California Classic Solid Body Electric Guitar - Sunburst
You know it when you hear it. That distinctive California Classic sound made famous by artists like Dick Dale, David Gilmour, and Ritchie Blackmore. Whether it is the surf, blues, psychedelic rock, country, or classic hard rock, this California Classic Solid Body Electric Guitar from Monoprice is the perfect axe for your daily practice and performance needs.
This full-sized, 22-fret guitar features a double-cutaway body made of basswood, a bolt-on maple neck, a rosewood fingerboard, and chrome machine heads/tuning pegs. It uses three single-coil pickups in the bridge, middle, and neck positions. A five-position selector switch allows you to use each of the three pickups individually, while the 2 and 4 positions combine the neck and bridge pups with the middle one for that distinctive "quack" sound. A tremolo/whammy bar is included for note bending.
Before it gets shipped to you, each Monoprice guitar undergoes a setup, tuning, and inspection process by Master Luthier Roger Gresco here in Southern California. The setup ensures that the neck is straight, the action is right, and that it will stay in tune. Additionally, it comes with everything you need to get started, including strings (installed), the tremolo/whammy bar, a heavy-duty zippered black gig bag with shoulder strap, and a truss-rod wrench.
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| All Customer Reviews - Click here to review for California Classic Solid Body Electric Guitar - Sunburst. |
Average User Satisfaction Rate
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 | | Rating:  (8 out of 10) | Reviewer: James Russell from Azusa, CA | 3/15/2016 9:12:59 AM |
| | Very Impressive |  Pros: Guitar is great
Cons: will need a case.
Don't be fooled by the price, guitar is nice. Shipping was fast. Packaging to keep it safe. The bag is more of a dust cover, but not the reason to buy. Guitar sounded great right out of the package. Strings were good, nice solid tone, no issues at all. Had it set-up for my playing and it's even better. The person who set it up gave a dirty look when I brought it in, but was impressed how well it set-up and played. Way better than a Squire, Rogue or anything for the price. If it had a F&%$%r on the headstock you wouldn't be able to tell the diff.
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| | Rating:  (10 out of 10) | Reviewer: CJ Simon from Scottsdale, AZ | 3/5/2016 6:54:50 PM |
| | An excellent low cost guitar | I ordered a similar $89 guitar from Amazon. They look identical. However, the packaging is horrible from Amazon, and I had to return several guitars due to damage or missing parts. One of the guitars had a warped neck, and could not play correctly. Also, the frets on the Amazon guitar are sharp at the corners, making me wonder if I would cut my fingers attempting to play it.
This Monoprice guitar, while at the same price, is significantly better. First, the packing was excellent, and more importantly, the frets and finish are quite good at this extremely low price. So far, very happy I got this one, instead of the Amazon one.
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| | | Rating: (8 out of 10) | Reviewer: John from Fairborn, OH | 2/6/2016 11:06:08 AM |
| | Amazing except for two things. | Pros: The Sunburst California Classic is a beautiful, well made guitar. It's very playable. String height is great, the knobs and pickup switch have a good feel to them. When you consider the price it's hard to believe it's this good.
Cons: The hum problem I mentioned that both have and the rough fret edges on the 1st one.
I'm on my 2nd California Classic guitar. The 1st one was beautiful in appearance and construction except the edges of the frets were rough. It was very playable and I didn't notice it during playing. The problem I had was with the pickup selector. When the switch was in the bridge position, the middle position or the neck position (1,3,5) there was a hum coming out of my amp without even playing a note. In positions 2 or 4 there wasn't any hum. I contacted Monoprice and got an RMA and sent it back free of charge. A replacement was sent out, free of charge, the same day they received my returned guitar. Kudos to Monoprice for that. The replacement guitar looks about as good on the front as the original one. There are cosmetic blemishes on the back of the neck the 1st one didn't have but it's only visual and doesn't affect playability at all. The fret edges on this one are smooth and I'm happy for that. But, this one has the same hum issues as the 1st one in exactly the same positions. It's frustrating. I also have a Route 66 from Monoprice and an acoustic with an electric pickup, both with no hum issues. Monoprice do you have any suggestions? Has anyone else had the same issues?
 by Monoprice Administrator
Hello John,
Thank you for your review and sorry for the delayed response as we are a bit backed up at the moment. I would recommend for future reference going through the chat, call or email channels for faster support. As for the hum issue, it does use single coil pickups rather than Humbucker pickups like the Route 66 that you have. Position 1, 3, 5 are sensitive to external fields and can be picking up interference from something nearby, such as a computer or even florescent lighting. When in 2 and 4 it basically puts the middle pickup in reverse polarity and would cause them to act as humbuckers. Which would be why you do not get any hum in 2 or 4. If you swap cables or amps does the same issue occur? Also, if you try moving it to a different room does it still have the hum?
Regards,
Mark P.
Tech Support Associate
by John
A friend brought his Fender Stratocaster over so I could see if It has the same problem. It does in position 3 & 5. He doesn't have a standard Strat in that the bridge pickup is a humbucker so no hum in position 1. I can't complain since his $1100.00 American Strat hums also. He brought a Fender Champ amp and we played through it as well as my Fender amp with the same results. He was really impressed with my California Classic, Route 66 and Foothill Flat Top Acoustic / Electric Guitar with EQ. Thanks for the reply and your quality products.
John
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| | | Rating: (10 out of 10) | Reviewer: Fattytca from Lansing, MI | 1/18/2016 7:27:43 AM |
| | So. Ridiculously. Good. | Pros: Beautiful, smooth, satin neck
22 frets
Great action
Stays in tune
Nice looking finish
Cons: Basswood body is soft and will chip/dent, etc.
Pickguard is soft plastic and scratches instantly.
Just had mine delivered last week and I can't walk by and not pick it back up.
I own 7 guitars and this is right there next to my Les Paul Standard. I know, that sounds stupid because this was $89 and my LP was $2000.
It's so nice that it makes me feel stupid for dropping that much cash on the LP, if that tells you anything.
The finish is gorgeous out of the box. It shipped from Cali to Michigan in the dead of winter, and naturally was out of tune but definitely set up and intonated. I tuned it, and started playing right away. It has a legit Strat single coil sound. All 5 settings provide completely different tones as they should.
I was considering trading out the pickups for some Tesla VR1's that I have sitting here, but truly, these things are totally fine.
I have bent the living hell out of the strings and this thing is still in tune. I did 5 minutes of divebombs with the trem and it's still in tune.
I wanted a 22 fret strat with a satin neck and American Fenders are still a little sticky in my hand, so I read some reviews and figured, why not with the Monoprice. The biggest thing holding me back was the logo on the headstock that said "Monoprice". I didn't get hung up on the brand name, but I just didn't like the look... But guess what? Now they come with just a cool looking "M" logo in gray. It looks awesome.
This thing is my go-to axe. No question.
I will be getting a Monoprice tele and bass asap.
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| | | Rating: (10 out of 10) | Reviewer: John from Fairborn, OH | 1/11/2016 5:12:01 PM |
| | Wow! | Pros: This is a quality instrument. Highly recommended.
Cons: The color of the Monoprice "M". The blue color does not complement this guitar, black would be much better.
Arrived on time and well packaged. The sunburst looks better than the picture. Set up is good. The finish is flawless. Very playable.
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