$65 Guitar!?!?! Glarry Guitars - A Luthier's Review
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- It’s time for another giveaway on this as well leave a comment and you are entered. Gleary asked me to do a review of this so let’s roll with it. Need another guitar that you want to mod and play with? This is a great start. It’s not perfect but lets roll with it.
1st thing I'd do is shave the G off the headstock logo. Cuz Larry guitars is hilarious
Lol I like how you role
Don't tell Glen. Glen and Larry = Glarry.
send me blue guitar pleeeeeeeese
LOL ! Good comment man 👍.
Thumbs up if you wanna see what Big D and us can make together!!
I always like these cheap things to rebuild and modify with nicer parts or veneer. Just for a little weekend project.
They are also a great learning tool for anyone wanting to get into doing their own guitar work, like setups, rewiring and even body modifications. I've got a cheap Ibanez Gio that I've put through the ringer trying out all kinds of new techniques and upgrades, so it's actually one of my nicer playing guitars now. It wasn't like that first, but after dozens upon dozens of hours trying to make the fret ends smooth and perfect, it plays so well I will never get rid of it.
Less expensive than a DIY kit...
@@The_Fat_Turtle That's me. I'm all thumbs with projects like this on the first or second try. I need gear I'm not worried about ruining to practice on.
@@The_Fat_Turtle My Gio is the same way now. It plays really well for the same reasons.
@@markbundy1694 Exactly! Why bother with a DIY kit if you can buy this & upgrade it?
I bought a no no name version of one of these and I love it! Maple neck with a beautiful red body. Can't fault the value for money.
More recently I went up market! and got a Harley Benton SC550 Desert Flame Burst which has a AAAA fluted maple top and is gorgeous!
The HB was made in Vietnam somewhere but again the quality and finish for the amount paid is outstanding.
Just need a lovely budget Telecaster for the classic triumvirate! Maybe another HB! :-)
I bought one in GST Rosewood / Sunset for my grandson. Along with Monoprice 15-Watt, Tube Amp. When he gets old enough I hope he likes music. But until then another boomer gets his dream ON! HAHA. I am gonna do a DAVE"S WORLD set-up.Looks like it will need help on the nut plus relief check and the complete trem/set-up. I am getting better at set/ups thanks to Dave's World ,Big D, Jerry Rosa, and the rest of the OBG's on YT. Thanks Guys ya'll ROCK!
I picked one up off of Ebay for $50. It arrived in one piece, thankfully! They shipped it in the guitar box only! When it got here, it needed a neck shim, 3 frets filed, fret ends sanded, and the usual set-up/string-change. The pickups seemed weak to me, though they were passable. But, I bought a YiBuy loaded pickguard off of Amazon and popped it in. It plays and sounds great now! It's very lightweight. So, it's a nice go-to guitar. I'd only recommend it for a beginner if they know a guitar tech.
What pick guard did you buy? I think u told me sorry I forget. I was gonna do a crunch rail in the bridge .I'm playing my SSS Glarry strat right now.
It's listed as: "Yibuy Brown 3Ply PVC Guitar SSS Scratch Plate Prewired Pickguard for Electric Guitar"
@@Axess-sv8nq oh cool,ty for getting back to me quick. I love these cheap guitars.
Np, man! As do I!
I have a 2007 American Standard Stratocaster which I purchased new and it has a lot more buffing compound in the cavities than that!!! The electrics look identical to the ones that I have just removed from my friends Affinity Strat when I upgraded the pickups etc. As long as the thing plays half decently after a setup I cannot see how it can be criticised for the price. I fancy getting a Bass guitar to use when recording and being a lefty, finding a reasonably priced one is pretty difficult. I think that I will give a Glarry Bass a shot. Great video.
Just got one for £60 off ebay. Unplayable out of the box but a couple of hours fettling and it's bloody great.
No good for a beginner but if you've any fettling skills, want to learn em, a no brainer.
I like the neck finish. Comfortable, no stick play.
yea very light. I would have added more coats for sure.
That would be fun to experiment with, you sure wouldn't have anything to lose!
Looks like a fun project.
There's no telling what will spark someone to begin a musical lifestyle. These low priced guitars are perfect for this. It could almost be considered a stocking stuffer. Cudos to all those manufacturers placing these in the market. 👍👍
I used to hate these. Now I see their place in the market. Great comment.
