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Product Description



Artist Grungemaster - Electric Guitar with P90 Type Pickups
Our Artist GRUNGEMASTER was purpose-designed here at Artist Guitars to be a great 1st guitar to set you on your path of dirty riffs... it has a Poplar body, Canadian Maple Neck with Eco-Rosewood fretboard and plastic block shaped Inlays, two 'P90' styled Single Coil Ceramic Bar Pickups with a 3-way selector, Tune-O-Matic bridge with a Stop-Tail-Bar for greater stability, and Die-cast Chrome Machine Head tuners.
The Tech Features
Brand: Artist
Model: GRUNGEMASTER
Neck: 25.5 inches Scale Length, Canadian Maple Bolt-On Neck, Truss Rod, 21 Frets, Eco-Rosewood Fretboard with 'Block' shaped plastic Inlays.
Fingerboard Radius: 12"" (305mm)
Body: Poplar with Tortoiseshell scratchplate
Machine Heads: Die-cast Chrome
Bridge: Chrome coloured tune-o-matic style, with 'Stop-Bar' anchor.
Pickups:
- Cream coloured soapbar covered 'P90' type pickups, ceramic bar magnet.
- Neck - M-90N 7.8K 5.2H
- Bridge - M-90B 9.2K 6.2H
Controls: 1 x Volume, 1 x Tone and a 3-way switch
Colour: White
Neck Profile:
- Scale: 25.5"" (648mm)
- Nut Width: 42mm (1 10/16"")
- 1st fret Thickness: 21mm (13/16"")
- Shape: Modern D
Dimensions: 1035mm x 540mm x 85mm, 40 3/4"" x 21 1/4"" x 3 3/8""
Optional Extras to fit this Guitar:
- Bags - HGBAGST, BAGST
- Hard Case - REC300RC, REC350FTB, REC350BK
Weight: 3kg - 3.5kg approx, 7lb 11.5 oz
(12323)
Bargain Bin
Reviews (53)
Write a reviewGrungemaster
There are a lot of reviews of the Grungemaster on this page, most of them are positive - this is another one. Lots of good stuff here. The finish is so gorgeous I can't take my eyes off it, truly a very beautiful object and probably even more so under stage lighting. The hardware looks great and works well, the P90s sound amazing and make me so glad this is now in my collection. Looks fantastic. Sounds stunning. Unbelievable price (again). Thanks AG!
Artist Guitars Response
Thanks so much for your awesome review about the Grungemaster! It really helps a lot of customers who are looking to buy this too. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us, we're always happy to help!
Best Bang for Buck Offset Guitar
I was look for an offset guitar to add to my guitar collection. I was looking at a Squier Jazzmaster (perhaps a classicvibe) but I decided to grab this instead. Reason being I prefer a hardtail bridge for better tuning stability since I probably wasn't going to use the tremolo system. Plus I really wanted to try out what an Australian supplier can bring to the "affordable" table (vs Harley Bentons, Firefly, Squiers, Yamaha, ibanez, etc) I'm really glad did. This plays really well and certainly punches above it's weight. Also price!! ************* I have been playing for roughly 25 years plus, own multiple guitars in my collection, teach music as my career (primary school setting), play in live bands so I hope to bring a more experienced player review to this guitar. I know it sounds cliche' but we certainly live in the golden age of guitars. In terms of "budget" guitars today they play remarkably well, much better when I started playing in the 90's. So if you're "experienced player" why did I buy this? Well I like to keep my eye out on beginner guitars to play on. To help advising parents to find good deals for my school students. Also my school music budget only stretches so far so I need instruments that play well but can keep up with 5-12 years that would absolute smash and play the frick-outta this thing. ************ Features****** If you like a nice medium to chunky neck , you're in luck. I think this sits in between a Les Paul and a Modern C style neck. The tune-o-matic bridge was intonated well out of the box however I did lower the action slightly for lower and gave a minor tweak on the trust rod. Does it play well straight out of the box for beginners? Sure but I'm a stickler for setting up my guitars. The tuners are sufficient providing you know how to "lock" off the tuning pegs efficiently, rather than simply than winding them around five times. Could you change for locking tuners? Yep ! But I'm finding them fine for what I'm using the guitar for. The nut is cut okay (I did use the old graphite pencil trick/nut lube to add some extra smoothness though) but you could change it for a 42mm bone/graphtech style nut if your looking to upgrade something - I would certainly start here if you're buying this for a mod project. Be prepared to really fight a glued in nut, - it took a bit of work. Pots and pickup switches feel strong and solid too. I modify lots of Partcasters so generally can feel how cheap they are. They seem quite solid and not the $2 dime pot often seen in budget guitars.