Looking back would you call one set "lesser" grandparents?
I did. By far we had a MUCH closer relationship to my mom's parents than my dad's dad. I often wondered if my dad's mom had lived to see us be born if that would have been different. We will never know, but later in life I felt sad that we didn't spend more time with him. He was a good man, my dad liked him. We just always seems to go to mom's side more.
I have 3 siblings, all with kids.
My sister's kids are closer to their dad's parents. That is more because the closest my parents lived to them is 3 hours away and that was just recently. But they still have a good relationship with my parents. Just a few years ago at 3pm on a Monday my nephew said to my sister "wouldn't have been nice if I watched the Chargers (his team) vs Colts (mom's) tonight with grandma". Then an hour later they were on the 3 hour trip to surprise my mom. Door bell rang, she opened it and there was my nephew in his Chargers shirt with a pizza. Mom cried.
Brother#1 kids have an equal relationship with their grandparents (both are OOT from them).
Brother#2 kids? Well it started off having a closer relationship with my SIL's family. Again, my parents were OOT and her mom lived close by. However, her mom is crazy. Like bi-polar crazy. Very manipulative. She made my SIL cry on her wedding day.
When my parents were in town the other grandma made a point being around, taking the kids away from my parents to play with them. She use to tell my parents "you might have the money, but they love me more". It was really sad. Then they moved to Croatia. My nieces and nephews would spend all summer with her for years. Only a few days at my parent's house every other summer.
These days, however they have no contact with the other grandmother. They do have contact with the grandfather. He is in his 80's and lives in Croatia so they have not seen him much. In the meantime they have become closer to my parents. Just a few months ago the 17 year old flew to the east coast and my parents took her to a bunch of colleges around PA, NY, RI and OH to look at.
What are/were your dynamics like?
What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests. Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated.