I have these basses hanging on the wall. The acoustic is fun to play with occasionally and my Dad gave it to me. It’s not going anywhere. The natural finish one is a Glarry and the dark red one is a Yamaha TRBX174.
The Yamaha sounds good but it’s very uncomfortable to play. For reasons I don’t understand ( because the Glarry is an obvious copy of the Yamaha) the body of the Yamaha hurts my right arm after 45-60 minutes of playing. And the neck is chunky and not fun to play. The Glarry is light, comfortable and aside from soft frets the neck is pretty nice. Not as slim as my Schecter, but noticably thinner than the Yamaha. But the Glarry has “died” recently. It makes sounds, but they’re bad. I grabbed it off the wall yesterday because I felt leaving it hanging there for months and it sounds terrible. I don’t know if it’s possible that the coils are breaking down or what, but it sounds like the amp is submerged in a mud puddle while also wrapped in styrofoam panels that slap and vibrate during certain notes. Best way I can think to describe it.
These are “cheap” guitars that you can’t unload on marketplace. Nobody wants a second hand Glarry. So…what if I gutted the electrics out of the Yamaha and put them in the Glarry? Seems like a shame, but the body and neck of the Yamaha are really a problem for me, and the Glarry actually feels good to play.
If you don’t like the Yamaha, sell it. It will have resale value. If you gut it, you will be left with a useless object you don’t like.
Take the Glarry to a guitar tech, find out what’s wrong with the electronics, it could be a really simple fix.
Two pickups, four knobs, so yeah, has to be active. Probably just needs a new battery.
Sell the Yamaha if you don’t like it, or donate it if you can’t sell it. It may not be worth much, but some aspiring new bassist out there is going to love it as their first instrument.
They’re both passive. Individual volume and tone for each pickup on the Glarry. Yamaha is volume/volume/tone, which kinda sucks since you can’t operate each pickup independently.
No way I’m taking the Glarry to a shop for work. It’s was 70 bucks shipped to my house and the frets are already showing signs of heavy wear after a few months of learning. I can’t justify spending money on it, but if I had free spare parts hanging around…
I’ve had the Yamaha for sale for several months now. Typical marketplace bs has ensued It does seem like a shame to gut it, though.
Before you start ripping it to pieces check some simple electrical continuity.Pickups to controls; controls to jack; jack to cable end. It would be silly to tear it apart if it’s just a bad joint somewhere.
Take off the cover of the control cavity and look at the wiring closely. There is likely a loose wire that just needs to be stripped back and soldered back down.
What you’re describing sounds like a wire that was soldered securely has come loos, and now is positioned so that it is brushing against where it needs to make contact but that contact is intermittent.
Strong chance it’s the grounding wire. Grounding wire goes to the bridge. Frequently (especially on less expensive basses) the grounding wire isn’t soldered in, but is just held in contact with the pressure between the bridge and body.
Prediction: You will not like the Fender Precision bass or the MusicMan Stingray at all
Seriously this is the first time I have ever heard anyone describe a TRBX neck as “chunky”. The 174 has the same neck profile as the Yamaha BB line - 40mm modern D. I wonder what’s up there; it’s a little larger than the TRBX204/504/604 or the Fender Jazz, but shouldn’t feel overly thick.
Good illustration that neck feel is such a personal, subjective thing.
Or…and hear me out here…if you don’t feel like troubleshooting the electronics, order some inexpensive components online and try your hand at upgrading that way instead of gutting a working guitar that you could sell. If it’s already not working then the worst you can do is make it brokener. Just don’t go too crazy on the new pickups and such until you get the hang of things.
I tend to look at it as “if I’m going to get it repaired anyway, I might as well see if I can learn to fix it myself.”
There are a metric ass ton of videos on YouTube where people start with a Glarry or Harley Benton then turn it into a top end-ish guitar.
Yeah, I’m not interested in dumping any money in to the Glarry. Since starting with those two basses I’ve since learned that I don’t care for jazz pickups anyway. The P pickup in the Yamaha sounds nice, it’s just uncomfortable.
I’ll admit I’m likely spoiled to the ultra skinny neck of my Schecter. While the wider string spacing of the Yamaha is nice on the nut end of the neck, it’s just feels unnecessarily large in comparison. Not objectively “bad”, just wider than necessary. I’m not even sure It’s strictly the width that feels off to me, it’s more the overall shape. I’d call it more of a rectangle with slightly rounded corners vs a D shape If that makes sense.
Sure! The goofy looking aluminum tape is when I was adding shielding due to buzz. HVAC guy, so it’s what I had on hand. It worked well even though it still hums a bit. Not sure you can see much here but I don’t see any broken joints.
If you are not interested in putting more money into the Glarry it can definitely serves as the best maintenance practice bass. You can’t really sell it for any amount of profits but can certainly use it to learn how to work on several things.
Where are you, hopefully you are in the US. I have several take off pickups in PJs config. I can definitely pay it forward and sent you the pickup and you can try to work on it on your spare time.
Wiring is very easy or easy enough and you don’t need to do any soldering just use one of the shrink-wrap kind and seal it with a hair dryer or lighter. If you are in the US, I’ll include some in the box too.
Just let me know, it would be my pleasure to help.
I appreciate the offer! I’m not even sure it’s the pickups that are acting up or what. A new trick it’s learned is to refuse to be quiet Turn all the knobs off and it still plays. Through which pickup? That’s anyone’s guess. I guess maybe the pots are going wonky inside.
Yeah, string spacing at the bridge is pretty average, it’s the wider nut and deeper neck I was talking about. You wouldn’t think a few millimeters is a big difference, but a couple here and a few there end up adding up. I haven’t measured anything, it just feels big.
I’m not trying to hate on Yamaha’s. I was happy to buy it, it just so happens to be the biggest neck of the lot.
Your taste and preference will change the more you play, especially different basses. I was a fast and narrow neck especially the asymmetrical design like Tobias/ MTD, but after owning the Stingrays for a few years, one day I just love the wider more spacious neck.
Then after a few months on the Stingrays, I picked up the Jazz bass and really appreciate the wonderfully fast and narrow neck again, then it’s the P bass, oh the P bass,
Sometime the different shape and size of the neck and body give you different inspiration and it takes you to the place you’ve not been before. I remember the first day I re-buy my first bass, the Yamaha Motion bass, I’d probably spent 5 hours playing that day.
Seems like a shame, but the body and neck of the Yamaha are really a problem for me, and the Glarry actually feels good to play.
It does seem like a shame to gut it, though.
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