The intonation thing is EXTRA dangerous for a beginner. It could falsely make them think they just cannot play in tune.

Dave I just love your honesty, I feel like we're having a chat in my living room.🤝

True honesty, is so hard to find, especially when it comes to gear reviews, but you always bring it!

I find also that the key with any ordered-in guitars is to let it acclimate a day or two before setting up. Hard to do when you want to jump in but vitally important. I loosen the strings till unplayable and let it sit upright a day or two with minimal neck strain. Let the grain of the wood work itself out from the expansion/contraction that comes with altitude, humidity & temperature changes in shipment.

I purchased a Grote Tele thinline 2 years ago that needed a lot of work, nut recut, frets dressed, truss adjustment etc. Now it plays well and looks beautiful.

Great video Dave thank you.

Great video Dave. I'm new to the channel. Love your passion,and I've watched a few of your live band videos excellent band. Thx for sharing your knowledge

Dave, Well done for taking the time and effort to fix the guitar... Again, I’m new to your banner, and I’ve subscribed to you because I really appreciate what you’re doing. Lol - it seems like a lot of our preferences are very different from one another in terms of neck specks, trems, pickups, reliving, etc., but I really appreciate that you seem very affable towards everyone liking what they like without judgement. Keep up the good work.

I would so love to be in a band with Dave. Watching these videos is like having the best guitar playing mate anyone could ask for 🤘🏻

I bought this exact guitar about two months ago and it’s great! I had to make a bridge adjustment and polish the frets but it now plays incredibly and in tune I think this is a QC error hopefully

Very Cool, Thankyou. Hope it all works out. Cheers

If you take the saddles out and flip them around you can get a bit more movement out of it, that might help a little

I am making a prediction now. You will fix that guitar and fall in love with it and keep it.

You need an offset bridge stud. Stewmac! It'll allow you to move the bridge either way to compensate for the wrongly placed bridge.

I had a '68 model Les Paul Custom back in the mid 1970's , it was was second hand and I think most players in Birmingham had ended up owning it at one time or another including Duran Duran apparently....anyway the point is: when it came from the factory back in 1974 the bridge was actually installed in the wrong place! The scale length was something like 25.5" ! It was corrected by John Birch in Rubery before I bought it. You couldn't make it up!!.....

Thanks for this review. -- Like the Old High end Agile , Harley Benton , Firefly . wondered about Grote. -- Wonder if they will Fix the Frets , bridge and Nut problems , If it was just a bad nut it would be ok. 10. bucks and glue to. replace it but the other stuff is too much. 💂‍♂

Dave...queremos oír esa guitarra...para cuando? Me quedé con las ganas. Un fuerte abrazo desde Valencia-España 🙏🤘🎸🎵🙏🚀

Good luck sorting it out! Guess there is always an element of luck ordering a guitar unseen. Just ordered a Jet js300, hoping I get a good one.

It would be cool if there was a label on each guitar on which day and time it was made lol. Made on Wednesday morning, Friday afternoon etc.

I bought one of there 335 style semi hollow body guitars last year and it was amazing. The fit & finish was outstanding, all I had to do was give it a setup and replace the tuners. It’s now one of my favourite guitars

Hi Dave. It's a bit tricky to see on your video but it looks like the EAD bridge saddles are fully forward, so I'm guessing you need them to go forward a bit more? These saddles also look like they're in the other way round to the GBE saddles? If so you MAY be able to turn the EAD saddles around by taking the intonation screws totally out, turning the saddles around and putting the screws back in again (this can be done on Gibson TuneOMatic bridges so it MAY work on your Grote-sque). This MAY gain you the few millimeters extra adjustment you need and it's worth a try before a wholesale bridge relocation job. Sorry if I'm talking rubbish or trying to tell aged ancestors how to suck ovoids, but I thought it may be worth asking if you were aware of this bodge. Good luck polishing your newly aquired Richard.

So glad you posted this. Was debating on a grote or an Eastcoast lp deffo going with the east coast

To move the bridge you can make a little floating base from a block of wood. Make it just high enough to sit the top on and tune to pitch. Then slide it into place where it intonates. Put the saddles in the normal spot. Drill new holes and screw the posts in there.

I have a grote es335. I love that guitar for what it is. I swaped out the pickups to a old epiphone alnico set and it’s great. I’m sorry you got a lemon.

