Tag: Glarry Musical Instruments

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Bluegrass Music Musical Instruments

The Music Link Closure: Are Tariffs to Blame?

The big news in the bluegrass instrument field this past week is the closing down of The Music Link Company (https://themusiclink.com/), producers of Recording King guitars and banjos along with Loar mandolins. While this news has not been covered in regular news, and not even much in the music industry news, it has been widely discussed on bluegrass-related chat groups and podcasts.

The company employees were handed their termination papers on July 7, with only a few office staff remaining to clean things up. One of those employees, Greg Rich, helped establish The Music Link in the US while working with instruments coming out of China through the AXL factory. He currently owns the trademark names of Recording King and Loar, and at this time, there is no word on if these brands will continue to be produced.

Recording King and Loar had proved to be quality instruments at generally affordable prices, especially for bluegrass jammers looking for something that can hold up better than beginner acoustic guitars, banjos, and mandolins. I have a Loar Honey Creek F-style mandolin I purchased about a year or so back (https://luegra.design.blog/2024/01/20/so-why-did-i-buy-another-mandolin/) that I totally love because of its warm bite when playing chords. I have played Recording King acoustic guitars and have been impressed for the price going, especially the Dirty 30s line. Basically, these brands were in direct competition with the Blueridge/Bristol guitars and Kentucky mandolins marketed in the US by Saga Music.

While the current tariff war going on between the US and other countries, particularly China, may seem like the main reason for this closing, Rich has stated that it was only the final straw, as poor management through the past decade is mostly to blame. And while tariffs can be to blame for the rising cost of guitars in recent times, it is hardly the main reason, as prices have been rising over the past few years and tariff laws have not fully gone into effect, if at all.

Over the past few years, plenty of brick-and-mortar music stores have closed down for good. Sam Ash is probably the most well-known of this dilemma, with hundreds of mom-and-pop independent stores also closing across the US. There are a lot of factors. During the COVID shutdown earlier in the decade, stores were forced to shutter by local health ordinances, while people being shut in their houses were looking for something to do. Thus, they ordered instruments from the internet, and companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon, as well as music-specific online companies like Sweetwater, flourished. Fender and Gibson soon got into the online-order business (that is how I purchased by Fender Meteora a few months back [https://luegra.design.blog/2025/06/07/the-fender-meteora-has-arrived/]) and have continued this sales process with success, even with the pandemic scare long over. Adding to that, a lot of those sales during COVID are probably being sold on Craigslist or at garage sales because now people are back outside and have lost interest in learning to play a guitar, so the used market is a bit saturated.

Bigger music stores like Guitar Center have had to revamp their sales strategies (https://luegra.design.blog/2025/03/16/guitar-center-times-they-are-a-changin/), and the only smaller music stores to continue tend to be ones that have a great reputation with customer service and repair history. Online companies like Glarry have risen their prices gradually even before the COVID pandemic. When I purchased the GT502 acoustic guitar about five years ago, it was $45.00. Today, the guitar sells for $90.00. All of the company’s products have gone up drastically over the past few years. When I purchased the guitar, the internet was filled with positive reviews of the Glarry products for the price. Now, I rarely see any mention of Glarry in any musical instrument chat groups.

So far, products from Saga Music have not seen too much of a rise in price since the end of the pandemic. That is not to say that they have not become more expensive. I have seen the price of Blueridge acoustic guitars nearly double in the past decade. For example, I purchased a Blueridge BR40 about eight years back new for around $225.00. Today I did a search online, and the cheapest price I could find was $399.00. The more expensive models have seen a similar jump in price. This is most likely why Saga brought in the Bristol brand to try and get the beginner customers.

As for the DIY kits that I have taken an interest in recently, there has been little change in price, although there have been a very slight increase. Moreover, I do not see the big discounts in brands like Glarry and Ktaxon instruments on Amazon that I saw about a year ago. Also, a recent search on Wish.com for “electric bass guitar” produced about one-fourth the results that were there a year ago, and prices jumped about 25%.

So will the tariffs have a big impact in the near future on foreign-made instruments in the near future? Only time will tell. I believe that there will For a feature interview with Rich, go to https://bluegrasstoday.com/greg-rich-talks-banjos-and-the-demise-of-the-music-link/.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bass Guitar

A Tale of Two Short-Scale Basses

Readers know that I am a big fan of the bass guitar. It was the first real instrument that I learned (I’m not counting the three horrendous years of saxophone in grade school), and I write a lot of my early songs on the bass before I picked up and learned guitar. I have always been a supporter of teaching the bass guitar to younger students, as one is learning one note on a fretboard is easier to comprehend first before attempting chords on a guitar.

