Grote unboxing & first impressions - $160 Amazon Guitar - Comparisons to Firefly and Harley Benton
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- I finally got around to ordering one of these Grote semihollow to compare to the other two cheap semi in my life.
Grote: amzn.to/37EBvA8
Firefly: amzn.to/2U7HJVl
Harley Benton: www.thomannmus...
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As someone who learned to play guitar during the '60's, this guitar is actually quite amazing. I grew up with the Teisco, Kent and Domino imports. My first "real" guitar was my Framus bass. I know that they are collectibles now, but god, we all thought that those imports were awful at the time! We all wanted Stratocasters and the like, but back then, they cost the equivalent of several thousand. The market was high-end/low-end with not much in between. Fast forward to now. On a complete whim I ordered one of these Grotes in tobacco burst to maybe add to my collection-it's cheap enough to sell on/give away. Upon unpacking I was more than pleasantly surprised by the fit and finish. The strings were absolute crap, but I didn't buy it for the strings. They were stretchy and harsh and wouldn't stay in tune. After a week of futzing around waiting for them to settle in I chucked them for a set of EB Cobalt 9-42's and dropped the action down to the level I like. This squawky bird suddenly began to sing! The new strings made a real difference in fret feel and sound. So yeah, if you do order one, plan on new strings right away. As a beginner, I would have LOVED to have gotten this guitar. If you consider that the cheapest Teisco guitar in the 60's cost the equivalent of north of $200.00 today, this is an extreme bargain at the $149.00 I paid for it. And yes, I am going to keep it.
Have you ever read Mo Foster's excellent and very funny book 17 Watts? It's about his life as a musician from the earliest times on, and is named that because his first band were considering getting ONE Watkins Dominator amp to play through as it had six inputs, but they were wondering about it being that loud - "Do we really need 17 watts?"
It features bits about other musicians too, such as Jeff Beck making his own guitar in woodwork class at school (but not knowing the frets get closer together as they go further up the neck), and - the reason I started this somewhat overlong post - another famous guitarist, whose name escapes me, who said the action on his first guitar was so high you could play slide UNDER the strings. 😄
Feel the same way. Now I'm on my second Grote.
I think calling it “let’s discover the condition of the object inside the box” is definitely a improvement on “unboxing”
I honestly laughed way too hard when he said that
Yeah, we all know that's what it really is - a roll of the proverbial dice every time you open a guitar.
I liked the Harley Benton till I saw how much it was going to cost me to get it from Germany to Virginia. I purchased the Grote and got free shipping with my Amazon Prime account. Plus the guitar came with a free gig bag!
How much to ship it from Germany? Almost pulled the trigger on a Harley Benton.
@@petestaint8312 Over $90
@@b2bw1955 😳 forget that!
I bought one in red as a beginner player and am glad to be reassured i made a good choice, thank you.
The Grote sounded best to me. Your "micro micro phonic phonic" had me cracking up again 😂
"I am Grote"
The Grote pickups are definitely brighter than the HB or Fire Fly pickups. It's a noticeable difference .
The Firefly group that banned you for “diminishing the brand” recently renamed to Harley Benton Fans, lol.
R B I know, lol
@@60CycleHumcast hey man. Can you private message me and let me know how i ask you something outside of this forum privately.
@@60CycleHumcast Wankers!
@@60CycleHumcast Oh wait you gave an honest impression of firefly?
@@60CycleHumcast Hey bud, between the grote and the firefly witch one would you say has the more comfortable neck for a person with smaller slightly crippled up hands?
I ordered one of these this past summer. Cherry red. Set it up for about thirty minutes, put some Gibson 10s on it, some fretbutter for the fretboard, just about an eighth of a turn on the truss rod to bring the action down, a finger of bourbon in a tumbler, tucked in to "The Thrill is Gone," and I got a tone out of my old Marshall that would have made old BB smile. Grote's just fine in my book. Not a big name, but they have potential. Peace, brother.
I bought a lefty. Came directly from the factory. Set up surprisingly well.
Wow! That's great.
I just purchased an exotic tobacco flame top version @ $260. ETA, mid July. Happy 4th, bro! Looking at jazz guitars over several days, listening to tone examples the prices were beyond my reach (living on S.S.). But when this Grote came into view, I smiled. :^)
I was hoping to hear some sounds from this instrument. And you're the man of the hour!