I feel your pain Dave, sadly the more these companies put into the finish and the lower sales price the less hands on set up and inspection time is given. The fact that the bodies will almost certainly be CNC'd means yours will not be the only one with the bridge position screwed. Thing is you are feeling something for this guitar and massively interested in seeing where this goes. I know you will get it sounding and playing amazingly well. Sad fact is many folks will not have the experience to tackle this and just give up and stop playing should this be their first or second guitar, blaming their own playing rather than the instrument. The company / vender do need to know the issues or they will keep banging out broken dreams.

Evening Dave, just got me a Marshall MG30FX and am very happy. That Grote sounds like a pain in the arse though 🎸

I have a semi hollow body Grote.Also have mixed feelings about it. One of the frets was unglued so it made a terrible dead sound on 14 fret. Was able to fix it by removing it put some glue and put it back in place. Now problem's fixed. Other than that pickups sound good and frets are OK. I also think poor QC is the problem with this brand but they can be great though!

Nice honest review! I'd love to see the video of the steps you take to get this thing playing correctly, but, this is why you spend the extra money, and get an Epiphone, Edwards, or (which I recommend), a Tokai. I was also thinking, where was this purchased? Amazon? I know that I'd do the exchange, but, since Dave wants to put in the work... I'll definitely watch that video, and learn a thing or two! I want to see how the angled neck gets corrected!

I notice Andertons have knocked between £50 and £70 off every Grote guitar they sell. I wonder if they'll restock once they're gone? They don't list Grote in the A-Z list of manufacturers on their website. The thing is, there are so many other tried and trusted options in that price range. Another great and very honest review Dave and I'm in awe of your determination to give this 'raggy doll' guitar a life.

I think the only guitar I've ever had where it felt perfect out of the box was my Yamaha Revstar RS820CR. Recently got a classic vibe Tele that was very playable out of the box but other than that, I've always had to mess around with action and fret buzz and the like. It is a very common problem which sucks especially for beginners.

Like your attitude. Give it life

I have 2 Grotes. and both are good my 335 one had some paint flaws. other then that I'm happy with them.

I just got a Grote LPYS 006 a slightly different LP style and everything is great. The nut is bone, cut nicely and so low I don't see how it doesn't buzz but it doesn't. I could lower the bridge putting the strings on the fret board and still be not decked out. I was worried I would get something like you have there, but I got a great one! I would send that back and get a replacement, give them another shot. I think you just got a bad one there!!

sounds to me like it may have had a drop in shipping, or in the factory, and thats knocked the neck out of alignment, which explains the string height and dints in the frets.

So the Grote is a bit of a scrote

I think I recall Ben Crowe saying there's a couple of mm of dead metal you can sand off the underside of a TOM bridge before it starts to compromise it's working parts. That would sink it a bit to buy some action height. But if you absolutely have to move the bridge posts for intonation anyway (others mentioned reversing the saddles), maybe it's just easier to recess the posts a smidge deeper after you plug and redrill. Worst case you might have to recess the stopbar too if you don't have enough break angle. Ballache but not brain surgery to a tech with the right tools. Then set it up wonky to match the wonky neck. It's probably fixable, but only you can decide if the labour charge (and voiding any hope of returning it for refund as unfit for purpose) are worth it to you. I admire you if you try and salvage it - I think I'd chuck it back for a replacement and worst case you get a second vid saying this one's a dud too.

I bought a Grote 7 string 335 style guitar 5 years ago for about $400. As someone who’s owned about 150-200 guitars (including a number of Fender, Gibson, PRS customs) the Grote was not only excellent for the price range, but it was a good guitar overall. I would have put it on par with a mid tier LTD, or low tier PRS SE. a few things to consider, I bought that guitar 5 years ago for $400, which in todays guitar market, was like a $600 guitar or more, and I have heard that the brand has both changed hands since that purchase and that they’ve actually cheapened their product line, which lines up with what you paid vs what I paid. The biggest drawbacks on mine were diecast tuners that were still actually okay, and electronics, which were also still okay. Definitely higher quality than any squier or epiphone I had ever played up to that point in time. In the end, I sold the guitar for $200 because I bought a neck-thru 7 string Jericho telecaster style guitar that is spec’d up the wazoo, so by comparison to that guitar, the Grote was a Hyundai, good enough to get you somewhere, but not quite the Porsche that a Jericho is

a Grote sounds like a species of creature in a fantasy novel.

