Monoprice Retro DLX Plus Solid Ash Electric Guitar - Natural, With Gig Bag, Ash Body, Maple Neck, Professionally Set-up in the US - Indio Series

I am letting this guitar weather.... It has great action and is setup very well...It's a t-style guitar flying under the radar...thanks Monoprice for a good item at a more than fair price...

Wow, a great guitar at a great price. Heavier than I expected. Need to be setup. Had a lot of fret buzz.

Well, this is not the first Monoprice Indio guitar I have bought. I am still quite amazed at how good they are. I received mine this morning and I did not have to do one single thing to it. Normally I do a full set up on them, but in this case it came perfectly intonated and playable right out of the bag/box. The action was just between medium and medium-low, so if anything I may drop it just a touch, but it is entirely playable as it is and the Wilkinson pickups sound great. Even the tuners (usually a bit rough) were really good as-is. I continue to recommend these guitars to my friends and family. I have no issues whatsoever with these guitars.

I don't see how can you go better than this for around $200 if you want genuine Tele sounds. Good fretwork and once you set it up correctly it has incredible action and playability. Indio keeps improving year after year!

The good: wonderful sound, at least as good as my MIM Fender Tele. Beautifully finished neck, smooth fret ends. Great pickups. Sounds better than the Retro Classic a friend talked me out of. Setup near perfect, but I'm going to try to get it lower. The not so good.: Heavy, heavy, as others have noted. And the neck is quite a bit chunkier than my Fender Tele. Bottom line: Despite the weight, a good deal on a quality guitar that I recommend to you.

Great well-built guitar like any guitar it will require a set up to get it to your preferences mine required Slight truss rod adjustment, fret polishing and tapping down a couple of frets On par with other reviews she is heavy 11+ pounds I like the sound of the pick ups they have the classic tele twang The fit and finish are PERFECT mine looks, sounds and plays GREAT !!!

With the exception of a ding in the wood on the back, this guitar is flawless. And it played well straight out of the box. Love the woodgrain and the pups sound good.

Excellent build quality. Setup was pretty close out the box. Really nice action and super playability. The neck feels great and the body looks great. Surprised by the sound of the stock pickups. Highly recommend if you want to check out an ash tele without breaking the bank.

I love it. It looks great and was very playable right out of the box. Sounds and plays great with good neck action. Only criticisms are it?s very heavy and the neck and headstock have almost no lacquer. Fretboard is good. I was frankly shocked at the quality of such an inexpensive guitar. Very close to my ?premium? brand guitars. Would definitely buy again.

Hmmm lets see: - Built like an absolute tank. Nothing rattles, nothing feels cheap, everything fits together well - Stays in tune great, don't know why people are complaining about that in other reviews. - SUCH a versatile guitar, in typical tele style you can play it for every kind of music with a good amp - Looks beautiful, like a more expensive guitar - Came with action and intonation like I just took it to get set up at my local shop for $60 - Neck is fast and not chunky. I like the flat radius of the fretboard too - Most of the cheap guitars I've bought from other places had obvious problems or quirks when I first played them that I knew I'd have to compensate for in some way. But not this guitar. - It's a bit heavy I guess, so if you need a lighter guitar maybe look elsewhere. Like I said, this thing is a tank. Monoprice has a gem with this guitar. Don't hesitate if they have it in stock.

There are few things in the guitar world more beautiful that a natural finish, ash, T style guitar & this one does not disappoint. Rosewood neck & tort guard are icing on the cake & don't forget the gig bag. For this price (I did get it on sale) the guitar is a steal. The guitar was fairly well set-up when it arrived & after a little tweaking it is a joy to play. There are too many pluses to mention, so I will mention the two minor items I found: First, the guitar is heavy, but that often happens with ash guitars & I am man enough to deal with it. The second item is that the saddles do not fit well (too wide) & this causes the strings to be unevenly spaced. A quick remedy is to file the ends of the saddles. Another is to spend about $10 on a set of 3 compensated brass saddles, my choice.

