Amazon Tele (Grote) w/ Successful Mods

[Glazecaster]

Hey Everyone, So after modding a 63 Hofner Galaxy 174, a few LP Juniors (original and Epiphones), and a few others.. I wanted to try one of these low end / cheap Tele’s from Amazon. I was close to grabbing the BadCat semi-hollow Tele, I ended up buying the Grote Semi Hollow Tele since it seemed like a challenge with the 'not so great' reviews. For $99 I received the guitar, immediately noticed the full Maple Body was a Laminate Top with a Maple flame print. I ordered Wilkinson Tuners with the guitar already knowing the factory ones were garbage, a Graph-Tech Nut, an Orange Cap, and both Aluminum & Copper tape. After replacing the tuners, Nut, a 3 Ply Pickgaurd, setting up the height and intonation via Truss. I noticed the hum, bright tone loss with volume lowered, great playability tho, I have a bunch of pick-ups lying around and before I did that, I copper taped the cavity’s, Wax Potted the pickups, re-wired and soldered everything w/ heavy gauge Stu Mac wiring. The hum was gone and the neck pick up sounded amazing, I replaced the bridge p/u with a Kent Armstrong and a Fralin and ended up putting a Alnico V pickup I had and the tones were actually insanely good, just added the Orange Drop Cap to keep the tones while dropping the vol knob. I also replaced the bridge plate with copper rollers on the stock bridge (better sustain, and intonation). In all, this costs less than $180 and a days work. I’d throw it against my RS Guitarworks CustomTele, and of my Fender Tele’s etc and might pick this $180 build out to use. In 5 years I may update you guys with a guitar that has all it wood and fake wood build peeling apart but, as it is now... I’m blown away.

[Beef]

Very cool, sounds like a sweet project. Any pics or clips?

[ajaxlepinski]

Right on! It's amazing how some inexpensive guitars can be turned into a winner!

How were the frets? Any sharp edges? Did you have to tweak the trussrod?

[itchyfingers]

Turd polished!

It's kind of amazing what you can get for around $100 these days. Especially if you have some soldering and setup skills.

[Ostinato Rubato]

The name Grote just makes me think of Wayne from The Wonder Years.

[G-Zod]

It’s Grote to the max.