Hey Dave, so sad to see a guitar arrive in a state like that. I couldn't imagine a beginner even trying to play on a guitar with that many problems. It would make it almost impossible for them to get anywhere and even when they are doing something right it won't sound right. I think trying to do the bridge yourself is a good idea, and even if you mess it up its no big deal. Finally the neck being slightly angled in the pocket isn't a big deal usually. In fact its very common in all set neck guitars. The tailpiece on Gibson style guitars were designed to be able to change the string break angle depending on where the neck was set which is why all tailpiece heights on all Gibson and Gibsons style guitars are different to each individual guitar. However, if its a significant like on that Grote, It might not ever intonate right because the distance from the fret and string from High E to Low E is different so it causes the scale length to change for the strings. That means you would have to apply different pressures on different strings to make notes tune to eachother and with bare chords well.. good luck with that! but HOPEFULLY you can get away with it on this one.

Hi Dave, thank you for another great video! As a few comments suggested; you might want to try and swap around the saddle. It also might be the strings. I also had a similar problem with a cheap strat I bought to learn and setup guitars. I bough a set of very cheap strings (the cheapest I could find) to change the tuning on the guitar. When intonating the guitar for the new tuning, I'd set all saddles to mid and started to intonate the guitar, every saddle/sting would work out perfectly except the low E. Even when played a bit to stretch out the strings, which also could be the culprit. Not to discredit your findings or doubt your knowledge or anything, just trying to help out, Good luck! As a lefty: How is the lefthanded challenge coming around? (also good luck with that, tried to do the opposite; stopped after 3/4 of an hour because I'd demolished 3.5 guitars out of frustration)

I've got two Grotes so far. Love them both.

First of all thank you Dave for making this video, I was starting to believe that it wasn’t possible to buy guitars like that. Making and selling guitars that are unplayable should be a criminal offence. Still, I have complete faith in your ability to save that guitar just as you did with the gold top that I cherish and am eternally grateful for. Coincidentally I had the gold top next to me whilst I was watching.

I bought a hollow body Grote and the setup is nice and the machine heads weren't as bad as others have claimed. But the electronics are a complete wreck. The volume pot is completely broken and turns around continuously with no response. It seems like the volume is stuck on about 1 because there is barely any output. I am mainly using it to practice wo an amp.

I got that very same Guitar ,But Mine Has push pull pots Vintage Kluson Style Tuners and Roswell Pickups ,Also it says Harley Benton on the Headstock , But I do like your finish

couldn't really see the bridge too well but if you take the saddles out and put them in the opposite way round, you might get another few mill travel to be able to set the intonation. good luck with it Dave

Me again. You've highlighted a problem that seems very common, especially in beginner guitars, I've seen bad action put people off learning, although My Casino when I first got it was total shite, intonation was right out, nearly unplayable action, it took me a long time to get it right, now it's my number one weirdly enough, but I'm sure you can sort it out Dave. I'm interested to see what you do with it.

It's a crap shoot on these budget guitars. Some get a gem, some get a dud. I do respect your tenacity for bringing that guitar to life, good luck Dave!

All credit to you Dave for trying to rescue a dead duck, personally I would send it back for a refund and spend a little extra on a Sire or alternatively jack up the action and use her for slide.....

Hi..I took a punt on the exact same guitar from Andertons...I'm an old strat and Tele player but fancied a single cut without breaking the bank..My logic was if Andertons are retailing it then it should be ok ..like they aren't going to destroy their reputation by selling poor quality gear . Anyway it arrived and was brilliant and other then the prerequisite change of strings the fit finish and setup was perfect ....in short a beautiful guitar and a keeper for 200.00 ..As you say maybe you got the Friday afternoon after a long lunch one ...Anyway great video as always and look forward to future videos when you amend the problems ...

Some of those roller bridge's give you a lot more throw for intonation, It might save you from moving the bridge. Good luck!!