I have seen many times young players with small arms and hands attempting to use a full-scale 34-inch bass guitar with great difficulty. It tells me that the parents did not do much research on purchasing a properly sized bass for the student, but just bought the cheapest bass they could find or let the store salesman talk them into it, saying “They’ll grow into it.” There are a number of shorter-scale bass guitars on the market, many of them very affordable, that can make lessons and performance for the young musician a lot easier.

I recently purchased two short-scale bass guitars made by Glarry to test them out and see if they are worthwhile for the student as far as value, comfort, playability, and performance. Both retail for under $100 on the Glarry website, but I was able to snag each one a lot cheaper through shopping at eBay and Amazon.

The first is the GW101 36-inch Kid’s Electric Bass Guitar. This bass is incredibly small, as the 36 inches refers to its entire length. The scale from nut to bridge is 25.5 inches. That’s actually the scale length of a Fender Stratocaster or Martin acoustic guitar! The body is a lot smaller as well. One YouTube video review of this bass showed the player gripping the entire body of the bass with one hand. If playing with the thumb or fingers, the player can actually rest the rest of the hand on one of the body curves and not need a resting piece mounted on or near the pickups.

Speaking of pickups, there are two Jazz Bass style pickups, and the controls are wired like a standard Jazz Bass (one volume for each pickup, and a single tone control). Since the pickups are so close to each other, there is very little difference in the tone that each creates, so going with a Precision Bass type pickup or a single pickup with two controls (volume and tone) might have brought the price down a bit. The light weight makes it very easy on the back, even a child will not have a problem with it strapped around him/her. The neck is also comfortable, with fret ends filed down so as not to snag on the hand.

The playability was good, not fantastic. The output is typical of a lower-end bass, giving a decent sound but nothing shattering. The dual pickups do serve as a humbucker mode, so some humming noise does cancel out, but not completely. It doesn’t take long to get used to the very short scale, although setting intonation may take a little effort. Besides a suitable bass for a young student, this would also make a good travel bass if needed.

My big complaint is the finish on the body. It was not sanded well, so running your hand over it feels like a piece of rough-cut wood, fearing getting a splinter. The paint job looks like it was done with some spray cans real fast just to cover up the wood. I would recommend rubbing in some good polish to the body so it feels a bit smoother.

The other bass guitar checked out is Glarry model 30-inch GB Electric Bass Guitar. This is a direct copy of the Fender Squier Bronco Bass, with a Mustang-style body and 30-inch scale, a length found on the Hofner 500/1 “Beatle” Bass as well as some Gibson and Epiphone models. The balance is OK, considering the smaller size, as many full-scale basses from Glarry and other Asian manufacturers use a lightweight wood for the body, so the weight of the headstock will pull down and put stress on the shoulder. This one has a slight problem like that, and could have used a smaller headstock. There is only one single coil pickup, and two controls for volume and tone.

The finish on the body and back of neck are quality. Running the fretting hand back and forth along the back of the neck was a smooth endeavor. The paint job is much better than the GW101, and is definitely comparable to upper-grade basses.

I like the playability and comfort of this bass a bit more. My first bass was a 30-inch scale, so I have always been able to play moving bass lines a lot better with my fretting hand, even though I’ve used mostly full-scale basses for the past 30 years. The pickup does kick out some hum noise, but not an annoying amount. The neck is also well finished with no snagging fret ends. This would be a definite first choice for a younger teen student, or even an adult with smaller hands. I have known many female bass players that play this type of bass due to the hand size. As with the GW101, an adjustment with the bridge saddles for proper intonation will be necessary.

Both basses came shipped with a cheap gig-bag, low-end strap, cables, pick, and hex keys for adjusting the neck and bridge saddles. The gig bag for the GW101 was really extremely low-quality, basically a glorified trash bag. When zipping it up with the bass inside, it could barely close around the headstock unless you put the tuning gears in a flat position, which means re-tuning the bass when playing again. Unfortunately, it will be nearly impossible to find a good gig bag or case for this size bass. Maybe a large ukulele gig bag?