Did you test the pickups. I got a cheapo off ebay for 50.00 new and the pickups were about 3k...replaced 'em. Had to replace the pots too...they used like 100k pots. Pots are cheap from china. After replacing the nut with bone, tuners, level frets it actually plays and sounds great.....added DPDT switches with the chinese single coil hot stacks in neck and bridge to get north and south single coil and hum. Had a good single coil for the middle position.
You can put alnico 5 single coils for about 20.00 from china. I had some grover 305's sitting around so used them....it stays in tune. I did shim the neck and put two screws into the neck from the back. Very stable now.
I demod the guitar def needs an upgrade
What's the neck pocket size? I have a Warmoth neck sitting around that needs a home.
Did you ever learn the size of the neck pocket?
A nice little beater guitar that you don’t have to worry about scratching up.
Looks like a fun guitar to experiment with and give to my son or grandson...
Hey what’s the fretboard radius??? Please, I need to know this because I use glary necks to build my own guitars.
Hello I have strat guitar recently I found that the strings tension is very hard so what should I do???? Plz help me out. Thanks
I like using these cheap guitars for art projects. I have a First Act strat that was covered in glass tiles for an art piece, and a Behringer strat that I stripped and turned into a steampunk art piece. Been thinking about getting one of these to make a frankenstrat replica to hang up.
I got the red tribal,installed loaded pick guard,now it rocks 100 bucks total cost,and it looks cool too
I bought that guitar [ same style, same color ] for $47.00, including free shipping.
As a starting point for modding, or as a guitar to practice repairs, it's terrific. As a playing guitar it leaves a lot to be desired. The pickups are microphonic, and the tuning machines are total junk. However, the neck was fine, and the body, although paulonia wood, was well done.
If you are handy, and like to work on guitars, it's a real bargain. But right out of the box, not so much.
Nice! Any clue what the fretboard radius is? I can't find any info on Glarry's website.
@@scottcummings8602 I believe that it's 12" radius. Flatter than a Fender [ 9.5" ].
Thanks for getting back with me. 12”? Yuck. Why? You would think manufactures ripping off Fender wounds a neck that resembles theirs.
@@scottcummings8602 Gibsons use a 12" radius. These mass manufactures buy their parts from wholesalers, who simply stock a lot of 12" radius necks. Therefore, they are cheap.
Malmsteen/stadium tour/Glarry-make it happen!
how thick is the body can you but a full size brass trem block in???
hi ive sumbled across this for £65 ive been playing accoustic for a bit still beginner is this good enough to play out the box? I dont really want to modify anything. Its purely a hobbie for me but would love to get something that was like a strat. many thanks
There is some hit and miss. The one I got had the Fender shaped head, sharp fret ends. It did have buffing compound in all of the body cavities and it did have the swimming pool route. I wanted something to practice some skills on and it served that purpose well, I fixed the fret sprout, removed the pick guard assembly, tuners, input jack, etc. if decide to get rid of it I can put the factory stuff back on. It ain’t my USA Strat but it was fun.
Fun is good!
Thanks for the video. Any idea what the neck pocket size, or neck radius is on these? It's hard to believe for as much modding that people are doing to these, there seems to be little info on the specs.
I'd say it's worth 65 bucks. Would be a great starter guitar that you could modify as you go.
Nice color!
Might be interesting to A/B it against a mexi Strat. Then if the difference is huge (why and how) then see if it COULD be brought up to fender standard (pickups, tuning machines, new nut and bridge, volume/tone pots).
Ulitimately, I guess, if the body and neck are good or improvable (especially the neck) then the rest is easy-ish modification (tuning holes wrong size, control bay wrong size, etc).
If you’re going to put that much into it, just get a Harley Benton.
Dude, your playing is bringing a bit of Southside soul to Naperville.
I just purchased one of these and plan on hot roding it... Would like to replace the neck with something different... Any suggestions with what to go with?
These guitars are so much better than the starter guitars from when I was younger (in 1840). In all seriousness, they really are. They're also a decently easy way to learn how to upgrade and mod guitars. Easy in terms of the wallet- for the price of a bar tab, you've got a serviceable instrument that if you screw up, either you sort out how to fix it, or you give it away on Craigslist for a paltry sum and then I fix it, either way... I think that there's a reluctance to rip apart Squiers or Epiphones right away because they're not cheap for a younger player. There are even cheaper ones on ebay that are no name. Same thing though. But for cheaper than a kit, it's pretty wild seeing some of the stuff people come up with. All this and no hangover. Not a bad deal.
