Grote Guitar - Chinese PRS Custom 22 Review

[@rnodern]

Thanks for your comment & thumbs up! Not sure on that, myself.

[@rnodern]

Thanks for your comment. As you can see by the video, I was in a hotel. I lived out of that hotel for a good 4 months in a foreign country & didn't have access to wire cutters. As you said, it doesn't add to (or affect) the guitar in any way.

[@rnodern]

Thanks for your comment. It's just a song I came up with in my hotel room for the video. Used the guitar in the review to record the song, too. Used Cubase (superior drummer 2.0, Trilian Bass Module for drums and bass)

[@drewbarries]

Nice review, I bought one of their jazz guitars, replaced the crappy PUPs and sounds great, the stock Grote PUPs are very poor microphonic.

[@DirtyDStudios]

I have been watching a lot of vids on "Chibson" etc the past few days. I have to say... The complaints are minimal and they seem to be fairly trivial. I am going for it. Found a gorgeous flamed maple top PRS. I will post a vid when I am done. Thanks for your info!

[@Jimmyprice258]

I have TWO, left handed. The first one I gutted, without even plugging it up. I replaced pickups with genuine 59/09 pickups, Tuners with genuine Phase II locking tuners. Replaced pots and switch, with 500K ALLPARTS from guitar center. The other, I didn't even need intonation set. I'm happy with mine, and I don't care what those cocksmokers with the "I'm better than you" attitudes above think...

[@gothvox]

Thanks so much for the review! I may consider.

[@MrChris-bx7ss]

You can ask the seller for any type of stop tail you want.

[@atrothe]

IS it a 25" scale. Most chinese copies are 24.75 inch scale.

[@sarinapaparone]

Nice work mate. Nice review.....not sure why so many thumbs down? Thumbs up from me, thanks for posting.

[@JoeCollectible]

what was that first song? thanks for posting

[@mjt11860]

1 of my concerns would b their sources of woods for these guitars. do the suppliers adhere to responsible forestry practices? also, r these counterfeit or just copies? thanx for the demo.

[@rnodern]

Thanks for your comment. I can confirm that body is mahogany and it's pretty light. I'm assuming the neck is also mahogany but haven't taken the truss rod cover off yet. There is no maple top on this one. It's just a solid piece (it's since taken a pretty nasty fall and lost some paint) The fretboard is rosewood, and it's got a fairly dark stain over it. Not sure what are they covering up!? I have no idea where the wood comes from. It's certainly not Peruvian PRS grade, but it has a nice tonal quality. Edit: Although they are "counterfeits", they aren't really trying to trick anyone.

[@krelbar]

mjt11860 "do the suppliers adhere to responsible forestry practices?" BWAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@blackdogxx]

It would carry more weight with the string ends clipped neatly. The John Denver string end loops is far in the past and adds nothing to the guitar.

[@mitcharney1]

Personal preference also adds nothing. What counts is how good can you make it sound.

[@gasfr]

I challenge those critics of these Chinese guitars to see if they can discern the difference in a DOUBLE BLIND test. hearing is so subjective and countless studies have demonstrated this, that if you are told X is a copy or whatnot (dont even get me into the mythology that tonewood AFFECTS TONE IN AN AMPLIFIED GUITAR SIGNAL) it will color your perception. That aside, I own a REAL PRS (and other "real" guitars) and will buy a chinese one soon. I will just NOT get my own headstock inscription, not the fake one, out of respect for the copyright/patent holders. Chinese sellers are helping people get great guitars for a great price!

[@HBSuccess]

Whit All they're "helping" is the Chinese communist government. China has a strange marriage of totalitarian rule and western-style capitalism, which they have discovered is a good way to bring dollars into their government coffers, and we as a nation have been foolhardy enough to let them do it - just so we can have dirt-cheap products. So now- we have entire cities that used to be our industrial base, left crumbling because those jobs are in Asia. I doubt seriously there is any altruistic motive in any of their state-sponsored manufacturing and dumping of goods. As long as they're not violating any brand/trademark/patents/ - as long as they have the proper worker safety and environmental precautions in place, as long as they are using sustainable forestry techniques in all of their provisioning of timber and other materials), as long as they are not employing children, and as long as they are not paying their "employees" slave wages (typically $1/hr or less) and forcing them to work in sweatshop conditions ... I might agree with you. Problem is - not even Epiphone, Squier, and the other "brand names" can make those claims 100% of the time , because they all use ghost production in addition to their own factories at one time or another. In the US at least - it's actually just as illegal to own a counterfeit instrument as it is to import one. It doesn't have to say "PRS" to be a counterfeit- it depends what other trademarks they've infringed upon . If 'None" - then great. But I'm very suspicious of any knock-off that is identical in size and shape to the real thing. Just leaving off the name does not mean it's A-OK. Personally - I would not be caught dead playing a Chinese knock-off, and as far as working on them goes - if they're a blatant rip-off, I explain to the customer what they have, and politely refuse the business. I also encourage every other guitar repair facility I can influence to do the same. We don't need the $50 (and most of the time - these guitars are so cheaply built it's impossible to do a good set-up on them anyway).

[@gasfr]

You are 100% wrong about owning counterfeit instruments Fwiw, I have over 20 yrs law enforcement experience and have friends in Customs etc I even checked with Customs It is NOT illegal to own a counterfeit guitar (assuming it has legal wood. Don't get me started on Gibson and wood!) It is illegal to sell a counterfeit if you represent it as the real Thing Since a counterfeit creates the appearance of being a real Gibson for example, a seller has an 'affirmative' duty under the law to make clear it is NOT real I could get into mens rea aspects etc if you want me to, but in brief there is no statute criminalising POSSESSION of a counterfeit guitar (under Federal law, I cannot research all the different state laws but state law usually leaves trademark etc infringement to the Feds) PERIOD the govt must show you have intent to defraud for a purchaser to get in legal trouble They are not 'per se' contraband If you can cite a statute that criminalises possession of s counterfeit guitar... I'm all ears!!! :)

[@krelbar]

Whit Actually, it's illegal to sell a counterfeit in the US, period. If you get a counterfeit from China, you pretty much own it for life.

[@krelbar]

Whit Playability and pickups are the major issues. Compare how level a fingerboard is to a real PRS not to mention that a PRS will have the fretsleveled before they leave the factory. Cheap fretboard material...dry ass fingerboard is hardly inspiring to play on...and no amount of oil will rejuvenate it. You have to replace the pickups, of course. While woods will not affect tone on an electric guitar, it will affect sustain, as will the cheap hardware you have to replace...including tuners that are more than likely not to keep your guitar in tune. So, after replacing the hardware, pickups, oiling the fretboard, leveling the frets...etc...you may have a guitar that sounds close to a 2200 PRS, but has nowhere near the playability without major overhaul. Playability is the key to good sound being produced...if a guitar feels good in a player's hands, they are not fighting it. Put Eric Johnson on a 120 dollar squier, he will sound like Eric Johnson, but you're not going to hear his best playing as he is fighting the guitar to produce the sound he wants. Let's be realistic, you may be able to get a decent guitar, but saying there is no difference in sound and playability to an authentic PRS is just delusional.

[@rnodern]

krelbar Please stop. You're talking as if you're an authority on the subject. You are not. Do you own a Chinese PRS copy? Or even a US PRS for that matter?

[@bronzesnake7004]

"probably poo"?? ! LOL!