Noce guitar for the price.

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!

Unbelievably awesome guitar for the money. Workmanship is top notch and excellent sound.

Wow! I received this guitar a few days ago and am totally impressed with the work Monoprice/Indio put into creating such a lovely instrument. I can't stop playing it! This guitar is easily worth 2X's what Monoprice is asking and the quality is on par or superior in many ways to similar Mexican made guitars!

Upon inspection mine has a two piece ash body, which looks much better than the one in the pictures on the monoprice website-(which looks like 3 piece body). The cavity under the pickguard is routed only big enough for one single coil pickup. It comes installed with 2 full size 250k alpha pots. The bridge is much better than I anticipated it being and won't need replacing, perhaps I'll replace the saddles with brass compensated ones but that is a personal preference, the ones they provide are working just fine. And the neck is AMAZING! No fret sprout, all frets were leveled nicely and the satin finish on the back of the neck has a really nice feel to it. The pickups are ceramic but quite decent and provide a nice tone, not overly twangy or icepicky, but nice, a good bluesy tone. Also, the intonation was almost perfect and that is quite remarkable given the vintage style saddles this comes with.

I already replaced the tuners as I refer locking tuners. The ones provided seemed ok but not great. That's not a big deal, most if not all guitars at this price point will need them replaced. The 3-way switch, works fine but feels flimsy. I will probably replace it in the future. Again not a big deal, as it is NOT an absolute necessity that it be replaced. The fretboard was pretty dry and needed some lemon oil. The frets were sandpapery and in need of a quick fret polish and now they are smooth like butter and easy to play and bend on. So 20 to 30 minutes of work replacing the tuners, polishing the frets and hydrating the fretboard and now this is a high quality gig worthy instrument!

I also own an Indio Cali Classic Strat, which I love but needed a lot of work and parts replaced to make it the great guitar it is now. So I wasn't sure what to expect and was curious what the quality would be for a guitar more than double the price of the Indio Cali Classic when I bought this one, and to my surprise I am just Absolutely Blown Away by the quality of this guitar! Highly recommend!