A few years ago I bought Grote's exotic flame top 12-string with vine laden fingerboard, and had it setup for six. I will tell you brother that it is the most harmonically balanced guitar I've ever heard. Every chord is caressingly clean. Sweet chords you can hear all day.
Thanks for your post brother. You made my day.
Just got a Grote. After a bit of fiddling it sounds great. Looking forward to getting back into playing guitar after several years of playing other instruments.
Since it's so dark, start with lowering the pickups and raising the screw poles. Then higher measured kohm volume pot(s) plus lower uF tone caps.
More likely low quality hook up wire used! (High cap!)
@@DMSProduktions you could use the cheapest 30AWG wire on the planet and unless they coiled 500' of it inside the guitar, it won't have anywhere near enough capacitance to kill the highs that much.
@@BudgetRC_Channel Mmm ya never know. Seen it happen on many an Epiphone Wildkat & Casino!
Ryan, Friday last, I got my HB DC-580! Doing all of the standard internet tests (most of which I never did, back in the day). The guitar is almost letter perfect, out of the box! It IS heaver than an "authentic" SG, but very comfortable, and will be a keeper!
I got myself a red semi hollow grote and it actually came out prefect no wires showing, no buffing compound, everything is in the right place and no buzzing sounds
Awesome! I've been looking at Grote for a while. I may pull the trigger on the Grote. 👍
Now it's $185.99 at Amazon. and now 3 days later they upped the price to $195.99, so you got a great deal Ryan.
I just paid $199 :(
I've been eyeing these on Amazon for a few weeks, but I haven't seen too many review videos for them. At least not from those who aren't acting as paid salesmen, lol. I'm waiting on a Harley Benton progressive guitar to come in from Thonmann (3 weeks and counting) to get back into playing. It's been several years, but I want to pick it back up. So, may go out and purchase one of these now to play around with in the meantime. Thank you so much for this video!
Yes, this video really helped me to decide on the Grote. My lefty version just arrived, quick tuning and it sounds good, albeit with that little rattle.
Just wanted to say I bought one of these today. Your video was a deciding factor. I've been going back and forth between this and a Harley Benton and while I still wanted that Lemon burst from Harley, It's been 7-8 weeks out of stock for awhile now. Plus being in the USA, I got 2 day shipping with my Amazon Prime, and I can return it, free and no questions asked. So I just wanted to say thanks(And I think I used your affiliate link, so you are also welcome :) . Seems the Grote is definitely right there with the Harley, so putting aside my color preference. I think this was a good decision.
I also wanted to say thank you for having the smarts to take your tuner off after you tune your guitar! Ha! I can't stand that people leave those things on their headstock. Those Dr. Seus-looking things ruin a good looking headstock.
Edit: also, these guitars are no longer $160. I got mine for $185, and just noticed today they rose again to $195.
A year later what do you think? I'm having the same issue--I want a Harley Benton, but It's out of stock and high shipping compared to Grote which I could get now.
@@jasper6786 I returned that guitar after a week or so. It wasn't bad, but it was cheap feeling. And I realized I could get a good cheap Ibanez used for about the same price and have no problems reselling it if I didn't like. I still have the Ibanez today (AS73 I think) and it's a great guitar.
You didn’t seem as enthusiastic in this video. I watch you all the time and thank you.
Whatever was bugging you, if that is the case here, I hope your days have turned around. Thank you for all that you do for us!
I’d just order the Grote semi hollow with neck pick ups yesterday on Amazon..But if waited just a day and watched this video, I might’ve ordered this Grote. Real kicking myself at moment. Still looking forward for the Grote that is coming next week. Thanks for awesome videos. My Amazon wish list has is huge. Next big buy is Katakana amp
Within the last 2 weeks, I got a new Harley Benton HB 35. I will tell everyone reading this..mine does NOT sound like this. Mine sounds god awful, horribly muddy, almost as if the tone is all the way up. The switch does almost nothing to affect the tone at all.