1840! hahaha
LoL.. A couple years back, late one night and a few 7&7's in, while browsing Ebay I bought the $67 White RG clone (a blank black headstock before they put Glarry on them). Like yours, out of the box it felt like it weighed roughly 2.5 pounds (chuckles). I sand the neck a bit then I put on about 3 heavy coats of Johnsons Paste Wax, let dry and buffed between coats to a gloss baby butt soft finish. After a good bit of finish work, fret end work/polish & a good setup it's not actually a bad player for what it is. Also had to do the old toothpick & wood glue fix on the stripped out strap button holes, man that is some super soft wood under all that paint.
Here is the issue I have with them, purely my assumption here, 97% of these will most likely go to first time players. While a not so horrid first guitar with some limited potential, most of those people will have no clue how to finish and set them up to play well, thus frustrating a lot of new players and maybe also turning them off playing altogether. Of course, like any inexpensive product on the market, some will be fantastic and some can be duds. I call this the consumer lottery.
On the flip side, they make for a fantastic 'Learn to setup/mod your guitar' platform. They are an awesome gateway entry guitar for those not sure how far they will go with playing. This allows them to test the waters pretty inexpensively. If extreme limited funding is the entry barrier or someone just wants to test the guitar waters, these are my first recommendation.
My opinion, for what it's worth, I feel you did a very fair and accurate review here.
I've tried several Glarry guitars, acoustic and electric. They all seem to have the same FAT neck profile. Not a fan of baseball bat necks. I wonder how far you can shave down the neck on the GST before hitting the truss rod cavity. Or is the wood of such low quality that it has to be that fat for stability issues.
The power of sweatshops is incredible
Is that a Giannini Craviola in the background?
Unbelievable!!! Only $65 that Company may not be around much longer...
I thought glarrys Clapton blackie sounded more like a strat than any I've heard so far which makes me think the blackie has a little better pick ups I will be embarrassed if they say they are all the same.
I would love love this
Dave's world of Fun Stuff has a set up video on one of these. Did you ever see it?
I haven't looked.
not a bad looking guitar to start with
Comes in handy if I ran out of firewood...
Why didn't you demonstrate positions 2 and 4?
Because that would have made good sense. Next time
I would think that with CNC technology there should be no excuse for the lack of precision.
With a little work it can be a pretty good guitar
True the setup is where the costs are.
BigDGuitars indeed.
That would be a fun lab rat to have around...
boys need toys!
Sorry,... but he keeps saying: "Run-out" what does that mean? Also - sign me up for the giveaway - I would love to hand it over to my grandson (he keeps eying my LesPaul and Fender strat!) He'll get those later (hopefully much later)!
Grain that doesn’t run the full way of the neck.
That guitar is trash fire wood, better off picking up a fender starcaster got one for 30$ customized it thing plays great
This review could be from the 50's!!!!
Imagine a luthier that was used to working on Gibson Epiphone Guild Gretch and getting sample of a Broadcaster back in the day
making comments like this! The only CRAZY thing was they sold for all most the same price... not the price of a Fender pick guard today.
Gibson's CEO commented when Fender expedited at NAMM for the first time
'any one with a hand router will be building GUITARS from their garage' We are over exposed to guitars cost ten times more than they should !
Not bad at all $65 guitar? That's not much more than what the parts probably cost them
yea I wonder about these
Hello Big D, what is your email, I have a question for you
Thanks,James Sator
Derek@bigdguitars.com
Better i buy squire..
poor souls who must build these guitars.
are you kidding you have no idea what condition they work in The Fender factory footage from the 50's shows a hostile work environment no climate control no ear protection no breathing respirators that was primitive and 3rd world
I rather think you are on the money Big Ed Wo. Not that I can moralise, because I have bought a lot of stuff from Wish.com and Bangood.com. It is so cheap, and mostly quit reasonable quality, that it is hard to resist. Didn't Ricky Gervais wipe the smile off Tim Cook's face at the Golden Globes over Apple's 'Chinese Sweat Shops'? Yep, here it is ua-cam.com/video/iTXTOGdnVzQ/v-deo.html
BigEdWo. Do you own a cell phone? The conditions in that factory is why you can pay $300.00 instead of $3000.00. Also, if you are married and bought her an engagement ring, you don't get to criticize. ALL GEMS COME FROM SLAVE LABOR.
ua-cam.com/video/EUKvwyxbCt4/v-deo.html
these do not look like poor souls to me and they wear old school factory aprons
@@TrevorDennis100 i have bought three harley bentons. i couldn't resist either. this is how we are (most of us). i will check out your link.
im glad to see people not turning thier noses up at inexpensive guitars,this is a brand i would be interested in because i dont have a ton of money to spend.
