Grosh Guitars - Opinions?

[cookiemonster2]

Well since you asked for opinions I have to say that those Grosh guitars do not appeal to me at all. If I was gonna buy a $3k (+/- $1k) Strat I would go with a Suhr.

The Grosh set neck guitars are, well, fugly to be kind.

As an aside, I bought a G&L Legacy a couple of weeks ago new for just over $1k. The paint and fret work finishing are really fantastic.

[Flatpicker]

Well since you asked for opinions I have to say that those Grosh guitars do not appeal to me at all. If I was gonna buy a $3k (+/- $1k) Strat I would go with a Suhr.

The Grosh set neck guitars are, well, fugly to be kind.

As an aside, I bought a G&L Legacy a couple of weeks ago new for just over $1k. The paint and fret work finishing are really fantastic.

I won't use the word ugly, but, I'd get a Robin Avalon before a Grosh. A Hamer over the robin.
And for the Bolt-ons it'd be Suhr, Robin, Charvel, G&L and then Grosh.

[DHardmanJr]

Tom Anderson is of course very well known and respected. The pickups they sell are great as well. I have 3 of them in my '84 Charvel.

Grosh Guitars ... I had never heard of them before. That may not mean much. My first impressions from their site is that the guitar shapes are pretty nice ... definitely seems slanted more towards the vintage crowd though.

I like G&L guitars. Made in USA. Still reasonable priced. Great quality. Mix of vintage-esque models and more modern ones. The G&L Invader makes a nice superstrat to complement Charvel/Jackson collections.

Dave

[Green Pro Am]

Grosh makes fantastic stuff. Their strat style guitars tend to have more of a vintage vibe than Anderson or Suhr. I think their Set Neck guitars are one of the best guitars being made today. I played a few of them at a dealer and was blown away. They were at least as good as the Collings City Limits or McNaught. They are a bit pricey, but this is a case of where you really do get what you pay for. The one knock on Grosh is that resale has tradityionally been soft compared to Anderson or Suhr; however, I think that is changing as the word gets out about how good Don's guitars are.

Andersons are one of my favorites. I have a Pro Am that is amazing. Very light and resonant. I also like the fact that Tom offers 24.75" scale guitars unlike Suhr. The Cobra and Atom are cool guitars. Anderson's workmanship and manufacturer support are superb. IMO, nobody does a better fret job than Anderson.

Either brand would make a good addition to the store.

[John C]

Grosh Guitars ... I had never heard of them before. That may not mean much. My first impressions from their site is that the guitar shapes are pretty nice ... definitely seems slanted more towards the vintage crowd though.

Dave

Dave,

Don Grosh was actually the shop foreman (or something similar) at Valley Arts Guitars back when they were making guitars for Lukather and Carlton - he had a hand in making the necks for their Custom Pro models. When Valley Arts was fully taken over by Samick circa 1992 he left and went on his own. He stayed in the LA area until moving the shop to Colorado 2-3 years ago.

Matt - I know you are currently a Suhr dealer; there would be quite a bit of overlap between the two for the bolt-ons. Grosh (like Anderson) offers 24 3/4" scale on the maple topped strat and tele types, something that Suhr isn't offering now. Grosh also has the set necks and the Electra Jet models (body like a strat and a jaguar/jazzmaster mated). As far as I know Grosh is only planning on making Electra Jets in the "lower" price range much like Suhr's Pro Series.

I've owned a Grosh (a maple top HSS strat-type) and I've owned a Suhr (ash-body SSS strat-type). Both had their merits; the Grosh with the nitro finish does come off a bit closer to the "old Fender" feel than the typical modern-finish Suhr (this was before Suhr started the Antique line). Really, when looking at similarly configured guitars, trying to pick between Grosh, Suhr, and Anderson is like debating whether Ben & Jerry's, Haggen Das, or Baskin Robbins has the best vanilla ice cream - they are all going to be good, but everyone will have their favorite.

Right now I'm playing EBMM Silhoutte Special guitars, simply because the neck fits my hands better (and doesn't cause my tendonitis to flair up) than any standard neck carve by Grosh, Suhr or Anderson. Granted, I haven't tried an Anderson with the "happy medium" neck in 25 1/2" scale; that would probably work for me. Back when I tried out Andersons circa 2003-2004 the "happy medium" was only available on the Cobras.