It is a quality made guitar. Beautiful Ash clear coated with satin sprayed Maple and Rosewood neck. Good action, straight neck with solid feel. The 15.7 radius takes a bit of getting used to but a Gibson is a 12 degree radius so it is not a big jump. It looks and plays like a quality Tele. I ordered Fender locking tuner machine heads and will need to drill the two mounting screws for them but that is expected. It comes with standard tuners that work well but I need the 18:1 ratio for holding tune during a set of songs. Solid bridge with steel tuners work fine but will probably upgrade to heavier Brass metal down the road. Comes with Alpha 250 pots and decent 3 way switch. That will be upgraded to 920 D 4 way with CTS 250 pots. The Alpha pots sound fine but it needs a treble roll off and other Tele tricks of the trade to step up its sound. This was a project guitar, but to be honest, it plays well and sounds good out of box. Comes with Ceramic magnet pickups that are decent sounding. Not as articulate as ALNICO pickups but actually rounder and more musical sounding. Great full sound from the bridge but can use a tighter neck sound. The two together sound good and solid so I will use them for the time being. The flatter neck is fast and the vintage feel of the frets are nice. There are no dead frets or buzzes and the action is fine. The Rosewood fretboard feels nice and looks to be solid. Usually you see Maple necks on Tele's but I wanted the Rosewood and generally up the price considerably on most Tele models. I will probably bring the pickups higher and bring the strings down a shade. Mostly personal preferences. This is not a Custom Tele or top of the line model model but is a great workable musical tool. I would not hesitate to mod it and play shows with it, as that is part of the plan. This guitar plays as well as most MIM fender series Tele's and sounds comparable It is a big step above entry level but the neck and Ash body are worth the investment to make a Custom Tele. Enjoy this guitar and keep it in your Tele collection as the foundation of a parts caster with all the features you want.

It's a great guitar!---as always my experience buying these Indio guitars from Monoprice has always been great--I've got a Translucent Red Boardwalk and a cream-colored Retro and an Arctic white Cali Classic and now this Ash body Tele type guitar the Retro DLX Plus---As with most new guitars they all benefited from a few tweaks here and there and a nice setup but the core body of the work to these guitars is fantastic---The picture online does seem to be a nicer figurement to the grain of the wood compared to the one I got but that picture dates back to maybe 2018 and was from an older build run for sure but the picture is kind of a swirly grain nice looking and mine is strictly a linear grain no swirls but it looks nice nonetheless and I've seen Indonesian G+L Asat Classic's with that same linear grain and the price of the G+L is $500 whereas Monoprice Indio Retro DLX Plus is only $200---a great bargain---and here's another thing---the frets on my DLX Plus were very nicely done---no jagged edges/no high spots--and a very comfortable feeling fretboard--unknown if it's really rosewood but it feels nice---And let me compare it to a friend's guitar,one of those G+L Asat's I was talking about ---All 44 fret ends on a 22-fret fretboard were jagged enough to cut you or at least feel very lousy---Also there were numerous high frets that are causing lots of buzzing lousy playability and will probably need expensive luthier work to correct---And the fretboard is maple with a not friendly satin finish whereas my DLX Plus has the wonderful rosewood which feels a lot better to me---And this is what you get for stepping up to the $500 price of the ASAT ?---Yes my new Retro DLX Plus is a great bargain and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an electric guitar whether beginner or experienced---And Thank You to Karen at Monoprice who took my order and Thanks to all of you at Monoprice down at Rancho Cucamonga California---Sincerely,Mark Holmes

This is a gorgeous instrument, a nicely figured ash body, the triple ply tortoiseshell pickguard is cut perfectly around the neck, bridge and control plate period all the screws are in perfectly. It plays great out of the box. One piece Maple neck, the only thing I would say is that the headstock could be stained the same color as the body, a small point.

A little heavier than anticipated. I like the unique colour. Pretty good guitar for the money. I like that it is strung through the body. Purchased knowing that I would have to do some work on it- will upgrade frets, nut, tuners and electronics. Good body and neck. Came with a padded soft case- nice touch. Interested in future purchases. I recommend to any beginner- buy or gift, or someone wanting to do their own modifications. They need to add a 'thin line' to their inventory.

Even better than I expected, no flaws, perfect fit and finish. Playability solid, everything feels in the right place to me. Love having this guitar when I want to telecaster sound.

I was simply shocked by how good this guitar is. From the beautifully smooth playing from the slim neck and low action hanks to a perfectly finished fretboard to the excellent pickups, though ceramic, which gives this tele-style guitar grit without ear-piercing bite. Even the tuners are good which was a surprise.

