Grote Guitar Owners

[crazydave911]

Did you order directly from the Grote site?

Was going to, maybe did , I requested a clue on backorder (was on the site to). Was sent a link to a very specific ebay site and obviously was Grotechina IN China. So took a chance and submitted an order, in 24 hours got an email with a NLT (no later than) shipping date, 60 days on the outside. I received it on my porch 32 days later. Still wish I'd took pics, NEVER saw ANYTHING packed that well, first class express air no less. From China to my door in 7 days . Obviously there were times of places along the way I could have lost my butt. Also did not get the usual strap, Allen wrenches but hey. I have a guitar built better than the last Gibson ES-125 I saw much less Epiphone. Frets well dress, even shiny , binding front and back, on the neck and headstock. AND new D'addario strings, something I've never seen mentioned on Amazon. Setup, cleanup and intonation 10 minutes maybe, I put graphite in the nut slots, oiled my board and played it . Only possible negative complaint, no gig bag cheap or otherwise so I looked around. About a month later email with Amazon link. A clean fitted well padded gig bag for $49, the Epiphone is $90 BTW
In the old days a scary bad Chinese experience very common. Still waiting on another shoe to drop here

 

[zippofan]

Every time I pick mine up out of the case (generic 335 hardshell that originally came with my Eastwood Messenger, didn't fit that guitar well) I have a smile on my face. Acoustically it sounds similar to my Epi Casino, maybe a tad brighter, and installing the Lollar low-wind P90 makes this guitar sing. The pickup was $110, almost as much as the guitar, another 50 bucks for my luthier installing the nut, $25 for the Tone Ninja tuners and 20 or so for the pots/cap/jack which I already had in my parts stash so I'm guessing just under 4 bills for a great playing and sounding guitar that I'll keep as long as I'm on this earth.

I know I couldn't get a Guild T50 for under a grand, the other hollow body I looked at besides the Epi Century. I see the used Epi's going for $560 and up, more for the James Bay signature, and the only thing the Grote doesn't have is the wooden bridge. Occasionally I look at the inexpensive rosewood and ebony bridges on Amazon, but I don't have the skill to sand the base down to match the top, which would be another trip to the luthier. I've considered installing a Tune-o-Matic with Tusq saddles but the stock bridge intonates fine and sounds good to me. I haven't played a wooden bridge guitar since the early 70s when I was trying to learn on mom's catalog archtop acoustic so occasionally I wonder.

Does anyone know what wood they used? Amazon says maple, but I'm not sure. That big jazz box has been tempting for awhile but I'm generally not a humbucker guy. The newer matte finish P90 semi is even more tempting at $189, must resist!

 

[Cornelius TX]

Every time I pick mine up out of the case (generic 335 hardshell that originally came with my Eastwood Messenger, didn't fit that guitar well) I have a smile on my face. Acoustically it sounds similar to my Epi Casino, maybe a tad brighter, and installing the Lollar low-wind P90 makes this guitar sing. The pickup was $110, almost as much as the guitar, another 50 bucks for my luthier installing the nut, $25 for the Tone Ninja tuners and 20 or so for the pots/cap/jack which I already had in my parts stash so I'm guessing just under 4 bills for a great playing and sounding guitar that I'll keep as long as I'm on this earth.

I know I couldn't get a Guild T50 for under a grand, the other hollow body I looked at besides the Epi Century. I see the used Epi's going for $560 and up, more for the James Bay signature, and the only thing the Grote doesn't have is the wooden bridge. Occasionally I look at the inexpensive rosewood and ebony bridges on Amazon, but I don't have the skill to sand the base down to match the top, which would be another trip to the luthier. I've considered installing a Tune-o-Matic with Tusq saddles but the stock bridge intonates fine and sounds good to me. I haven't played a wooden bridge guitar since the early 70s when I was trying to learn on mom's catalog archtop acoustic so occasionally I wonder.

