?
Not looking at the fingerboard is also good for your posture and your neck. A fingerboard is a fingerboard. How do you know the Glarry is even planed properly for playing. A properly levelled fingerboard is important for fretless.

I do believe in not looking at the fingerboard for the heck of it. If I am playing and I have to read a chart or look at the worship leader, I can find my way without looking, but my instrument is not a violin with a tiny fingerboard nor is it held in a way where looking is impossible or even difficult. My eyes are a great tool, and I will look at an unlined board too.

 

[Herbie Chesnutt]

To put the record straight the Glarry fretboard is real wood, square section strips glued together, see photo below.

The nut is on the right hand side, centre to the left side is where the fretboard is tapered to meet the headstock. For an idea of scale I believe that is the D string in shot.

To be fair to anyone that hasn't had one in hand. The fretboard doesn't have the same feel as your typical fretboard, even on ultra affordable basses. My experience was that it was soft and drank up all the oil I could pour on it. It would look good for a couple days then go dry again. And by dry I mean like a mummy.

I know I'm being "that guy" but that was my experience. This is what my neck looked like when I got it. I just had a bad experience all around, but for the cost I wasn't surprised.

For $50-$75 more, the Harley Benton's are a no-brainer in comparison, imo. Everything about the HB exceeded the price. Nothing about the Glarry exceeded the money I spent.

 

[Watchootognbout]

That would be a concern. I could work around it, but I would prefer not to.

If that's the case,get a set of Fret FX LEDs and put them in over the wrong side dots.

 

[rocu]

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.

Fretless Lesbian Gang is a good name for a band.

 

[dkelley]

me and lines:
i've discovered that the lined vs. unlined is really a thing on TB but not so in the real, non-binary, actual world.

That's odd. I discovered lined versus unlined to be quite a thing long before the internet existed... and it was a big thing when I had my fretted ibanez Musician bass defretted back in... hmm... 1987.

Store staff all had opinions - Shuriva woodcraft had opinions - my friends had opinions...

 

[elberon]

The player is way more important than the bass, especially with an instrument where the intonation is up to you and your ear alone

 

[phillipkregg]

I am a big Glarry fan, but I would bet that they did not. I know my Rogue fretless is incorrect, the dots are where they would be on a fretted bass.

To be honest, that's exactly where I would want them.

I picked up a fretless bass once that had the dots marked exactly where the note itself was, and it was confusing as hell. Because every fretted bass has the dots between where the notes are. At first, it seemed like it made perfect sense to have the dot on the note, but it turns out that it's really hard to get used to.

 

[ed morgan]

Do they have a 5 string fretless?

 

[N4860]

I like lined fretless basses very much and I am about good results any way they can be achieved. I respect those who prefer unlined, and I want to try it out myself.

I used to have a lined fretless and I also have no problems with it and I don't judge anyone that plays a lined fretless either. One thing that I will mention that is a pro for having an unlined fretless is the issue of the fretlines sprouting up. With my unlined that I had, a few fretlines began to pop out and made it unplayable in certain positions so I had to put some glue under the fretline and clamp it. I've heard of that happening to other with the change of humidity.

 

[N4860]

View attachment 3864247

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Would you prefer if I removed that part of my post?

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I used to have a lined fretless and I also have no problems with it and I don't judge anyone that plays a lined fretless either. One thing that I will mention that is a pro for having an unlined fretless is the issue of the fretlines sprouting up. With my unlined that I had, a few fretlines began to pop out and made it unplayable in certain positions so I had to put some glue under the fretline and clamp it. I've heard of that happening to other with the change of humidity.

That is a bigger problem on less expensive lined fretlesses like Squier. Nothing is about to move on my Pedulla.

 

[N4860]

That is a bigger problem on less expensive lined fretlesses like Squier. Nothing is about to move on my Pedulla.

True, I would hope that wouldn't be an issue with a high end bass like a Pedulla. It was a MIM Jazz that it happened to me on so not exactly upper tier.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

True, I would hope that wouldn't be an issue with a high end bass like a Pedulla. It was a MIM Jazz that it happened to me on so not exactly upper tier.

I had a lined fretless MIM Jazz that I still wish I had, but that is the story of my bass life.

 

[b_carville]

The necks seem to be where they did the most skimping on quality.The no name P I have has a high fret on the high Aflat on the G string. I could sand it down or raise the action. The player who mentioned shimming the neck to achieve lowest action is right.There is a bit of "baseball bat" thickness to the back neck. I don't mind it too much.
I've had 3 of these & currently have 2. The first was a no name Burlywood P I bought from Amazon.Paid $69.95 including shipping. Gave that to a buddy who had his only bass stolen.He dropped a DiMarzio Model P in it.It plays & sounds fine. The 2nd was a "Burning Fire" blue P that was being blown out for $34.95 including shipping. What I got was a no name Burlywood P. I'm not complaining.That finish looks really good. That has the high frets.The 3rd I got off eBay is a white Glarry brand jazz type for $59.95. That has the boss Glarry logo on the headstock. It also came shipped with solid styrofoam fitted insert,a useless strap with flimsy vinyl ends & a step up from an industrial trash liner gig bag.All of these originated from the same Chinese distributor.With the exception of the Glarry both no names came packed in wadded up Vietnamese newspapers. Chinese labor is starting to inch up cost wise so I wonder if they are made there.The no names were shipped from the same 2 warehouses that Glarry ships from. One West Coast ,one East Coast.
My first bass in 1966 cost $89.95.That's 1960's dollars.These basses are far superior to that POS. You can gig with these & not be embarrassed. They actually intonate & play in tune.
Well...not too embarresed!

 

[frankie5string]

To be fair to anyone that hasn't had one in hand. The fretboard doesn't have the same feel as your typical fretboard, even on ultra affordable basses. My experience was that it was soft and drank up all the oil I could pour on it. It would look good for a couple days then go dry again. And by dry I mean like a mummy.

I know I'm being "that guy" but that was my experience. This is what my neck looked like when I got it. I just had a bad experience all around, but for the cost I wasn't surprised.
View attachment 3864709 View attachment 3864708

For $50-$75 more, the Harley Benton's are a no-brainer in comparison, imo. Everything about the HB exceeded the price. Nothing about the Glarry exceeded the money I spent.

What the heck is that fingerboard made from?
It looks like tarred cardboard or layers of roofing tile material.