Got this guitar because I wanted an ash tele. Overall the wood ,neck and finish on mine are excellent. The hardware is acceptable. Tuners work fine, no problem there. Pickups are not bad but I changed them. The neck is straight and frets level. Feels good and frets good. Had to adjust truss rod as there was no bow in the neck. It was fine after adjustment. I wanted a black pick guard But replacement didnt work. Holes didn't line up which was disappointing. I would have to say that for the money it is a good buy especially for a ash guitar.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I purchased this guitar second hand with little to no use. It is completely stock as it would arrive from Monoprice. I am thoroughly impressed with this guitar. The fit and finish of the neck and body are more in line with guitars costing double and more. This is not an exaggeration. I build guitar bodies from scratch out of exotic woods and I had a hard time finding the join line on this two piece ash body. The routed cavities are smooth and clean (little bit of extra finish left inside) The clear poly finish is very thick and should wear well over time. The body is easily on par with MIM Fender and surpasses any Squier below the Classic Vibe series. The neck is equally impressive. Smooth satin finish that you can actually feel and see. Not like a Bullet neck that feels like bare wood. Fret work was very good with no sprout and nicely finished edges. Frets are smooth and not gritty but they are not highly polished. At this price point I wouldn't expect it either. The fingerboard is pretty and well finished but has a bit of grain texture you can feel with your finger when the strings have been removed. It isn't noticeable when playing. The point is the neck and body alone are easily worth the asking price for this guitar. Hardware: Here you begin to see the lower price materials. However some parts are totally serviceable if not excellent. The tuners... well don't expect much. They work but that's about it. I added Hipshot locking tuners after a few days and it made a huge difference in tuning stability. The electronics: Pretty good. I'm not talking CTS or Bournes here but they are full size Alpha 250K pots with a decent feeling PC boards switch. If I wanted to change anything it would be the switch but it is totally serviceable. The control plate and knobs look good and feel fine, no issues. The pick-guard: Nice, 3 ply pick-guard way better than what comes on a Squier. The pickups: Pretty good. Basic ceramic magnet PUs, about what you would find on a MIM Player Series or standard. Much better than a Squier below a Classic Vibe maybe equal to a Squier Standard. Play through a good amp and they really don't need an upgrade unless you are searching for just the right tone. My guitar had the factory setup and other than a tweak of the truss rod to add some relief its really set up well. The nut was cut to proper depth. It's not fancy but after adding a little lube tuning is very stable. Nut width is 1.63" or 41.4 mm. Guitar was strung with D'Addario strings so great news there. Overall a very impressive guitar for the price. Don't get caught up on the name game. If you are looking to try out a T-style guitar and don't want to spend a ton, buy it. If you are a new player and want a quality guitar for a budget price, buy it. If you are looking for a great base guitar for a modding platform like me, buy it. I was impressed and I think you will be too.

I purchased the Retro DLX Plus with modification in mind, and I thought it would have a bathtub/universal neck rout like the standard Retro DLX. It does not. There is no middle pickup rout either. That’s what I get for assuming the more expensive Retro DLX Plus would offer the same degree of pickup versatility as the less expensive Retro DLX. Reaching out to Monoprice in advance would’ve spared me a bit of disappointment. Oh, well. For now, the plan is to take it to a local luthier and have a universal rout added. With that said, the satin finish on the neck is nice and the swamp ash body on my guitar is beautiful. The intonation is pretty good considering the vintage-style barrel saddles. There weren’t any sharp fret edges on my guitar, but it didn’t ship with paper between the strings and the frets. As a result, all of the frets were pretty rough, particularly under the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings. It was bad enough that I send the guitar back. The RMA process was relatively straightforward and painless, and I received a replacement Retro DLX Plus about two weeks later. The second guitar also shipped without paper between the frets and the strings. The frets were in better shape, but they’ll still need a polishing to take care of the mild grittiness. I gave Monoprice some feedback on this, and hopefully they’ll address what seems to be a minor shipping issue on future production runs. The neck pickup is as good as I expected on a $200 guitar, but the bridge pickup is quite serviceable for crispy power chord rocking. My plan is to replace the electronics, just because I’m in to that sort of thing, but they would work just fine for someone getting started. Also, just as an FYI, this is first guitar I’ve ever had that required me to loosen the neck screws just to get the pickguard off. Apparently this is common on necks with overhanging fretboards on T-type guitars—there is almost no wiggle room in the neck pickup rout. I’ve been spoiled by the restringing ease and stability of locking tuners, so that’s the first modification I made. The great news is that Gotoh SG-381 MG-T locking tuners are a drop-in replacement for the Retro DLX Plus—no drilling required. All in all, this is a striking, inexpensive guitar that’s perfect for someone looking to add an upgradeable T-type to their collection. Even with the gritty fret issue, it was well worth $200. If they get that sorted, it’s a five-star purchase all day. Good luck!