If you can do a basic setup or can get someone to do it for you I would recommend these over any other budget guitars, they're just as good man. But they do have to be setup
@@orvilfarley7861 thanks for the info
As with many things in life, taking a cheapie and fettling it with your own hands and making it a "keeper" is so satisfying..... Beyond paying money to some other.. Its a joy that I will always recommend.
Y'all take care
Wow. That's crazy. $65 guitar has separate pickup pockets yet my $150 guitar got the bathtub. At least I don't have to router anything out if I want to make a HSH/HSS/HHH Fat Strat-style guitar.
On a side note, the bathtub makes it really easy to install shielding tape. Did mine yesterday and it's almost completely silent. No hum/buzz whatsoever.
Chinese parts are often garbage, but can be surprising. I have a 3 way pickup switch that is gross plastic + generic PCB and is very hard to solder on without damaging it, but the actual switch mechanism is nice and firm, flicks into position in a very satisfying way, I liked it better than the Oak Grigsby that I bought for a project, so I swapped it out for this $3 chinese part.
I bought the burning fire Glarry, love it so I can upgrade it.
Hard to believe that any guitar for $65.00 would even come close to staying in tune. Amazing
The last few years the budget guitars have really improved. When I first started playing over 20 years ago there was no way you could get a guitar for under $100 unless it was plastic haha
Yeah,65 dollars for a starter axe is pretty cool,wish we had that back in the day,Cheers
Yup, I feel a guitar like this would have been $200 minimum when I started in the 90's.
Agreed! I started in 1978 with a Japanese 60's guitar that sported one single-coil pickup. It was a finger destroyer and had terrible sound. But, it started me off. I got a Strat copy about 6 years later and it was decent enough. Think it cost around $175 or so back then?
@@Axess-sv8nq Yeah, ditto. In '69 I paid £30 (sorry no idea what the Dollar equivalent would have been) for a Teisco. That was several weeks wages. I did get a second hand Gibbo Melody Maker a couple of years later for £100. At that time it was 3 times what I paid for my car. This Glarry would have levelled the learning curve significantly.
I can't help but wonder how U.S. trade negotiations with Asian companies will impact future prices. $65 smacks of child/slave labor. I almost forgot, great review. You cover exactly what builders and players need to know.
hey chris! yea didn't really consider who was making these, good point. would like more transparency at that price.
This reminds me of Chief Wiggum buying cassettes of some horrible singers because they were cheaper than empty tapes.
Swapping the pots, switch, and jack for the usual brand favorites is the only mods I'd do on a Glarry. I see all these people "gotta swap the pickups!' but they leave the other half of the control tones in the guitar. Remember pots have a 20% tolerance range, and 500k to 250k pot is a 50% difference most players understand, so pots matter. Choose wisely and you can make a dark pickup bright. Also adjust pickup heights, the ceramic magnets give more output so put the pickups lower, 1/8th inch can change the tone a lot.
I put Gotoh locking tuners. A bone nut. A good set of strings. Sanded and polly the neck. Set the guitar up and wow. Plays very good.
Instead of building one from a kit I think I'll just get a Glarry and mod the hell out of it (which is what most people do) I'm sure you can make a great guitar out of it with some work. They are just made to learn how to play on, so learning the neck, learning how to pick and chord, and not so much the professional sound you want. That comes later during the learning process anyway. Alot of research just tells me the are great for the price.
That's great for a beginner, for sure! Or maybe someone wanting to learn guitar modding and repair! Can't beat the price! 👍😎🎸🎶
Bought one for my son and it arrived with a crack in the body...so they sent a replacement and let me keep the first one. Turns out the crack is just in the lacquer so it’s still playable. Ended up paying more to get them setup than I paid for the guitars. Great deal IMO.
The big negative about the guitar is the negative neck angle. It sits in the body at an angle.im having to shim mine up....I bought some 10 dollar hot rails from china and put in a tusq nut, its hood to go.to be honest , I was surprised at the clarity of the low output pickups.they have a top end " ringing" sound to the chords.great vid
Nice, any idea what the neck radius on the fretboard is? Would love to find something like this with a 9.5-ish fretboard. I can't deal with the super flat ones.