Does anyone know what wood they used? Amazon says maple, but I'm not sure. That big jazz box has been tempting for awhile but I'm generally not a humbucker guy. The newer matte finish P90 semi is even more tempting at $189, must resist!

The Jazz box has been tempting me too.

 

[PhredE]

The Jazz box has been tempting me too.

Me too.

Oh, also.. just noticed on Amazon that Grote has released a new batch of (5) Tele style guitars.
2 have rosewood (type) boards, 3 are maple.
Paint/body wise, 1 is natural, 1 is vintage/tobacco sunburst, 1 is yellow, 1 is blue green and 1 is black.
The rosewood board is paired with the yellow and the blue green guitars.
$99 -- do I need another project guitar???

Edit: here's a link that should get ya there ok:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0942QXHYN/?tag=tdpri-20

 

[Cornelius TX]

Those teles look nice.

If anyone has a grote 335 sunburst with the Mickey Mouse ears, and Is interested in selling, PM me!

 

[Otisblove]

You guys seen THIS one? Mahogany body and neck.

 

[Sax-son]

I have one of those tele thinlines in my garage somewhere. I am waiting for the next sucker to take it off of my hands.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

After fret levels and set ups, I love them. I replaced the bridge on the cherry one with a fancy $80 one (!), but I don't think I'll bother with it on the sunburst; frankly I can't tell any difference. I installed a mammoth ivory nut on the cherry one as well, and eventually will get around to that on the sunburst. No problems with the tuners on mine, luckily.

I bought a tort pickguard for the cherry one, but I didn't measure right and it didn't fit. I decided I prefer the look without the pickguard anyway. Bought cheap Glarry 'jazz' hard cases for them (around $65 each), they fit perfectly. (Those cases have that hideous "factory smell"; airing them out for a few days helped.

Someday I'll get better pics.

The local GC recently got more Epiphone 335's in stock; I played a couple of them awhile to see if they played any better than the Grotes...nope! Also, I much prefer the side-mounted jack on the Grote.

Another hat tip to FenderGyrl for alerting us to these great deals!

So here's what I've done with mine:

Thanks for the comprehensive report!

If anyone has a grote 335 sunburst with the Mickey Mouse ears, and Is interested in selling, PM me!

Still haven't found one? If I ever decide to sell mine, you're first in line.

 

[sloppychops]

Every time I pick mine up out of the case (generic 335 hardshell that originally came with my Eastwood Messenger, didn't fit that guitar well) I have a smile on my face. Acoustically it sounds similar to my Epi Casino, maybe a tad brighter, and installing the Lollar low-wind P90 makes this guitar sing. The pickup was $110, almost as much as the guitar, another 50 bucks for my luthier installing the nut, $25 for the Tone Ninja tuners and 20 or so for the pots/cap/jack which I already had in my parts stash so I'm guessing just under 4 bills for a great playing and sounding guitar that I'll keep as long as I'm on this earth.

I know I couldn't get a Guild T50 for under a grand, the other hollow body I looked at besides the Epi Century. I see the used Epi's going for $560 and up, more for the James Bay signature, and the only thing the Grote doesn't have is the wooden bridge. Occasionally I look at the inexpensive rosewood and ebony bridges on Amazon, but I don't have the skill to sand the base down to match the top, which would be another trip to the luthier. I've considered installing a Tune-o-Matic with Tusq saddles but the stock bridge intonates fine and sounds good to me. I haven't played a wooden bridge guitar since the early 70s when I was trying to learn on mom's catalog archtop acoustic so occasionally I wonder.

Does anyone know what wood they used? Amazon says maple, but I'm not sure. That big jazz box has been tempting for awhile but I'm generally not a humbucker guy. The newer matte finish P90 semi is even more tempting at $189, must resist!

I've thought about upgrading the pickup on mine, but am loathe to sink more money into what is essentially a "cheap guitar"...thereby making it "not a cheap guitar."

I did have the bridge changed to a wooden bridge, and feel that it enhanced the tone (less "metallic" to my ears). The difference in weight between a wood bridge and the stock one is huge, too.