As for the cables, the GW101 came with a very low-quality one. After a dozen uses, this type will start to crackle and short out. I am not sure if it was a packaging error, but the GB bass came with a good-quality webbed-covered 10-foot cord, which usually go for about $20.00 at Sweetwater or Guitar Center. Both have bridges and tuning gears that are expected on lower-priced instruments. They serve their purpose, but are not high quality, so if the bass was being used extensively, replacement would eventually be necessary. However, they work fine for a student that is just beginning to learn the bass.

At the bluegrass festival last weekend, at least three bands had bass players using electric basses instead of the more traditional upright bass. So playing an electric bass is not as unusual as expected in bluegrass. For the parents having a young child or teen interested in playing bass in bluegrass, or any other format, these two basses are worth considering. They are extremely affordable, and there is not a lot of investment lost if the kid loses interest and the instrument goes on the garage sale block.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Musical Instruments

Ktaxon: The Latest Cheap Guitar Brand

Last week, I blogged about a guitar kit that I got from a company called Ktaxon through Amazon.com (https://luegra.design.blog/2024/05/19/inexpensive-guitar-kits/). The kit was cheap, but it also had its flaws, especially with the rough wood texture on the body and neck. I decided to do a little more research on the company.

It seems that Ktaxon is a company in China that does not specialize in any one area. They sell furniture, kitchen appliances, hardware, luggage, and toys along with musical instruments. If you go to its website (www.ktaxon.com) and click on the Musical Instrument tab, most of the items that pop up are from the Glarry line of guitars and basses. In fact, they even post the reviews of the Glarry models that also appear on the Glarry website (www.glarrymusic.com).

There are some instruments shown that are listed as Ktaxon, but do not have any logo or Ktaxon wording on the guitar headstocks. Moreover, there are also other musical instruments, such as violins, percussion, and keyboards, that are similar to the Glarry line. This information makes me assume that Ktaxon musical instruments are built at the same factory as Glarry stuff. Looking at the photos, the guitars and basses have the exact same appearance on the headstock, with only the name Glarry appearing on that brand’s equipment.

The real difference seems to be price. The Ktaxon models tend to be cheaper than Glarry in most cases, a few dollars more with other cases. I can only assume that either the Ktaxon models are Glarry rejects, or that Ktaxon got a better wholesale deal with the factory. You may remember that I wrote about the Glarry GT502 acoustic guitar back in 2020 (https://luegra.design.blog/2020/03/02/glarry-gt502-good-first-acoustic/). At the time, this guitar was priced at $45.99 including shipping. That guitar now goes for $89.99, double the price!

Ktaxon appears to be not dealing with acoustic guitars, but it is selling the same violins as Glarry. There are also guitars and basses that Ktaxon does not have on its website that are beings sold under that name on Amazon.com. They look like Glarry models, but are again missing the nameplate on the headstock. The Ktaxon guitar kit that I purchased a few weeks ago does not appear on the Ktaxon website, so I assume that Ktaxon only sells more sellable items on the website, and hocks “clearance” items on Amazon.

From reviews I have seen on YouTube, the Ktaxon basses are what is expected from a cheap bass. Not that great, but useable for the price. I have been considering purchasing a short-scale “Fender Bronco-style” bass put out by Ktaxon only sold on Amazon for $59.99 mainly to see how good it would be for the beginning young student. If I do purchase one, I will definitely post a review here and possibly on my YouTube channel.

Keeping it short, I have a lot of other stuff to do this weekend for Memorial Day.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
bluegrass bass Musical Instruments

The $47.01 Bass Guitar

As many people know, I am always looking for a good bargain with musical instrument equipment. Bass guitars are probably top on my list, mainly because I have always loved playing the bass, and I love teaching bass to young students. I have posted a few blogs about using the electric bass in a bluegrass setting, so I really am conscious of finding inexpensive bass guitars for those interested in bluegrass bass.

About a month ago, I found a listing on eBay for a Glarry Burning Fire electric bass that a third party was selling overstock for about $40.00. Tax and all made it closer to $49.00, but I took a shot. About a week later, a small package arrived with the same USPS tracking number that was provided upon payment. The package turned out to be a pair of ladies underwear! I contacted eBay and PayPal, and fortunately, I got a full refund (and am stuck with some underwear !).

