I only give one star because you can't give less! I get the impression that this was bought and returned by someone else...! This is not for everyone... several important modifications must be made to make it more or less playable. Don't waste your money buying this. There are many better options than this.

No downsides. For the price, this is probably the best short scale bass available. It looks sharp in its red and white design. I found no obvious flaws. The neck feels good without any sharp fret-ends. Action as set up was reasonable; a turn of the truss rod should help with that as well as slight adjustment at the bridge. I'd say on the whole, however, that as it came, you could tune it up and start playing. (You will get a "Glarry" not a "Klaxton", but I knew this from others experience ordering the same bass). Unlike some Glarry full-size basses (Fender-style) the neck on this bass is not "chunky" and feels very nice, even at fret number one. I bought this guitar because I have arthritis and dealing with the stretches on a full size bass is a bit of a strain. The lightness of the body is nice also; most full size Glarry basses are nice and light also. I haven't plugged it in yet, but I'm assuming, from what others have said, the sound will be good but on the weak side because of the type of pickup. Nevertheless, I think it will suit the stay at home player or will work well for anyone in a folk-style group, small church group, coffee house, etc. Total cost was about 70 dollars and you can't come close to that in even a used Fender of the same style. Yes, the "gig-bag" is kind of worthless: only good for keeping dust and rain off the instrument, but the cord supplied looks of good quality. Well, that's my take.

Cool short scale bass in the "bronco" style. Arrived well packed, with clean finish and solid build. Pickup is low powered single coil, but functional. Tuners are sturdy and responsive.For $70 shipped, there's going to be some cut corners: fret ends were sharp, but easily sanded or filed. The bridge is screwed on a little crooked, but the strings pass through the saddles ok and intonation and action can still be set. Some roughness on the neck, again easy to sand or seal. Strings aren't great and low E string feels floppy (string tension can be a problem on short scale basses on general, but a better/heavier gauge string can help this not be so floppy/muddy sounding). As noted, pickup is pretty quiet even at full volume and the tone knob doesn't change the sound a lot.But...for the money, this is a great value if you want an introduction to short scale bass, are ok with a little setup, or want to mod this.

Others have said this is a good bass for beginners, I disagree. Unless you have someone to do the setup (or want to learn yourself) I wouldn't get this bass for a beginner. I think you really need a good setup when you're starting out.So who would I recommend this bass for? People who like to tinker, experiment, modify. People like me.FIRST IMPRESSIONS:The packaging was good. The bass itself looks great. The bright red finish with the chrome, it's a beautiful retro look. The bag isn't good, no padding at all, just nylon fabric. The cable is surprisingly high quality, with a braided black and white outer sleeve.THE FEEL:It's very light, which is kind of a nice change from my heavy 5 string but it does have some neck dive. The tuners aren't bad. The neck is a little on the thick side but I like it. The nut is cheap plastic, I'll probably replace it eventually. There are some rough edges on the nut, the bridge, and a couple of frets that I took a file to.The action was too low, there was a lot of fret buzz so I had to raise the saddles. The intonation was pretty much right on, and that somehow didn't change after adjusting the action. There's something all over the truss rod, I assume glue, that is making it so I can't even get the hex key in there.There's a gap between the neck and the body, which isn't great.THE SOUND:The strings aren't great and the pickup is weak. It sounds okay for the price, but it can be improved. The tone knob doesn't seem to do a whole lot.THE MODS:Based on other reviews I saw here, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. At the same time I bought the bass, I also bought a new pickup (humbucker blade style, made to fit in a strat single coil space) and new strings (LaBella tapewound, white). First I installed the pickup and played it otherwise stock for a couple days. There was a big difference in volume and the tone was quite a bit better, but it was still obvious that the strings were cheap. The tone knob made a much more noticable difference with the new pickup.Next I cut the pickguard and added a steel control panel made for a J-Bass, which added enough weight to reduce (but not eliminate) the neck dive. I had to drill the body a little bit to fit the control panel, and from doing this I'm pretty sure the body is a solid piece of basswood. I wired the humbucker with a switch for series/parallel/split, which I highly recommend. The original pickup measured about 6k on my meter, and each coil of the new pickup measured 6k (total 12k in series), but even with the switch in the single coil position it was quite a bit louder than with the original. I found that the strings weren't quite centered over the pickup so th E string was a little quieter than the others.The included pots are 500k which surprised me a little for a single coil. I kept them with the humbucker. They're linear pots though and I might eventually swap them for log pots.I put on the new strings and I was surprised that it got even louder, I expected the tapewound strings to be slightly quieter. I had already kinda felt like the angle of the A string above the nut wasn't right, and with the tapewound strings the A kept popping out of the nut slot so I had to add another string tree.If I had known that the cavity for the pickup was so big (pic included) I would have bought a different pickup, a humbucker made for a bass. The cavity isn't big enough for a P-Bass pickup, but I did check a regular sized guitar humbucker I had on hand and it fit just fine.CONCLUSION:The actual reason I bought this is because I want to build a short scale bass but the necks I've found are about the same price as this entire bass, so I figured I'd use this neck and whatever other parts end up working for the new instrument. I would probably keep the tuners and maybe the bridge, but I'm actually loving this bass so much that I'll probably keep playing it and buy another one to part out for my build. I saw that other reviews mentioned that this is a Glarry and not a Ktaxon but I hoped the headstock would be blank; unfortunately it says Glarry.I have kind of small hands; I love my long scale basses but this short scale is a fun change. Some songs with faster finger work seem to go more smoothly on this one.If I had bought a Squier Bronco instead, I would have spent over twice as much on the instrument, plus the same amount on strings and mods (I think I'm about $75 in on aftermarket). I don't regret this purchase. I bought my first used bass at a pawn shop almost 30 years ago for more than this new bass cost today, and it didn't sound as good and was nearly unplayable. I wish I had this bass when I was 14!

I have a Fender P Bass and a little Hofner bass. I have small hands and sometimes the P Bass is a little hard to play with the wider neck. I liked the short scale of the Hofner as it is easy to play. Looked at this bass because it was short scale. Didn't see anything negative about it so I took the plunge and bought one. The Made in China guitars and basses get hit on a lot for quality, sharp biting frets, finish blems and so on. The bass arrived today and was very well packed. I checked it out and couldn't find any flaws. Tuned it up and the intonation was spot on. Had to adjust the low string saddle a smidge due to buzzing but once I tweaked it, buzz is gone. I also adjusted to pickup height just a bit. Well, I plugged it in and am stunned and how well it sounds. Yes, the pickup could probably be swapped out for something higher end but it stays as is on mine. Neck is nice and straight and it plays very well. Because of the short scale as well as the narrower neck, it is a breeze for me to play. Yes this is a $59.00 bass but it was well worth it. If you're looking for a cheap inexpensive bass to get started or just play around with, buy this bass!! It is a steal!!