I just recently picked up a Grote T type guitar. I did have to do some setup on it (I expected to), but I have it setup to my preferences now. It’s a gorgeous instrument, plays great, sounds nice. and has a great neck. It really is pretty amazing for the price.
Now I really want one of their Jazz boxes with a P90.
You need to add the Monoprice/Indio Boardwalk to this comparison as well.
"New fort for my kids:" I can relate!
They do all seem to be in the same neighborhood of sound. All things being more-or-less equal, if it were me, I'd stick with the H-B for the sweet coil split sound and the honeyburst color.
Keep the HB. The Splitting coils makes it more versatile.
Subscribed just because of editing.
Well done 👍🏻
Relatable: been playing a long time and am still a mediocre guitarist at best. It's alright, though. I enjoy it.
Me too.
Been playing since the early eighties....... still suck, still sound like a guy that's still learning, but damn I sure enjoy it. And still learning too.
I actually prefer the non flamed maple tops like this. For some reason birds eye and flamed maple looks tacky too me, except on the back of a neck. The finish of this guitar is beautiful. I would love an es330/fully hollow guitar with that exact burst finish, preferably in nitro. I bet after a lot of upgrades, this guitar would be pretty decent and something good to take on the road.
I'm not completely against micro-phonic ...In a studio situation...We need that background noise to fill the space. That's my take....I'm sure other's feel different.
You have a good vibe to you man, like the kinda guy who tips 100% and buys homeless people food
You have to check this out....best guitar I have purchased in 10 years.
GROTE Electric Guitar Semi-Hollow Body Guitar matte finished P90 Pickups (Red Body with Black around binding)
I bought the Firefly matte black one (and did a vid on it on my channel) - and it had issues. I think the IYV guitars are better, although I've just ordered my first grote. Nice channel.
I think it's a very good first guitar when you're learning to play, or a very good gift for the very first guitar, too. 😎👍🏻
I have the red version, it plays well, but it needs a through cleaning and setup out of the box. The turners are pretty garbo as well. Otherwise my experience was solid
Just keep the one that feels and plays the best. You can give one to me. I'm the one that gave you the red Mahar guitar. That one's a head scratcher. It feels and sounds so good but is clearly not a traditional build
Its a decent bit of kit for the money, and something to add to your guitar armoury , gives you options, decent review, don't be too tough on the finish, remember its a budget entry semi.
Can you tell us the nut widths of these three instruments? I think the Firefly is 42mm (1.625"), and the HB may be 43 (1.69"). What about the Grote? You said it may feel a bit wider?
I like cheap guitars like this. Fun to play, decent sound. Everyone should have one at least for awhile.
The outro was awesome! 👍 excellent guitarist.
Two things! 1st off you missed your calling to be a talk show host as evident of how you can continually keep things interesting with no actual dialogue with anyone. 😝
2nd it would’ve been cool if after showing all the differences between the 3 guitars (great job btw) if you brought in an actual ES-335 Gibson to really show the actual differences in tone between the lightweights and big boy guitars. Again, great review. I’m a subscriber after watching this. Thank you
If I had es-335 money this would be a very different channel lol.
The rattle is the pickguard. I just took mine off and problem fixed.
interesting
I took mine off too but the rattle unfortunately remains.
There are 3 guitars here with similar parts. The microphonic pickup is that anything more than getting a cake of surfboard wax and spreading it inside the pickup cover to deaden the microphonic condiition ? Some pickup microphonics might be relatively desirable. The Monoprice Teles that I have also have a certain level of microphonic issue. I sliced thin layers of Mrs Palmers surfboard wax and smeared the softer ultra sticky parafin into the cover and that was fixed, didn't have to even desolder, melt & dip the pickups. The end result was a pickup that is every bit as good as the Epiphone P90's I have to compare them with. For $ 3 a cake, that goes a long way for packing the covers of the pickups with 1/32-1/8 inch layer of wax. And it's going to really be surprising what that does. The tepacked Monoprice pickups are as good as any P90 you can buy from Epiphone in their guitars or even as replace & repair or even upgrade parts. If you can swap a pickguard or those parts, repacking the cover with wax is no more or less a challenge. So with the 3 of these, buy them evaluate them, fix it with your labor as a DIYer project and you'll end up with anything Squier has as it's premium model series or that Fender has MIM. Certainly nothing worse than the best of Squier's Bullet or Affinity pricepoint.
