Glarry Bass Posts

[SoonerBill]

Yamaha trbx $290. Ibanez GSR $250. Glarry GIB $99 Look to be the same bass.

I can't speak for the Ibanez. But I had the Glarry and now have a TBRX174. Same shape body is about the only similarity. Neck connection is different. Tuners are different. Yamaha has bass, treble and volume controls. Glarry has P volume, J volume, tone and master volume controls. The stock pups were a bit better in the Yamaha. But I put Geezer Butler pups in the Glarry and moved them to the Yamaha.

 

[Ekibnur]

I've had two Glarry basses and have liked both, but both had issues that would make it hard for me to recommend them to beginners. Both needed nut filing, the fretted one needed some fretwork to clean up a few high frets and sharp ends, and the fretless had dots where they'd be on a fretted bass which was just confusing. Both had pretty bad neck dive from light bodies and heavy tuners/necks, but they were so light it was easy to compensate for it.

Both were fine basses, and for 75 bucks, a 100 bucks in parts, and a few hours in time they were better than the 400 dollar Squiers I've played, but that's not great for someone who just wants a beginner friendly playable bass.

I'm still a big fan though, and when I need that fretless P bass sound the Glarry comes out.

 

[jd56hawk]

Its a hit or miss situation very much like buying a Squire. Out of 100 Squires you might find 2 good ones, 1 great one.

Funniest thing I've ever read here in fourteen years!

 

[MovinTarget]

People are looking at this all wrong; Glarry is not underpriced they are exposing how OVERpriced (some) instruments are in the entry level market.

I have been a member of what I think is one of the more established Glarry/budget clubs on TB for years and if some y'all would get off your high horse and read, you'd see we hold ZERO illusions about these instruments. Perhaps they will be firewood in twenty years but at ~$60 each we are okay with that... so are a lot of people just trying an instrument out. That is a palatable barrier of entry compared to many brands. Heck some can even afford to make a mistake at that price point as they try to figure out what they want.

Soft wood? You bet! Fabulous for cutting your teeth on routing if your are learning to mod.

Light bodies? Great for those struggling with shoulder pain, Just switch to a wide, grippy strap (which you should already be using if you have shoulder pain) to avoid neck dive.

Modding is in fact the reason we keep coming back. Why the heck are we going to experiment on a $300+ dollar instrument that will likely get all the hardware stripped out? Pay less than $100 and use the other $200 for the mod parts... or less!

I won't fault people for buying more expensive instruments *especially* if that's how they earn their living. But nobody bought a Honda Civic stock, thinking it was a race car.

I agree the last reason to by Glarry is for resale value (at this point in time), but there are plenty of reason *to* consider them and few reasons to poop on them compared to other brands when:

1. They also suffer from QC problems because...
2. The come out of the same factories as many other much more expensive brands.

So find something you like to rock on and have fun!

 

[DWBass]

They obviously are underpriced.

Not underpriced. Everything else is overpriced!

 

[MovinTarget]

Not underpriced. Everything else is overpriced!

Lol thats what I just said!

 

[SoonerBill]

And I agree with both of you.

 

[doctone]

Yamaha trbx $290. Ibanez GSR $250. Glarry GIB $99 Look to be the same bass.

Indeed, they look to be... because these folks will copy even the cheapest Yamaha. Quality Control is most of what you pay the extra $$ for.

Edit: @MovinTarget: Everything you said may be true from the perspective of a seasoned player/modder, but keep in mind they make their profits from beginners or people who would like to try the bass for the first time. Show me a serious teacher who will recommend the Glarry over a Yamaha or Ibanez.

 

[MovinTarget]

Indeed, they look to be... because these folks will copy even the cheapest Yamaha. Quality Control is most of what you pay the extra $$ for.

Edit: @MovinTarget: Everything you said may be true from the perspective of a seasoned player/modder, but keep in mind they make their profits from beginners or people who would like to try the bass for the first time. Show me a serious teacher who will recommend the Glarry over a Yamaha or Ibanez.

I would argue that giving a newbie an absolutely perfect instrument from the beginning could hinder development, but I come from the old-school "adversity build character" mentality where I sometimes have a practice bass with high action so that playing for real is a breeze... If they are new I think the most important thing is that its playable, but not perfect and Glarry can fill that bill just as well as a starter Squier CV, Yammy TRB or Ibby SGR. The big counterpoint is that Glarry has *very* beefy necks and yet many find it more comfortable b/c their hand cramps on a thin Ibby.

When YMMV, its nice you didn't pay too much for the bass. If you bought from Glarry direct, you'd be surprised how amenable their customer service is!

As for Teachers; that's assuming the serious teacher even knows about Glarry...

Glarry came on the scene less than 10 years ago.