I knew that it was too good to be true. At least I got my money back, and all that it cost me was a little frustration. About two weeks ago, I was surfing the website Wish.com for bass guitars. You can usually pick up a Chinese no-name P-bass for about $65.00, coming out to about $80.00 with shipping and tax. However, I did come across one ad that had a P-bass for $32.35! I wondered if I should take a chance. I have had decent luck with Wish.com, the only problem being a long delivery time. With tax and shipping, the total cost was $47.01. I rolled the dice and took a chance.

A week later (a lot faster than usual Wish.com shipments), the package was at the post office for me to pick up. And yes, it was a full-sized P-bass! I shook the box a little to hear if there were any broken parts (my previous experience with Glarry was that it was shipped with no packing material to cushion). OK, no noise, so let’s get it home!

To my surprise, it was packed really well, inside molded styrofoam and wrapped in semi-bubble wrap. Pulling it out of the package, I found it to be typical of the Chinese no-name basses – lightweight body (so the headstock tends to drop down if you are not holding the neck), mediocre tuning gears, fret ends needing some smoothing, and the neck feeling a bit rough on the back. I haven’t yet plugged it in to see if the pickup and controls work fine, and I’m figuring that the pickup will need to be adjusted for height. A good set up will make this a decent playable bass. For $47.01, it is well worth it!

A bit of learned information about Wish.com: this purchase was a lucky shot. Occasionally, the site will have sale prices, but you have to be in the right place at the right time. When checking on this same P-bass a few days ago, the price was back up to $68.00. They will also have items like cords, tuners, foot pedals, and practice amps sold at decent prices as well as the occasional deep-discount sale. But you have to be scanning every day. Again, the only real concern is shipping time, so if you were buying a Christmas present for someone, you would have to order it in early November to get a guarantee pre-holiday arrival.

Now getting a gig bag for this bass is another thing. Trying to find one less than $20.00 is near impossible, even on Wish.com. Which leads me to what I want to do with the bass. I already have four other basses, including a Chinese no-name P-bass. I will probably just get this new one set up, then sell it on Craigslist in the same packaging that it was shipped in.

I’m not sure how next weekend looks, as it is Christmas. Hopefully I will find the time to post some short note.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Music Industry Social Media

Glarry and Its Loyalty to Facebook

Some of you readers have seen in my previous blogs how I have talked mostly positive about Glarry, the musical instrument company out of China that produces decent-quality guitars, basses, and violins at very affordable prices. Well, my most recent experience with the company’s PR end has changed my mind considerably about it, and not for the better.

Now, this negative reaction has nothing to do with the instruments themselves. I still feel that they are worth the money for beginner musicians. Moreover, what I am about to discuss is not only a reflection of Glarry, but of many companies promoting products by having contests.

During the past two weeks, Glarry had a contest in which they were giving away 15 instruments. The stipulation was that one had to take a photo of oneself holding his/her Glarry musical instrument, then post it on Facebook or Instagram.

Here’s my situation: I do not have a Facebook or Instagram account. In fact, I have very few accounts in the social media world. I refuse to have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Tik Tok account (the four most popular) for two main reasons:

  1. I do not support these networks’ stifling the free speech of one side of the political spectrum
  2. I do not waste my time posting mundane and uninteresting news about myself or others

I have a LinkedIn account for my employment networking (which unfortunately has become a dumping ground for Facebook-like postings), a ReverbNation account for songwriting networking, a YouTube account to post songwriting clips (which is also becoming like Facebook and Twitter in its censorship; I’m considering moving to Rumble), and a rarely used Parler account, which is used even less after the whole take-down scandal.

We have seen in the news over the past year or two how these social media companies are controlling the thought process of much of the population by their censorship. I won’t get into that end of it here. I have my opinions, and do not feel like debating that with anyone.

What I do want to talk about is that Glarry, as well as many other companies out there, feel that their customers, especially the most loyal ones, MUST have a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account in order to be rewarded.

I contacted Glarry by email about this. I wanted to take a humorous photo of me with my Glarry guitar and bass strapped around my shoulders, as well as holding my Glarry violin. I was told that I could only enter the contest through Facebook or Instagram because that is how most of their customers communicate. Well, not ALL of your customers communicate that way. I am sure that any company that to enter a certain contest, one must wear a certain type of clothing or cut his/her hair a certain way, that company would be ostracized, boycotted, or taken to court.

But this is a trend among a lot of companies, and the masses are allowing it without recourse. The world is full of people that cannot live without a Facebook account. Everyone thinks that his/her voice must be heard, no matter how boring, dumb, or obnoxious the statement is. We don’t count the friends that we have around us, but instead count the amount of Likes we have on our last post. We destroy other people’s lives with the click of a mouse button, and have no remorse if we were wrong about the facts.