Cannot wait for ongoing saga and end result

What I'm thinking in an effort to understand what might be the real problem, to make this guitar all it can be ? For the chords after the 12th fret not intonating, if you've replaced dead strings & have quality strings on it that you are enamored with, & it doesn't matter where the saddles move, Could it be a matter of fret location on the neck for proper spacing ? As for the neck join, I'm thinking look at the fretboard for being level to the top ? Because there is no gap for the binding on bass & treble side, so that might be by design, the angle where the neck & body are. Theoretically, the neck is radiused accurately & if the top is level for whatever arch top it has, where the neck & body are flush. I get that it's easier to go square where the neck meets the body. But there being zero gap to glue together, can you imagine how struck by lightning hard or lucky one would have to be to get an angled/sloped neck cut to have zero gap there and still have the neck align with the top of the guitar ? To a fault I'm that way too, the hardware, electronics, the rest of it has something of value ? The neck join is a critical area. I wouldn't chase that with a set joint, but a bolt on neck, that's something I can do. Resetting the neck, that's another story of being beyond me & my patience. It might just very well be the bridge as another issue for the level it was leveled for ? Hard to tell since it has the adjustments built into the TOM style bridge. A nut can be replaced & glued, the neck pocket join shimmed, but after the nut, the rest of that involves polyurethane finishing work or it's just an ugly mess. If that doesn't bother the owner, then it's a daily player that can take some abuse of being dragged around town, stage to stage, night to night, performance to performance. That said best of & good luck with the patient.

wow! a neg review! good lad

Hi Dave, Coincidentally I was mulling over one of these I spotted yesterday on Cashies website. Like you, I hadn't heard of the brand so went and had a look around the web. Couldn't believe the gushing reviews, so I'm glad to hear of your experience. I really couldn't justify another LP type guitar anyway so gave it a miss... but I was tempted. Glad I did now. I'd like to think you just got a bad'un, but IMO, the faults you describe are fundamental, and point to major flaws in the guitars construction at a machining level. If the basic machining ain't right, no amount of tarting it up is going to make it right. I get where your head's at with this guitar Dave, I had a similar experience with a Glarry Tele. But my Tele's issues weren't as complex as the one's you've got. It also cost a lot less! I admire your will Dave, but in this instance, I think your heart is leading your head buddy. If it's brand new, let it go mate. Get in touch with the vendor, explain the issues, and arrange to have it replaced while that avenue is open to you. Once you start trying to sort it yourself, you void that option.Good luck whatever you decide.

I have faith in you you can do it

You got a bad one. I have 3 or 4 Grote hollowbodies and they're perfect. Anytime you buy a budget Asian copy it's a crapshoot. Usially the nut has issues, the frets need dressing etc. Crooked neck, misplaced bridge? Back it goes.

Not fit for purpose, chuck it back at them. If the neck was fitted on a slant then it’s basically unfixable as it’s a set neck. This is the equivalent of a garage selling a brand new car covered in scratches and not enough oil in it!

I tried two of them in Andertons and they were all beyond terrible. I couldn’t believe they even had them out to sell!

I purchased the Grote LP. Looks gorgeous, but the set-up was horrible. On mine, the frets were great, but i didn't know that out of the box. The neck had hump upwards, and out of the box was't really playable. I spent a number of hours on it. Major adjustment on the truss bar, saddle height, i was able to get perfect intonation. The bridge posts were loose but tightened up fine. I put new strings on and this sounds pretty good, actually. The action is lower than a spec's on a Gibson LP. The nut was centered nice on mine, and i swear it's bone. I have a little work on the nut the next time it's apart. I purchased on Amazon and paid 159 GBP after doing the currency conversion as i live in the state's $200.00. I would say this guitar has good Bones but the final factory set-up was horrible, I would assume some bad guitars get sent along.

I'm like you. Once I buy a guitar, it's my baby for ever. That's why I have 29. I have fitted roller bridges to three of my Guitars with great success. Worth a try.

Try the strings wrapped over the top of the stop tailpiece. It may not help but it's worth a try 🤷‍♂️

I bought an agile al3100 a while back that was similar Feet work was garbage. Setup was horrible. Neck was twisted. It was just in really bad shape. A few hours of love and it’s as good playing as any other guitar I have. I honestly think what you put into the guitar is what you get out.

Cheap soft fret wire can only be repaired by replacement. A fret level won't help since the soft metal will dent again very soon indeed.

Would the easiest fix be to set it up for open tuning & slide?

I've been through hundreds of guitars, When i buy a guitar, i put on new strings, set neck relief and intonation then set the height at bridge and nut...if it needs a new nut i make one in an hour....after that if it sucks i sell it, period. If it's good i'll do a fret level and polish to dial it in. I'll get it as close to playable and then sell it to sam ash, i won't sell a shit guitar on reverb. I sell it locally so that a person can take it back to sam ash or guitar center to get their money back.

what was the Goldtop that you had about 2 or 3 years ..? ago that you had just brought and you were really happy with at the time ..?