Every fret on the one I got was uneven.....it basically played one note.....lol. good lord
The fretboard also isn't rounded at the 22nd. Better to buy a used Squier or new Harley Benton at least for maybe $25 extra.
Thank you for the insight on these guitars. It's nice hear from a professional regarding the work put into them. Looking forward to the next video. Have a great week.
Nice review Derek! For $65 I would agree, play it a couple gigs and make some kids day!
I'm curious to see how you would take this and make a players guitar out of it. Maybe a 9 episode series where you improve the guitar?
I'd only ever want one of these as a project guitar. It seems really fun to mess around with and tweak endlessly on, but if someone is looking for their first guitar, or second or third, I would say pass solely because of the dice rolling involved with something this cheap. You're dependent on the quality control and you can very easily get one that would be unplayable. They have some nice body colors too. If they offered all of the colors they have for their maple boards but with rosewood instead, I would buy one in a second.
Great point dude. Great for a tinker. Maybe not a first timer
I dont mind that neck pickup. What i cant stand is your amp. Sounds solid state.
That;s a lot of money for that asian guitar. But you don't care, you guys are reach enough to buy them all. And spend hundreds of dollars to modify them after. And you're still not going to have a good collectible guitar...Lol.
yea new tuners pickup pots might as well get better wood. I wouldn't really touch this too much at the price point.
Is the body thickness full size or thinner like a squier bullet?
I think it’s really cool to hear the opinion of a Luthier on these cheap guitars
Love the channel
For that money who can complain? As you say a nice platform.
digging the bridge pickup!
Lighter fluid and do the Hendrix thing!!!!
I've only seen one negative Glarry review. And I've watched dozens on the basses and guitars. And the kid who gave the negative review had an attitude.
I seen it. Total crybaby, and not a wah either.
Reallllly liking that blue. But I'd have to throw some hot rails on the neck and mid pups.
I am just starting out learning the guitar. And I wouldn't mind having this guitar. Glad you reviewed this one. If you are doing a giveaway on this one I would like to enter to win it. Although I have never won anything this would be a great start. The video was fun to watch thank you sir.
Butter that bread you might get a sympathy guitar... Sir
Can you sell your guitar $65?
It's got a nice blue color to it
No diff neck n bridge pu
Bloomberg blows
They seem like a decent value guitar
Yeah $65 is what ya get....Notice they even go out of their way to try and hide the bad instead of making it better.
It might suit someone whose desperate to play and financially limited but as for me, I’d pay $65 just to burn it lol.
You should be grateful. Not everyone has money to burn. lol.
Seems sacrilegious to do to any musical instrument. Giving it to a kid who loves music or a public school music class would be the thing to do. If you are not a sociopath, it feels better to give than to destroy.
It sounds like a 60`s guitar. Pretty good for $65. If that neck gets wonky, you can replace it. Maybe not warmoth or fender, maybe sx/rondo music neck. I`'ve bought 2 of these and they`re really good for$45.
Just to let everyone know, Jack Pearson, who use to play with the Allman Bros. plays some of the cheapest Fender, Squire Affinity strats he can find, and that guy makes everything sound great. Go check him out on the Tube, you'll be amazed. I love the Belair Blue on that Glarry !
Mano essa guitarra e linda👏✋☝
I kept seeing these things and thought hell for that cheap I'll do a setup on it and give it to a kid or something. I got the sunburst strat, I was actually shocked at the quality of this thing for the price. Great guitar for modding, building platform. The neck was way to fat to suit my taste so I thinned it down a little, slapped a bone nut on it, setup and intonation. Damn thing plays as well as my Fender and with an upgrade to the electronics I probably couldn't tell any difference other than the weight, it's super light. Only problem now is finding a kid actually interested in guitar!
You can't really even buy a guitar kit for what they charge. These are awesome modding/learning platforms! I just finished working on a Strat I got from them. Think I will get a Tele now.
Wjat the heck is runout?
It when the grain of the wood doesn’t run in parallel with the rest. It can cause splitting in the future.
Glarry has really worked hard to get UA-camrs to review their cheap junk guitars. Take the body and replace all the rest.
$65! How on earth can they do it so cheap! Still it's not looking bad at all for that.