The media could not be loaded.

What a nice guitar for the price. Can't be beat. Played good rt out of the box. All I did was sand the fret edges a little bit. Stays in tune and came intonation well. I'm very happy.

I've been reviewing many different guitars and guitar-related items from Amazon over the last several years and I've seen some really disappointing stuff, some ok stuff, and some spectacular stuff. Most of what I review is within the budget price range (under $500), because the more expensive well-known brands like Fender, or Gibson are usually quite good and worthy of 5 stars for their quality. But you pay for that quality. And usually you pay over $1000 to $4000 a guitar. Same with guitar accessories. The well known brands of amplifiers and effects processors and pedals we all know are usually high quality but again, for high dollar. I'm more interested in what you can get these days for much less money, and I've been pleasantly surprised with some items. Disappointed with others.This Monoprice guitar I have been eyeing for a good 3 years now. I have a large collection of guitars and have found some real quality gems here on Amazon for very low prices such as IYV. That brand is really killing it and trying to grow on Amazon. Their stuff is priced low and quality is always high above what I expect for the money.So when I saw this monoprice Indigo Cali strat guitar go on sale for $130 Canadian, with a gig bag, I thought I would get one because I've generally heard and read good reviews on them. I was really curious how it would compare to my IYV branded strat, and how all the parts used would compare, like the hardware, knobs, tuners, etc...I'll say this - if you can get this guitar on sale, it's worth it. But don't buy it when the price is around $200 or higher. It's not worth that money. Here's why: these always come in and out of stock, and when they're in stock and ready for next day shipping I notice the price is up high. When they're on order, you can get them for about $130 CAD but you may have to wait a couple weeks because it's on order.It comes down to the hardware mainly. The body is good. I liked it better when the blue was the "burst" paint job, like you'll see in some other older reviews of this same guitar, but Monoprice seem to have finished with the blue burst. It's just solid blue now. Anyway, the body is good and the paint job is good. For the price. I like that the body is full thickness like a Fender Strat. To me, that's a big advantage over the Squier Strats which have thinner bodies. Then there is the neck. The headstock isn't anything pretty, but remember, we're talking about a $130 guitar on sale. So the neck, it has regular sized frets... no fret sprout on my specific model. It's not a gloss neck, it's unfinished, or satin finished I suppose. The strings are garbage, so change those out right away before you bother with doing a setup. Speaking of setup, it comes from factory with a setup, but it's a quick rough setup. The intonation you can tell was set and the bridge saddles are adjusted to an acceptable level of action and intonation. However a little TLC with a good set of strings will go a long way because they manufacture these so fast, the last part of the assembly process is the setup and inspection. Can you imagine doing hundreds of guitars a day? They're done very quickly by the techs at the factory in China and using bad strings. So keep that in mind. Now the tuners... they're your typical no name Chinese made tuners. Some are smooth and some are clunky. They're sealed so you can't service them. They're acceptable (for the money) and they hold a tune once everything is set up right. The nut is a piece of plastic. While very common at this price point, and cut decently, if you want good sustain and good tuning stability (especially if you're going to use the "whammy bar") then I highly recommend upgrading the nut to a bone or graphite style nut, properly slotted and lubed so that you have optimal tuning stability. Now the bridge and trem system. It's quite cheap metal. I actually opt not to use the trem (whammy bar) because I am afraid of it breaking off inside the bridge. I've had this happen before with these cheaply made bridges and screw-in trem bars. So use it gently and don't dive bomb. The metal is not that great. However, for the price, it's acceptable. Oh, I forgot to mention, while you have the strings off, take that chance to polish the frets. Lots of youtube videos on how to do this for less than a dollar using certain abrasive materials, or spend $15 to $25 on a fret polishing product. It will make a huge difference in how much easier it is to bend notes and play. The knobs, pickguard and other plastic pieces have a cheapness about them when comparing to other strat style guitars in this category. The sound is not too bad for the price. The entire loaded pickguard is your expected cheaply made Chinese product and can be easily upgraded to something much better for only about $40. The input jack plate uses that same cheap pot metal with almost jagged burrs on some edges, and when I compare all the hardware on this guitar to all the hardware on a Squier or an IYV strat, you can tell that this monoprice is using the low grade stuff. I've heard this guitar sells for $75 USD when it's on sale in the USA. So all this is to be expected. So here's my conclusion:If you want a decent body and neck for $130 and plan to spend another $150 on some hardware and loaded pickguard, then this is a great buy. But if you're expecting Korean quality hardware, beware that none of it is. It's all lower end Chinese made hardware.If you're a beginner, not much of this matters other than having a proper setup. In fact I gifted this guitar to a friend who is a complete beginner, after I gave it some TLC with new strings and fret polish.That's my 2 cents. If you can score an IYV IS-200 strat copy when they're in stocks, you'll be getting all good hardware and decent setup. So take a look at that company, and the price is the same as this one.If you're a guitar collector and you like to have a little of everything and tinker to make them play good, then $130 is a good price considering it also includes a gig bag which actually isn't bad and good enough for taking to guitar lessons or a friend's place or just having as a spare.Just note, for about $300 CAD, you can find something of much better quality even locally... so be careful if you're a Canadian and don't spend full price on this guitar, because we don't get as good a deal as the Americans do. Wait until it's on sale, or I'd look at other options.

