GroteGuitar Solid Body Electric Guitar with Gigbag LPYS-006 (Purple)

Review is for GROTE Guitar Solid Body Electric Guitar with Gigbag LPYS-006 (TS) ......Keep in mind I am a beginner. Not a seasoned pro player.If you are like me, you have read the reviews, watched youtube videos about this brand etc. but the nagging question you have is....will I get a good one, that is pretty well setup when it arrives??Well, yes and no. ANY guitar you purchase, unless it comes straight from the shop that has been setup by a tech, you will have to do SOME setup. Keep that in mind.These GROTE guitars are very well made. Quality is there. Ok, on with the review...hope this helps you somewhat.This is my 2nd guitar, both inexpensive and both came from China. This is not such a bad thing.While I am just a beginner, this guitar is a big win. The fit and finish is top notch, IMHO.Shipping: It took a couple of weeks before it arrived. Shipped by UPS. Box arrived in excellent condition, and the guitar comes in the box, already in the gig bag, which, while not much padding, will provide some protection. I was surprised at the minimal padding in the shipping box, but they seem to know what they are doing, no damage to the guitar at all from shipping.Checking the quality, fit and finish of this Grote....there is one single blemish on the finish, but thats it, and its not in a noticeable spot, so all good. I gave it a really good look and inspection for flaws, due to the fact that you can return it to get another one if you end up with something wrong in shipping etc.Ok, lets get serious. How does it sound right out of the box? Is it playable?Absolutely it is, once tuned up. Lets say you ONLY tune it....is it right for a beginner?I say yes.....this is my 2nd guitar, the other one is a super strat style. This Grote is much more playable.Frets are spot on. Balled ends. Super smooth. Big difference, and that is what you are paying for. Tuners are good, better than most inexpensive guitars, and they DO hold tune. You do not need to replace them, if you don't want to. I have found locking tuners to be the best, and hold tune well, as well as being dead simple to replace strings.Ok, so what have I done to this so far, just to give you and idea on what to expect:1. Arrived and checked for obvious flaws. Check (fit and finish is great)2. Checked to make sure all is in working order...electronics, pickups etc. Check3. Bought new strings. Not that the original strings are bad, but I wanted to remove the strings and clean the fret board etc. Removed strings.4. Checked the bridge. Both pieces. Removed the screws. Bridge screws are a little loose and not tight when screwed in....not great, SO, I brought some copper tape, skinny strip, and wrapped the screw with one wrap and screwed them back in. That did the trick, and holds tight.5. Fret work is really good. I taped the neck and started cleaning with #000 3M pads. Not steel wool....since I didn't want little steel fibers everywhere. This cleaned up the frets, very light scrubbing. Then I used my dremel and with some metal polish, polished up the frets. Wow what a difference. Not that they were not shiny before, but they are very nice now. Used lemon oil on the frets, 2 coats. Cleaned up nicely.6. Locking tuners. I used Guyker Guitar Locking Tuners: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K2P7M8P?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 Drop in replacement. The original tuners are good, and will hold tune, so you don't really need to replace them.7. Checked neck. Had a slight bow, very slight, about half a turn on the truss rod set that straight.9. Strings. Replaced with Ernie Ball regular slinky 10's. Will see how these do, may replace with 9"s.10. Checked and set action. Checked for dead frets and fret buzz. Easy with this type of bridge.11. Set intonation. It was very easy and mostly setup perfectly. If I remember correctly, I only adjusted two strings. The rest were spot on. Love this guitar so far.Now this may seem like a lot of work if you are a beginner, like me, but watch some youtube videos, and if you are handy with tools, this is very, VERY easy to do. Take your time to get to know your new guitar.I would say total time to clean, polish, change the tuners, strings, adjust the bridge etc took all of maybe 1.5 hours, and that was taking my time to do it right. This guitar is very playable, and is a joy to pick up and play, the very little that I know how to do. I look forward to learning with this guitar. Simply love it so far. Yes, they look as good as the pictures show. I think you would be pleased with this purchase, even if you are a beginner....just take your time with setup, OR pay someone to set it up for you. Either way, totally worth it IMHO. Grote makes nice guitars, that look good, play easy and sound good.After doing all of this.....setup is great. If you are a beginner like I am, would you be OK with just a minimal setup consisting of tune and minimal checking of the neck, as far as truss rod adjustment? For the one I received, YES, absolutely. I think if this brand was more well known, this would be priced a lot higher. Check some reviews from seasoned pros. They are also buying this guitar. I really like the quality,look and sound of this guitar.

I love these Grote guitars. The value is hard to beat, for sure. However, the best part for me is these are truly nice guitars.The finish is beautiful. The electronics just work. The pickups sound great. The neck is comfortable. The frets are nicely finished (smooth and polished surfaces, no sharp edges). The tuning machines are stable. The inlays are attractive and smooth.I've been playing guitar on and off for 30+ years. I'm thrilled, absolutely thrilled, to have these guitars.I bought the blue ES-335 first. I was so impressed I bought the purple Les Paul as soon as they were in stock.They are playable out of the box (after tuning, of course). They come with decent enough 10's already installed. The strings have D'Addario color coded ball ends, but I'm not convinced they are actual D'Addarios. The dye color isn't quite right. Regardless, they are serviceable strings.The action comes a little high for my preference. The neck had too much relief by the time it got to me. A simple careful truss rod adjustment was all it took. Intonation was pretty close, too.I figure they leave the factory with high action in order to allow for wood movement and have it still be playable between the plant in China and whenever/wherever it gets to the customer.Just think, it was built in China a few months ago (with nice materials and great attention to detail - not a gripe, just an observation about location). It gets packaged, makes an ocean voyage on a container ship, arrives on US shores, makes its way to a seller by train/truck, and then gets shipped to me via Amazon (planes and trucks).The guitar experienced lots of temperature and humidity situations and it _still_ arrives payable. It's well packaged in a heavy cardboard box inside its gig bag, surrounded by a reasonable amount of styrofoam.If you know how to do a basic setup - neck relief, bridge height, intonation - you can dial in a nicely shredable 4/64ths on the base and .005 neck relief at the 7th, though normal temperature/humidity fluctuations will mean you're chasing that a lot.Set it up with 6/64ths on the bass and maybe .008 neck relief and you can probably let out sit on a stand all year without fret buzz and without any notes fretting out due to low action.The blue 335 has what I believe to be a graphic of flame maple. The grain is just a bit too big, more like a tiger stripe, and it doesn't look quite right up close. From 10 feet away, though, it's fine.The purple LP, well, it's hard to tell. Maybe it's a graphic. Maybe it's a maple top. I can't tell up close, and I definitely can't tell from a few feet away. Which means it's pretty ducking nice.The Amazon product description for the LP indicate "single coil" pickups, which is incorrect. They are definitely humbuckers (which is what I wanted anyway). My LP does _not_ have coil split push/pull pots, but my 335 does. I believe Grote sells a different LP model _with_ coil splits.All things considered, I'd buy them again. I'll probably buy more in the future.

Very nice guitar, great workmanship and paint job including round fret ends which will not shred your hands. BUT as soon as you get it you will need to do a full set up because it has lots of fret buzz so check the frets with a fret rocker before you mess around with the truss rod, which may need to adjust because the string action seem very low . Some small entonation adjustment no big deal, polish the frets well so you won’t hear that grinding noise during your solos and please put some decent strings preferably #10’s I use Elixir they are more expensive but they last much longer and like the tone. Other than these, guitar is great but for the price.