Description
Review of the Grote MG-404 Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar with Stainless Steel Frets, Red
The Grote MG-404 is a semi hollow body electric guitar finished in red, built around a basswood body with a maple neck and 22 stainless steel frets. Grote pitches it at blues and country players, and its 24.75 inch scale places it in the shorter scale tradition rather than the Fender style long scale.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Stainless steel frets. These are considerably harder than the usual nickel silver, so they resist the wear grooves that develop under bent strings and they feel slicker under the fingers. At this price it is an unusual specification and a genuinely valuable one, because refretting costs more than the guitar.
- A published 24.75 inch scale length, the shorter of the two industry standards. Shorter scale means lower string tension at the same gauge, so bends take less effort and chords feel softer.
- A semi hollow body, which adds a degree of acoustic resonance and airiness that a solid body does not have, while staying more controllable than a fully hollow guitar at volume.
- 22 frets with a maple neck, a stiff and stable combination that holds its shape well.
Cons
- The pickups are described only as “P-90” with no count. How many are fitted, what the switch does and how many volume and tone controls there are is never stated anywhere in the listing.
- The body wood contradicts itself. The spec table gives basswood for the body and back but maple for the top, while the description says the semi hollow body is basswood. Whether the maple is a real cap, a thin veneer or a printed finish is not established.
- The fingerboard is listed as “Black Wood”, which is not a species. At this level that description usually means a stained hardwood standing in for ebony, but the listing does not say.
- The dimensions of 43.31 by 19.69 by 3.94 inches describe a shipping carton, and the 10.68 pounds is the packed weight rather than the guitar’s.
- The bridge is recorded simply as fixed. Whether that is a tune-o-matic with a stopbar, a trapeze tailpiece or a string through arrangement is not stated, and on a semi hollow that changes both the setup and the sound.
- Nothing is included beyond the guitar. No amplifier, cable, bag or strap appears in the listing.
Detailed Product Description
The body is semi hollow basswood. A semi hollow instrument has chambers routed out of the body, usually around a solid centre block that carries the bridge and pickups. That block is what keeps the guitar controllable at high gain, where a fully hollow body would feed back. The chambers reduce weight and add a woody resonance that a solid plank does not have. Body construction choices are covered in the guide to guitar body shapes.
The scale length of 24.75 inches is the shorter of the two standards. At a given string gauge, a shorter scale means less tension, which makes the strings feel slinkier and bends easier, and it slightly warms the tone by reducing string brightness. Medium gauge strings at this scale end up feeling similar to light gauge on a 25.5 inch guitar, which is why they are a sensible factory choice here. The relationship is set out in the guide to guitar string gauge.
The stainless steel frets deserve the attention Grote gives them. Nickel silver frets are soft enough that a player who bends a lot will wear visible dents into them within a couple of years, at which point the guitar needs levelling or refretting. Stainless resists that almost entirely, and it also feels smoother under a bent string. The trade is that stainless is harder to work, so any future fret dressing is a more expensive job.
P-90 pickups, if that is what is fitted, are single coils with a wide flat coil design. They are louder and thicker than a Stratocaster style single coil but brighter and more open than a humbucker, which is exactly the middle ground that blues and country playing tends to want. They do pick up mains hum, as all single coils do.
What Comes with the Product
- The MG-404 semi hollow body electric guitar in red
Nothing else appears in the listing. There is no amplifier, cable, gig bag, strap, tuner or spare string set, so an amplifier and a lead are needed before the guitar makes a sound. How much amplifier power is required at home is covered in the guide to guitar amp wattage for home practice.
Who It Suits
This suits a player who already owns an amplifier and wants a semi hollow instrument with a shorter scale and hard wearing frets, for blues, country, roots rock or the cleaner end of indie. The stainless frets in particular make it a reasonable long term keeper rather than a stepping stone, which is unusual at this level.
It suits less well a beginner with nothing else, since there is no amplifier or cable in the box. It also suits less well a metal player, where a humbucker equipped solid body handles high gain better than a chambered guitar with single coils. Comparable semi hollow instruments include the Grote GRS-001, the Grote GTL-101 and the Grote hollow body with P90 pickups. The full range sits in electric guitars.
How to Maintain
Wipe the strings after every session. Stainless frets last, but nickel wound strings still corrode from sweat.
Take care when changing strings on a chambered body. A string end dropped inside an f hole is awkward to retrieve, so feed each string through the bridge deliberately.
Tips and Recommendations
Confirm the bridge type on arrival, since the listing does not state it. A tune-o-matic can be raised and lowered at each post, a trapeze tailpiece cannot, and that determines how the action is adjusted.
If notes buzz or the action feels high, a setup at a local shop is the correct fix and will do more for playability than any parts change. The guide to guitar action and setup explains what to ask for.
Product FAQ
How many pickups does it have?
Not stated. The listing records a P-90 configuration but gives no count, switch layout or control arrangement.
Is the top real maple?
Unclear. The spec table lists a maple top while the description says the semi hollow body is basswood, and whether the maple is a cap or a finish is not established.
What are stainless steel frets worth?
They resist the wear grooves that bending strings cut into softer nickel silver frets, so the neck stays smooth for far longer.