I bought this to get my hands on the bones. These Monoprice (Indio) strats are routed for humbuckers in the neck and bridge. So I got an HSH pickguard and threw in some hot p90's I had, worked the neck with polishing/leveling the frets and installing some locking tuners and it's pretty awesome. Also installed a pickup switch to throw the neck pickup in with any combo on the 5-way switch. All in I have under $200 in this really cool Strat that has a great range of tones. For $99 you get a decent foundation to do your own improvisations. The maple neck has really good figuring and one you adjust the truss rod it's good, I had to level the frets but they were not really all that bad to be honest, and they needed polishing but I have had to do that to big name guitars. I could not have walked into a Guitar shop and walked out with all the features, fit, and finish I wanted for under $200. This guitar would be fine for a beginner as is once the neck and intonation is set up (intonation out of the box was super close AND the nut was actually spot on. If you have no desire or ability to work on your own gear then maybe you should consider a Squire Affinity or better, anything lower tier (regardless of the name on the headstock) is going to require a little setup/adjustment.

I been playing for around 35 years and always had a strat in my life. Now that I am retired and get bored easily I like to pick up decent cheap guitars and to play and mod them. I bought this Indo strat recently and was really impressed. I did not give it five stars for beginners because the neck had zero relief in it and a beginner would not be able to recognize that or know how to adjust it. All they would know is the guitar plays like crap and give up. Slight adjustment of the truss rod and it was playable.The guitar plays great. Neck is comfortable, weight is light compared to real strat. Upper frets are easy to get to and play and the guitar sounds good. The pickups gives a wide range of tones and to me are just as good as any amazon $25 pickup upgrade. If I didnt have more than a couple dozen guitars now and 3 strat builds in my future I would pick up a couple of these. Sweet solid guitars at a excellent price.

Es excelente la guitarra, solamente es necesario ajustarla, calibrarla, rebajar los extremos de los trastes y cambiar las cuerdas. Parece mucho trabajo, pero vale la pena. Al final se obtiene una guitarra muy aceptable a un costo bajó.