The red one is cool i am ordering one now from grote
Sounded the best of all 3.
Wow! Pickups sound pretty decent!
I bought a Grote electric 12 string. Sometimes it's my favourite guitar. It's beautiful.
“I like cheap stuff but there’s a limit”
Oh yes!
I just got one two weeks ago. I have Fenders, Epiphones, and Peaveys. This grote is absolutely beyond beautiful and set up better that any guitar I have ever owned.If you had told me it was a 1500 dollar guitar I would most certainly agree it was worth it. Now I know its a crap shoot many times but this guitar is magnificent,
Good post, brother. Thanks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. To me, the Grote had the best tonal depth of the three, which is encouraging to me.
Still like the HB, but I would like to try an Epiphone 335.
The true test of any cheap guitar is how good does it explode and fly apart when you give it the old baseball bat swing.
You Should do an: " All My Funky Guitars ", EPISODE - I'm INTO FUNKY GUITARS ala Eastwood Guitars, some Vox, DANELECTRO, etc. - I Love the Gold Reverse Body that looks like it came from The JETSONS!!
Just got my Grote ES 335 they fix few thing ...front pickup is lower down and you can't see the wires to the switches or knobs, this guiter looks good and sounds good for the money..glad I bought one ..and the paint finish looks amazing
My biggest question was how the surface of the fretboard feels that's a lot of fake inlay and not much wood under your fingers
the inlays are real, they aren't spectacular but they are real.
Dark prob due to poor quality wiring! Hi capacitance wire is cheaper than low capacitance. Some Epiphone Wyldkats and Casinso had that problem too, and way too MUCH wire lengths as well. Rewired with better, low cap wire and less than what was needed, made these guitars come to life! THIS guitar would not surprise me either if the same happened here!
Ryan, your demo of the EAR----> T guitars was brilliant. But I'm afraid the EAR----> T guitars are reaching the $400 price point. I just happened to see GROTE guitars on my Amazon feed. I'm seriously thinking of getting one. Let's see if your demo helps me get over the threshold.
Great video, thanks so much. I got a firefly and returned it, the tuning stability and pickups were just not tenable. Would love to hear from anyone here who has played both the firefly and either of these and get additional thoughts
I have a question... How do you keep that beard so well? I just can't keep mine so neat!
Nice outro jam!
Thanks!
The rattle you hear might be cured with putting a bit of wax in the bridge. That's what a tech once told me.
The cables peeking out of the F hole have me triggered.
Listening through pretty good headphones they pretty much sound the same and they sound pretty good.
Have you seen that Grote "335 Style Jazz Electric" in purple though? Damn it looks good! It's like $350, so I don't know if I want to risk that much on a brand like Grote...
Thanks for the video. I was debating on this as I had already ruled out the Firefly, which is out of stock and who knows when it will reappear. I think I will go with the HB-35Plus after seeing this.
Great video!
I learned to play rhythm guitar in the early 90's, my friends and I formed a punk band, which was a lot of fun. Since then, I'm still not great at playing, but I've always loved the look of the semi hollow body guitar and the rockabilly sound. I just purchased a Grote semi hollow body electric guitar last week. I'm looking forward to playing again! What would you recommend in practice amps and budget delay pedals for the rockabilly sound?
Thank you!
If you like tube and I think everybody likes tube The bugera of V5 cool lamp but they've got one on here they say you can buy for $100 that's a tube amplifier and they say it's really really good it's one of those cheapies I wish I knew what the name of it was but heck a tube amplifier for $100 but if you want to go ahead and spend the extra money for less than $200 you can get the bugera v5 if you're lucky you can find a used one for around a hundred bucks trust me those little amplifiers Rock
How is the old Grote? Any regrets?
@@petestaint8312 No regrets, it's held up pretty good for a budget guitar.
@@Grayskull77 awesome! Looking at snagging one myself. 👍
@@petestaint8312 Cool! I purchased mine from ebay and I got a great deal.