A serious teacher is going to recommend what he knows, if he doesn't know Glarry he's not going to recommend it. If he doesn't know Guild, he's not going to recommend it. If he doesn't know Epiphone he won't recommend that either. If the serious teacher is in his late 60s and grew up on the Beatles, he might only recommend Hofner. Why? Because if they value their position as a teacher they want to talk about what they are knowledgeable about.

But this doesn't really have anything to do with teacher opinion/experience. My brother bought a bass without even telling me he was taking it up, turned out it was a "Burning Fire" style Glarry or something off Amazon. He brought it over, and I was able to drop the action waaaay lower but the intonation ended up be almost perfect as is and I filed maybe 5 fret ends total...

I would argue that is a comparable experience to the purchase of a entry-level Squier, Yamaha, and maaaaaybe an Ibanez but I'll admit they are usually pretty good out of the box.

Don't forget that there are plenty of QC controversies for established brands too... Anyone remember the Gretsch Junior Jet with it's <cough> humbuckers???

If nothing else, I was able to show him how to care for his bass and give him pointers for tweaking performance. For $70.

Seriously, why are we hating? So many of these bases share parts and just have a different name stamped on the headstock.

 

[MovinTarget]

If you are interested, we are remembering one of our OGs that just passed yesterday and some of his modded Glarrys are being put up to commemorate him. He kept studious notes on how much he invested into each "axe" and most never topped out over $300 all in IIRC

RIP @JRA :

Post in thread 'Official Exquisite/Glarry/Burning Fire Bass Club?'

May 24, 2026

One of my most significant memories has been his Christmas digs.

Of course, as a fellow bearded bassist, when he grew it out, it was killer!

A couple of my favorite builds of his...

This one motivated me to build my own pseudo Nate Mendel Glarry GP.


I haven't even taken the time to dig into his monkeying around AI pics.

• MadJack

• 
• 

 

[RodRy]

We won't know the answer to that until at least 2065. I doubt any of US will be around to see.

To be fair

Yamaha trbx $290. Ibanez GSR $250. Glarry GIB $99 Look to be the same bass.

Does it though? The Glarry is a 24 fret, has different bridge location, different knob location.

Similar, but clearly not the same bass.

 

[FRoss6788]

RIP @JRA :

Bummer.

He always seemed a true gentleman.

 

[MovinTarget]

Bummer.

He always seemed a true gentleman.

He was and absolute gent!

 

[GretschWretch]

If you are interested, we are remembering one of our OGs that just passed yesterday and some of his modded Glarrys are being put up to commemorate him. He kept studious notes on how much he invested into each "axe" and most never topped out over $300 all in IIRC

RIP @JRA :

Post in thread 'Official Exquisite/Glarry/Burning Fire Bass Club?'

May 24, 2026

One of my most significant memories has been his Christmas digs.

Of course, as a fellow bearded bassist, when he grew it out, it was killer!

A couple of my favorite builds of his...

This one motivated me to build my own pseudo Nate Mendel Glarry GP.


I haven't even taken the time to dig into his monkeying around AI pics.

• MadJack

• 
• 

Oh no! I am just learning about this. BOY, will he be missed. He was a true guiding light of the club. Now we've lost three: @Eatsfirst, Ronzo, and now JRA.

 

[2saddleslab]

So sorry to hear of JRA's passing. RIP, my friend, you will be missed.

 

[Ed Goode]

First of all, RIP JRA, very sad news!

I picked up a Glarry for my granddaughter since she wasn’t sure if bass was going to be her thing. I only own fretless basses, otherwise I would have given her one of mine to use. The bass definitely needed a full, complete setup, real strings (as compared to the fence wire that came with it) and a set of straplocks, but it sounds okay and looks good!

But beware, you’ll need to put some elbow grease into it to get it playable …

 

[ajkula66]

RIP to our friend JRA, you're being missed already.

 

[Pep]

I went back read a lot of his posts and what he did with the Glarry is impressive to say the least. I agree with him about certain players making fun of the Glarry and those of us who own them. They would never play one even if it played and sounded as good as their regular player.
@JRAs run ended much too soon but he left a huge part of his heart here on TB.
Godspeed my friend!

 

[Ampedup]

JRA inspired me to pull the frets on this Glarry, I found out I love playing a fretless and love this light weight bass. The modding was a ton of fun too. I got a GIB Glarry 5'er that is super nice, just needed strings and a minor setup and super light too.

 

[Pep]

JRA inspired me to pull the frets on this Glarry, I found out I love playing a fretless and love this light weight bass. The modding was a ton of fun too. I got a GIB Glarry 5'er that is super nice, just needed strings and a minor setup and super light too.View attachment 7504801

Is that a “dipped” finish? It looks awesome.!