EDIT: I finished a modding project on this guitar, and I am over the moon. I replaced all of the electronics, the bridge/trem, string trees, and tuners. I also sanded down the edges of the neck, so the frets no longer stick out. Lastly, I did a custom paint job. So yeah, believe it or not, if feels like a whole new guitar...because it mostly is. BUT consider that body of the guitar and the neck are both fantastic. This is a great guitar for learning how to do all of those things that I mentioned above. The whole project only took about a week and for sub $300 (including paint and tools) I have a really awesome new axe.I bought this guitar as a project instead of a kit guitar. I expected so much worse than what I got. I can't really believe it.The good-The neck feels great. It has a satin finish, the wood itself is quite beautiful, and it actually plays very nicely. I am enjoying it more than my PRS neck, to be honest. It's also straight and the action was perfect straight out of the box.The paint job on this guitar is flawless. I am still going to do a custom paint job, because, well, I want to. But having a perfect surface to start is going to make my work easy.The body shape is nicely contoured. It feels like the cutouts for a player's leg, body, and picking motion are just right.The bad-The hardware stinks. The tuners are mediocre, the string trees are crummy, the bridge is thin, and all of the plastic parts feel cheap. Then again, they are cheap. This guitar is cheap. What do you expect? All of those parts are easy to swap out if you want. As it stands, I wouldn't use the whammy bar- the hardware is too sticky, so the strings go out of tune immediately. The guitar stays in tune well if you don't use the whammy bar.The neck- specifically, the fret metal sticks out of the sides of the neck. It's pretty harsh. However, for ~$5 you can buy a sanding block and soften those edges tremendously. That's what I am going to do later today. There are some great videos on how to do that.The surprising- these pickups + electronics don't sound too bad, actually. They don't sound *great*, but with a little amp EQ, I got some legit strat sounds both clean and dirty. A good amp obviously makes a ton of difference.I'll swap out the pickups, switch, and pots, but I don't feel like I need to. If you're a beginner or just want to mess around with single-coil sounds, this isn't too bad. I am truly impressed.If you can pick up this guitar for $100 or less, go for it. It's a steal. A little TLC and this thing is going to be a great sounding player.

I bought this guitar to tote around and jam on. It has been listed on several youtube videos giving it praise for how well it was made. So I decided to buy one for myself and see if it lived up to reputation...wow the frets on were set and filed properly and the saddle and strings had proper intonation. The tuning machines decent for the price point. The paint job is good & the pickups are well made and sound amazing. Better than I have seen on some squier strats made in the same region. Whoever set up the guitar at the distribution center was obviously a well trained luthier. I have been playing guitars for decades this guitar is worth it for your collection or if your a modder. I'm leaving it stock nothing needs to done on it and plays like a dream. It comes with free gig bag too. An excellent buy.

I have to start by , shipped across the country and not a ding or scratch anywhere on the guitar. I also want to mention that I don't like calling anything a beginner instrument. Yes this is certainly lower price but you can be playing for many years and still find enjoyment in almost any instrument. This is the case with myself. I have been looking at this particular guitar for quite some time and when it went on sale (and was in stock!) I decided to chance it... I had never bought a guitar online, only ones I had played in person in the store. It arrived as I mentioned perfectly packaged, looks absolutely amazing in person. I honestly got it because I did not have a strat-style guitar and I usually play acoustics or electrics with humbuckers and I wanted something with that single coil sound without a lot of investment. This guitar delivers perfectly in that respect, it fits the strat look, the finish is great, I absolutely had to have a maple neck and this one is really nice to look at with nice graining, and while the pickups are clearly not professional level Customs they certainly do the job well. After taking it out of the packaging and tuning it up and stretching the strings...with a few tweaks of my amp I was playing Pink Floyd, Santana, and Clapton riffs that sounded pretty passable to my ears.I went out today and picked up a nice strap that suits the color scheme and am currently displaying it next to much more expensive guitars in my collection, such as PRS and Gibson models. I think this is a great looking guitar and to walk in my room and see it next to my others makes me happy and the sound is great. The neck does have a few small sharp frets but honestly I've played $500 Squires that are almost identical in that field.All in all if you are starting out this is certainly a great instrument especially that it comes with a carry bag for such a good price. Nothing was loose or damaged, sound is good, if you get this guitar I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it.