 

[Cornelius TX]

My GAS for the older Mickey Mouse ears version is gone now. They just put several solid-color semi-hollows on Amazon (black, pink, seafoam, and brown - wood-grain). I just ordered the brown. I know it’s boring to some, but I love plain brown electrics for some reason. Looking forward to it, and happy to be finished searching!

 

[kiwi blue]

I've been dithering for a while about getting the single p90 thinline as it seems pretty easy to convert to left handed. Then today a friend sent me a link to a lefty straight from the Grote website.

https://www.grotechina.com/products...herry-red-grwb-ztrd-lf?variant=39280131047508

Damn his hide! Now my wallet is NZ$400 lighter and I'll be selling an Ibanez Blazer to cover some of the cost.

To put it in perspective, a right handed Epi Century is $1,200 here and I'd still have to convert it to left handed, and probably do the same sort of upgrades to nut, tuners, etc.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I'd still have to convert it to left handed, and probably do the same sort of upgrades to nut, tuners, etc.

Congrats! The chief improvement to my Grotes—at no money cost—was leveling the frets.

 

[kiwi blue]

Congrats! The chief improvement to my Grotes—at no money cost—was leveling the frets.

I’ll be doing that as well. I’ve only recently learned how to level frets. I have two successful fret jobs under my belt now. I should have learned how to do it years ago!

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I should have learned how to do it years ago!

I learned it here!

 

[kiwi blue]

And it has arrived today, a little over a month after ordering. I'm going to have some fun with this guitar.

I'll probably replace tuners and the bridge saddle, and I'll raise the pickup with a shim. And I'll check the frets and do some levelling if needed. There's also some double sided tape between the bridge and the top which I'll remove. I'm sure it will be dampening things.

Plays fine out of the box without any set-up work and sounds pretty good considering the pickup is 9k and set too low. Looks like they threw a bridge pickup in there. I'll see how it sounds after raising the pickup, but will probably go for something more like 7k to 8k with A2. I'm guessing this one is ceramic.

Quite a thick bottom end on this. Might create feedback issues if I ever play it out. But a lower wind pickup should help there, and maybe a Faber tune-o-matic saddle might add a little sparkle.

 

[dreamingtele]

And it has arrived today, a little over a month after ordering. I'm going to have some fun with this guitar.

I'll probably replace tuners and the bridge saddle, and I'll raise the pickup with a shim. And I'll check the frets and do some levelling if needed. There's also some double sided tape between the bridge and the top which I'll remove. I'm sure it will be dampening things.

Plays fine out of the box without any set-up work and sounds pretty good considering the pickup is 9k and set too low. Looks like they threw a bridge pickup in there. I'll see how it sounds after raising the pickup, but will probably go for something more like 7k to 8k with A2. I'm guessing this one is ceramic.

Quite a thick bottom end on this. Might create feedback issues if I ever play it out. But a lower wind pickup should help there, and maybe a Faber tune-o-matic saddle might add a little sparkle.


View attachment 897677

can you send me a link on where to order?? Im trying to get my hands on one of these!

 

[kiwi blue]

can you send me a link on where to order?? Im trying to get my hands on one of these!

I bought it directly off the Grote website.

https://www.grotechina.com/collections/hollow-semi-hollow-body-1

I had no problems, except that the China Post tracking number didn't become active for a week. It came well packaged in a polystyrene guitar "case" and arrived in perfect condition.

 

[surfco]

Affordable good quality. What's not to like?

 

[bender66]

Got the green just because a. nice modifiable sled bridge and b. I have a Bigsby looking for a home.

Are you asking about this jazz box?

 

[Obsessed]

Just to confirm (I apologize for not remembering who here said it) that the Grote “Jazz” does fit perfectly in the Epiphone Dot/Sheraton hard shell case. And I mean perfect. I bought this Epiphone case for my MIK Sheraton II around 2005. Admittedly, the case today probably cost as much as the Grote though.