**************** The nice surprises************ -The metallic/flake gloss - very classy and hard to see in the stock phots. But looks great in the flesh -The cream bounding around the guitar. This is unheard of for a guitar in the sub $300 Aud range -The p90 pickups - Wow certainly the star of the show, I was prepared to swap these out but they simply sing. I nice balance between a single and a humbucker.*********** Improvements************ The guitar certainly can a fret polish. I also rolled over the fret edges so it has a more played-in feel. But I'm not stressed about this since this is labour intensive and would add extra man hours (and cost to the guitar itself) - Would a beginner notice this - Not at all. No fret sprout and smooth edges As mentioned previously perhaps look at buying a graphtech style or bone nut. Or add graphite/nut lube.************ Sounds************* This guitar can cover Grunge (of course look of it certainly ticks the Dinosaur Jr box/Nirvana) Rock (Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters) Funk/Rock (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Blues/Fuzz (Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore) Punk (Dead Kennedys, The Clash, NOFX, Bad Religion) and it can certainly can hang with my "Primo" Gretsch, Fender and Gibson., providing you slightly eq and sculpt your tone for the p90's. ******** Questions I had Prior To Purchasing************ Is this one of the best value guitar for beginner and even seasoned players? Hell yeah. Would I recommend this is my students? Absolutely How do they compare against big budget brands? Its the law of diminishing returns, you get what you pay for. But you get alot of guitar for the money. Would I recommend Artist Guitar's and can they go toe-to-toe with other Low Cost/High Value guitars like The Euro Big Boys like Thomman? Let's just say I've ordered 2 more Artist Guitars in the space of 1 week.************** Living in Australia it's nice that a national supplier can certainly provide people good beginner guitars without breaking the bank. Cheers
Artist Guitars Response
Hi there, thank you so much for the very thorough review on the guitar. We are stoked to know you love the Artist Grungemaster. If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out, we're always happy to help!
Surprisingly Good
I bought the Grungemaster as I wanted the tone of a P90 guitar. I was not expecting it to be great - just usable to achieve a sound I did not have in my small collection consisting of a Telecaster, G&L Legacy, and Gibson Les Paul. Straight out of the box with a tune-up I was recording the score to a television series with my only criticism being the frets needed a polish as they feel gritty when bending the strings. The machine heads feel a bit stiff and therefore a little cheap but are good enough as they do what they are supposed to and keep it in tune without any slippage. Intonation was near perfect and the guitar itself is flawless in all other regards. Sounds and plays very well indeed. A lovely paint job tops it all off. Kudos to Artist for bringing this kind of quality to such a modest price point.
Artist Guitars Response
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this feedback. We really appreciate the support!
Grungemaster
I've bought many guitars and accessories from Artist since they first opened. All of them have been not only exceptional for the price but most have been just straight up exceptional. The Grungemaster is my first electric from them and I'd put it up against any Fender I've ever owned (and I've owned a few). The quality is incredible and the guitar played brilliantly straight out of the box, no setup needed. I'm yet to be disappointed in anything from Artist. Cheers.
Artist Guitars Response
It is our pleasure and thank you so much for leaving us this feedback. We really appreciate the support!
a $200 guitar
Feels cheap. Has probably done that thing where they sold the earlier versions with better tuners to the youtube demo-ers and then the garbage to the rest of us. Case in point is at the time of this review, there already is a customer returned one and one with "cosmetic damage" for sale. Fretboard is made of ECO rosewood - which is realistically toy guitar material. Burg's demo didn't talk about the fretboard material but I'm sure it wasn't eco rosewood with the photos. He says the tuners are good, I definitely can see a difference in the tuning pegs used on my one compared to his. Body's fine. Electronics are fine. Tuners are absolute terrible. Eco rosewood neck feels like a toy. All in all, you get a $200 guitar for $260. Disappointing @ Artist guitars - especially with your warehouse being wherever it is now, it's more difficult to go and try these things.
Artist Guitars Response
I am so sorry to hear about your experience with the Grungemaster and thank you for letting us know of this so we can further improve our products and services. We do have our 100-day free return policy that covers our customers if they are not happy with their purchase. I have sent you an email and please let me know how we can help.