Having built guitars for many years, I find it crazy that someone can build & sell a guitar for the types of prices budget guitars go for. If I were to pay myself a living wage to build someone a quality instrument, my wage alone would be more than a budget guitar....by a long ways. If I put together the materials/hardware/electronics, they would, by themselves, cost more than a budget guitar. Add overhead(insurance/rent/electricity/book keeping etc etc) there’s just no way. Then there’s the ideas of people draining resources to build a product that isn’t needed. The job that is being lost for a true craftsman & the economic effects of that, in itself. The fact that you “can” get a cheap guitar that works, is insane. But, is it worth the risk? Is it worth the effects? Sorry for the rant. I know we are all here because we love guitars.

Like every guitar I play!

It's very strange but I have always assigned life to my guitars. I nicely carved in the back of the body of my dual humbucker telecaster " I'm Alive". It's not an inanimate object. It has a heart, a soul and a voice. I built it in 1980. It's been with me as my main guitar ever since. I would be devastated if anything ever happened to it. I plan to pass it down to my son's and hopefully grandchildren. I agree with you 1000%.

Birth defects! Dave, you could make a rubber-band cigar box banjo sound good...

Wow! How some manufacturers can't even make their guitars right is shocking, tbh same with the Ibanez gio series, i got lucky on mine and hardly had to touch it, but I've heard some horror stories from some who have brought them, and ok they are cheap mine was just under 200, but still, have pride in you're work, mine didn't even have a signature on the tested card you get, but again i was lucky. They are great guitar's for learners like myself, and i did take the time to learn what and how Luthiers did thing's, simply because i can't afford the price some shops charge for a set up. Imo you shouldn't have to touch a 200+ guitar and that one seemed really really bad. But obviously you know what you're doing. My advice to any learner is also learn how a guitar is put together and how to internate the neck etc, it's real handy to know these things imo. But if you have the money and all that doesn't concern you that's ok, just take it to a reputable guitar shop for a full set up.

Understand the challenge Dave. I assume it came from the importer direct otherwise the shop has a lot to answer for..👍🇦🇺

Did you try flipping the saddles around to gain some space on the lower 3 strings?

Maybe they could change their brand name to "Factory Seconds". :) I was looking at the gorgeous semi hollow LP. The price was a little high for what I expected in terms of quality, having bought other mail order cheapies in the past.

Dented frets on instruments selling for $1600.00 have been immediately sent back. Epiphone, Fender, Guild have let these guitars leave their factory like this...or the shops selling them have let them be sold like this. Have seen this with included soft cases, hardshell and no cases. A simple protective strip of thick paper inserted between frets and strings would alleviate this expensive problem. Gretsch, PRS, G&L have excellent protective solutions for this pet peeve of mine. Wise up manufacturers of fretted instruments...!!! Thanks for letting me vent...but this problem has led me to want to buy online only stainless steel fretted instruments. 😎👍❤🖖

Try taking the saddles off and turn them around . That may give you that few mm extra and get you closer to being right .

There is a company here in Aus called artist guitars, they do guitars for around the 170 pound and they're amazing. It's hard watching companies produce such poor quality items when I know how good cheaps guitars can be!

You're like me Dave; strange hormones start flowing when I see a dog of a guitar needing to be saved. I'd be happy to sort it out for you at Reloved Guitars... would make great content for my channel too.

In this case, Grote is short for grotesque.

Hey Dave.. Get a used PRS SE Soapbar II or a 245 or 594 for about the same amount plus some change. Give us a taste of something different :). Best Regards and Best Wishes!

Dave the £240 pricetag should have sent you running for the hills mate

Sorry to hear that your Vintage Gold top was "less than expected" for a guitar that costs about 200 quid more than the Grote. My V100it is absolutely lovely, I did try it first in the shop before i laid my money down, and i had my 1974 Antoria LP custom with me at the time (which is a classic piece of kit). Yours must have been a Friday afternoon/Monday morning job, but i understand what you mean about quality these days, whoever the manufacturer is (unless it's one I built myself 🤭) . I must say, though, if you look at a number of LP's you will see a slight difference in the angle (offset) of the bridge depending on the company, which is weird anyway you look at it, but it's there and, as you said, anything up to 3-4 mm as opposed to an original Gibson. Go figure.....

