Glarry GTL Semi-Hollow Body guitar review

Glarry was kind enough to send me one of these for review.

You can get one of these guitars right here. The colors offered are Blue (a blue-burst style finish), Black, Burlywood (natural), Orange (the one I have), and Sunset (a sunburst style finish). Every color option has cream color body binding on the front.

Note up front: Glarry did send the guitar to me for free, so you can consider this a sponsored review.

Orange yet not orange

I have to make mention of this first if you specifically want to get the orange color.

The online product photo is accurate for what it is, however the orange finish in person is more of a coral color. If you look at examples of what the coral color is, that will give you a much better idea of how this guitar color looks in real life.

I do like the look of the guitar, but am specifically mentioning this info about the orange color so you better know what you're getting. It's not a "race orange" or "road reflector orange" or "competition orange". This is an orange that's a bit muted, hence why I say calling it coral is a good way to describe it.

Also, it was smart of Glarry to put a pearloid style pick guard on this guitar, which works very nicely with the orange finish they use. It also works with the other colors offered, but against the orange finish it works particuarly well.

Both string-through-body and top-load

Part of the reason I accepted this guitar for review is because the bridge does allow for string-through-body or top loading of the strings. I prefer top loading.

I think all T-type guitars should offer this since all it takes is having six holes drilled into the back of the bridge.

Chunky neck

This neck is thick with a generous amount of shoulder to it, which I like. I've seen other reviews of this guitar complain about this, but I don't because it's more ergonomically correct.

The Glarry GTL is one of the very few T-type guitars you can get for a low price with a neck that has actual real thickness to it.

Neck width and thickness

I measured this myself using my calipers.

Width at nut is 1.65".

Width at 12th fret is 2.02".

Neck thickness at first fret is about 0.90" to 0.91".

Neck thickness at 12th fret is about 0.95" to 0.96".

For players used to skinny necks, the Glarry neck will feel huge.

However, for players that like that older style Tele feel, the neck does feel great in the hand. If you were looking for a T-style guitar for a low price with a neck that has some real chunk to it, you want the Glarry GTL.

To put this in perspective, most T-style guitars have a neck thickness that start at 0.75".

And as far as the neck shape is concerned, it feels like a "big C".

Sound

This is an entry level guitar, so the pickups are low-cost. But it does have a proper low-output bright sound.

Something I need to make very clear is that a semi-hollow is supposed to have low-output pickups to specifically prevent feedback due to the semi-hollow construction.

On a solid-body guitar, yes, that can handle high-output pickups. On the hollow or semi-hollow, low-output is the better choice. There is far less feedback, and you get more of the acoustic resonance of the body heard through the pickups.

With the solid-body electric, I don't concern myself with acoustic resonance since the body is just a solid plank of wood, especially on a T-type guitar. But with the semi-hollow, acoustic resonance actually matters. The lower output pickups bring out more treble and "snap", which again is proper for an instrument of this type.

This guitar is literally less than half the price of any new semi-hollow electric in a guitar store

In a guitar store in the USA, you're going to spend a bare minimum of $300 to get a new semi-hollow body electric guitar.

The Glarry GTL Semi-Hollow is less than half that price. If you want a semi-hollow electric in a T-style shape for under $150 shipped, the GTL is what you get.

Published 2021 May 10