My recent tobacco flame top Grote 335 cost more but workmanship is excellent. The sound is very shallow though. But My older Grote semi-hollow 12-string, setup for 6 (I like the extra string space for fingered arpeggios) Having a pronounced golden-brown tiger-stripe top and pick guard, with Fender 10's, the warm harmonic balance in the chords and the fatness in the melodic lines, I can hear that sound all day, brother.
Sounding good on the play out music.
The Harley is the prettiest bt I like Grote...!
I have that exact model I love it.
They are all nice and sound good!
Grote sounds the best
I got a red one, had the same buzzing from the bridge. Took it off, tightened it, melted some wax on it. Seems to be gone.
Maybe the "rattle-o-matic" bridge?
Yes same bridge as fire fly
I have one of the purple Grote solid body Tele's with dual humbuckers and it is my favorite guitar. The finish and quality of it is amazing, even the frets were polished silky smooth, and it was only 135 on amazon.
I had a Douglas branded 335 that was a dead ringer for an Epi Dot. The bridge had that "rattle" that the Grote has. I sold it but regretted selling as it was a great guitar.
HELLO CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT MATERIAL IS THE BODY? And HUMBuKER are in alnico or ceramic
Unbox that Grote, boy. I have popsicles in my mouth... Three. Three popsicles in total. Three flavors. Three temperatures. One is frozen. One is melted. One is on fire.
Loved the video, great information. I was wondering if you could do a review on the Best Choice Products Semi-Hollow guitar and indio by monoprice semi hollow because I would love to hear you input on them.
Fire fly and Crouse sounds the same.But what kind of string s are on them.If you don't like that fire fly just send it to me.
The only problem is which one to order. I'm not sure about the tail piece. It seems maybe the long string mount might be beneficial
The Grote sounds brighter. I have their lp style guitar in purple flame top.
Nice
Hate the sound, hopefully I can score a lefty firefly in the future. I bought an old friend a righty as a gift. After fresh tuners and set up it sounded really good and held tuning. Hoping they come back someday...
I like the Grote Tele. The pickups were surprisingly good. They have an orange 335 style on eBay and a bunch more models. They have a cool semi-hollow headless Strandberg copy.
What is the nut width on the Grote Tele? How about the fretboard radius?
Which would you keep between the firefly and the grote???? I’m leaning towards the Grote...
i love the gold top on the firefly, but in general build quality and pickup quality the grote wins.
What I don't understand is why Harley Benton don't change out their shitty tuners for some half decent ones. With their buying power, it would only add another $10 to the overall cost, and it improve tuning stability so much. It seems that the only real issue with all Harley Benton guitars is with the tuners.
Ciao man. Are the pickups (Grote S.H) 2 or 4 wires? I would like to take it and split the coils with a splitcoil
Which one stays in tune the most?
This one probably
I could hear the rattling, you think it could be from a saddle?, same thing happened on my firefly but I switched from 10’s to 13’s and the problem went away
I like the full rec one better but back in the day you couldnt get a 335 type guitar for less than five hundred so its awsome kids are lucky now they can get good fun cool gig worthy guitars and amps for next to nothing they never experience gorilla amps and awfulstrat copies
Could you measure the neck chunkyness and nut width at the first fret? Of all 3 (Firefly, HB, Grote) Thanks!
I'll take the gold top firefly, I already have a red one. I have pups to put in it already.
I like all of them for modding platforms. Ironically, my Firefly had zero cosmetics flaws. The Monoprice DLX and DLX Plus (new) are worth looking into as well. They are a bit more expensive but pretty impressed. The only thing left to do on my Firefly is get the bone nut adjusted. My first couple of fret positions are sharp. Btw: replacing the FF pickups with some cheap $28 Ones from Amazon makes a world of difference. To be honest, they sound as good or close to all of the SD and DiMarzios I have. SMH
It appears you have an addiction to unboxing guitars. I know the pain... I've managed to sneak 9 past the girlfriend so far.. keep up the good work!
9, that’s a good run! I think the trick is to have a youtube review channel, then you can be all like “honey, it’s for my work.”
Did you ever figure out the rattle on the grote? I just got into guitar and always wanted and loved the 335 styles.
Those cables are good or I got two that magically rule,I swear
Harley Benton pickup sounds flat than the Grote which is warmer
Lol my grote guitar just came today
Any word on the Grote Tele HH model? They look cool