Hi Dave watched the video last night GROTE L1 I ordered a EASTCOAST gold top like yours from andertons but it was out of stock they told me grote are made in the same factory as eastcoast it was going to be a long time until eastcoast gold top was back in stock they said grote were as good I bought a few guitars over the last few months so I had not gotten round to setting it up properly yet after watching your video I set it up this morning neck relief needed work did that nut action could be better but just passable bridge action I had to lower it till it is nearly on the body not great just under 2mm at the 12th fret intonation E string all the way the way forward fractionally flat A string the same rest ok internate ok I honestly would not recommend GROTE Guitar at all buy the way frets were all good Keep up your great work mate

Turn the saddle one b ond around, maybe it works a little better

im very wary of intonation and set up when checking out an acoustic,...there is something almost liberating about an electric guitar with its ability to have the perfect set up, in most cases. *5/50 of mine came truly set up, a few Greg Bennett's from Indonesia,...apart from that almost every nut is disgracefully shallow in slot depth, necks are generally straight at least but saddles almost never adjusted correctly,...and scratchy frets almost always, and floating trems, well...🤣. I will always buy super super low and put the 2-6 hrs in of set-up/modding, and now fender has slipped i would only expect the best pro set-up level experience for a guitar $2000 and up:(,...very glad ive had the time to get get skilled up in this field

Good on you for calling out this crap. Imagine some kid just starting out. They'd assume that's what guitars are like and probably give it up straight away. No excuses for this when you can get good playable guitars from about £100 now

I saw another review of one of these and it was even worse. When the guy examined the pickups, they turned out to be single coils disguised as humbuckers. In addition to that it had just about every single issue a guitar shouldn't have new in this day and age; horrible intonation issues, sawdust and crud in all the routing and neck pocket, the neck needed shimming and there was fret-sprout that could have drawn blood. It makes you wonder how much the people talking these things up are being paid.

Look at a Harley Benton have some things frets mine is a honey burst (Peter green ) bloody nice did a Peter convention on pick up 🎉 I might be luck but £110 in 2016 ..

I'd send the bugger straight back

If you add your time trying to make this guitar playable to the price you paid for this guitar, you could have bought a decent guitar. Love your content Dave 👍

Hi Dave , I always admire you and your videos , you're a rare pearl of a honest and talented man. But... I'm sorry to say mate , trying to recover that guitar could be challenging on the emotional plan, for sure not doable on financial/practical extents. Changing or correcting a nut is something little any luthier can do affordably together with the standard setup any guitar player should do. But I'm 100 percent sure the bridge wrongly positioned and indented frets are a huge no-no. It's just not worth the effort . As much as I like that guitar esthetically I would return it.

Move the bridge? I don't understand. Remove it, fill the two holes with some material, and then re-drill the two holes? What material? Wood filler? Would it work?

The only other "Grote" Ive ever come across was a fully hollow, f-hole, jazz box.

I bought a Grote LP and 2 “335’s” 4/5 years ago off eBay. The LP was my 3rd guitar. They had their good and bad points back then as well. My LP wasn’t as bad as yours but the neck was messed up enough to make getting proper action a real challenge. I still have it though, it’s a continuing project guitar because like you said it “wants to be a guitar”.

Maybe try tuning it to D or C standard since the intonation is back that far, you may be able to get it in tune down there.

Dave, I have a big question for you: how to play a Les Paul while sitting comfortably? Can it even be done? I have a Strat and a Les Paul, and I really like my Les Paul, the setup and action is great, I like the shape of the neck... But as soon as I'm sitting down with it I start to hate it. Because it's butt heavy and when I put it comfortably on my lap it wants to slide back, and if I put it the way it's balanced it's not comfortable to play anymore because the neck is too low, that is so annoying! If I play standing it's all fine, no issues at all. Is it just the way it is or do I do something wrong? I'm playing guitars as a hobby for one year, it's a genuane question, I tried to find a video covering this but no luck.

Too many issues on this one, true. I would have a red flag on the neck angle, as it is a serious thing. Of course, stuff can be adjusted or fixed, you could try a wide tune-o-matic bridge from Gotoh, or reversing the saddles on the low strings, before considering redrilling the bridge posts, but.. is it worth the money? You could probably get a better made guitar for a similar price, new or used.

Link up with Crimson or someone to get this right? Be good to see if it can be saved

i paid 400 dollars for my grote lp , it's amazing right out of the box , all guitars seem to have their hit an misses .

I'd send it back.