As for Glarry, when I wrote back stating that I did not have an account, would not open an account just to enter the contest, and would be dealing other companies in the future because of this, Glarry wrote back with a “have a nice day” reply. All right, so they won’t miss my future business, I am just one customer out of thousands. However, if more people would take a similar action, perhaps companies would take notice and make such contests available to all walks of life. Glarry is not the only company that handles its contests as such, and unfortunately, the social media world has become so popular that those who do not wish to be lemmings are treated as less important.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music Musicians

Tidbits #2: Eddie Van Halen, Finger Torture, IBMA Awards, Glarry Violin

Eddie Van Halen RIP – There wasn’t a lot of coverage in the news of his death, but anyone that grew up in the 80s or was a big music fan took notice. I was never a big fan of Van Halen, but I did know that Eddie was an amazing guitarist. He is LITERALLY up there with Hendrix, Clapton and Page. He may have not been the first to try out double-tapping on the guitar fretboard, but he perfected it and made it an art form. There was not a lead guitarist in any hair metal band that did not emulate Eddie. He had his demons with drugs and alcohol, but had a great demeanor. I have never seen an interview with someone that, when asked about Eddie, that person talked about how humble of a guy he was. I remember seeing a cable television tribute to Les Paul many years ago, and all of these guitarists came on stage to laud over Les. Eddie went one step further and hugged and kissed the man. His last years in life were fighting throat cancer, which eventually took his life. He will be missed by many, especially other musicians, but his guitar work on Van Halen recordings as well as others (that was his magic playing lead guitar on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”) will never be forgotten. Rest easy, Eddie, you have definitely changed the music world for the better.

Finger contraption – My fretting/fingering hand for guitar, bass, mandolin, and fiddle has never had great dexterity. I could never get that pinky finger to stretch out for that illusive fourth fret, or have enough strength to form a true barre chord. I relegated my fingerings to a lot of open chords and lead playing rarely went past the ring finger. So a few weeks ago, while ordering some music stuff off of the Wish website, there was a deal that if you purchased a certain amount of items (which I did), you get a huge discount on a few other related items. There wasn’t much to choose from, so I ordered a finger stretcher. It is four plastic rings spaced apart in a straight line. You slip your fingers through the rings, and press down on the contraption as far as your finger spread will allow. Yeah, it looks like something from the Spanish Inquisition and was painful the first few times, but I have been doing this every day for about 20 minutes, and I have noticed that the pinky on my left hand does have a little better stretch. Playing the fiddle lately, I find it easier to finger those high notes. I’m not sure if this thing is doing the job, but I got it for next to nothing, and if anything, I feel like it is helping. If you can get one of these things for under a few bucks, and you have trouble stretching the fretting fingers, you might consider trying one of these gigamadoos.

IBMA Awards – The awards were handed out last week, and here is a list of the winners: https://bluegrasstoday.com/2020-winners-of-the-international-bluegrass-music-awards/ . I would have taken the list off of the official IBMA website, but they still have not posted it yet. I’m glad to see my friends Mile Twelve winning Best New Artist, and another good friend Becky Buller winning Song of the Year (“Chicago Barn Dance”) and Collaborative Recording of the Year (“The Barber’s Fiddle”). Talk about a Who’s Who of bluegrass fiddling, check out the video.

Glarry: I picked up another fiddle, this time from Glarry. This is the model GV306, the most expensive violin they carry. At $89.99, that is really not expensive. I based the purchase on a review from my hero, Jerry Rosa at Rosa String Works. I am relatively satisfied with it. There were a lot accessories included (shoulder rest, tuner/metronome) that it wouldn’t matter if they were there or not. One drawback is that it only has a high “E” string fine tuner, not on all four strings like the lower-priced models. I ordered and put on three more fine tuners before setting it up. Another drawback is that the bridge is really thick. I had to file down a lot of wood to make it more like a true violin bridge. I plan to get a better bridge in the future. Finally, the strings that Glarry puts on their instruments are horrible. I’ll be replacing them soon with a decent set. However, the tone of the violin is nice, very woody and low. My other violin sounded like a screech owl compared to this one. It inspires me to keep practicing. The video below is Jerry’s review. The first violin he reviews is the GV306.

Chew on it and comment.