UNBOXING/Gear Review: INDIO Retro Classic Electric Guitar with GIG BAG for $100!!!!

[@taylor12elementvb]

At the age of 72 I started my guitar journey at the age of 15. I have owned and played many, many, many, guitars by the BIG 2 manufactures F and G. Some guitars I had were just ok and others not so much. The nicest one I owned was a '62 Oly white strat. Traded that off for a '67 cherry red Gibson ES 335 small block inlay guitar. Played and owned poorly built guitars and a few good ones. I have to admit I still have over 30 guitars in my collection. The biggest and best surprise I had was ordering a blonde Indio tele. Had never owned a tele (strat guy by preference). The Indio I received was exceptionally well built. Very nice neck and the frets were actually level. Did need a little set up and the fret ends were good but I made them even better (to my liking anyway). This tele is the one I pick up and play most of the time. Have not modded it, didn't need to. My many years of playing and gigging taught me that a good EQ pedal and a darn good amp really makes the guitar sing. The best $100 I have ever spent. That Indio tele is going nowhere. However, most if not all my high end/expensive Gibson and Fender guitars are going, going and almost gone.

[@tobydavis6770]

I just purchased one used for $50.00... like you I was expecting a used easy bake oven... Was absolutely blown away at how good of a guitar these actually are... I worked the fret edges down smooth and wow!!!

[@jtbjr58]

Thanks for your review. I went up a notch to the Retro Classic DLX -- just $100 more and worth it.. Just arrived today...solid ash body. strung with D'Addarios, and (best of all) set up perfectly. Ready to play. Excellent starter guitar for my students. It is VERY true that these under $300 guitars are worth looking at.

[@garrytalley8009]

I have the same guitar and did a setup on it today and put new strings and a red tortoise pick guard on it. It has a 12 in. radius I checked it with my gauge. The neck is pretty much like my Squire Stratocaster I even have the Strat version in the Indio and I like both of those guitars better than the Squire. Certainly I am doing a set up on them and if need be polishing the frets, but all fret boards are not as bad as the ones you encountered. Mine you could feel a little so I kind of polished them with a light sanding with a sponge block pad and no pressure. Easiest and fastest way to fix a small problem with the frets being sharp and extended.

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Thanks! Good tips, I am particularly unlucky with frets recently haha

[@ERICF66]

I just got a black one with the maple fretboard today for my birthday! I’m stoked on it. Right out of the box is felt and sounded really good. A bit neck heavy but not bad. I didn’t even change the strings, jus lowered the bridge saddles and tuned her up. The fret ends were sharp but after some filing, they were good to go. I’m fully amazed that this good of a guitar cost $86 shipped with a nice padded gig bag as well! My other guitar is a POS Rogue guitar that cost $150 and it sucks. I thought my playing was crap but once I got this Indio, I realized how much better I sound now. 👍🏽🎸🎶🔊🔊

[@BOBANDVEG]

Is the neck thin or thick?

[@ERICF66]

@@BOBANDVEG more on the thick side especially compared to my Rogue guitar.

[@robertdanka2269]

The black HSS just had coupons bringing it down to $58 shipped brand new! Snagged one! Can't wait to give it a shot.

[@danieltrickey9285]

I bought that exact same guitar a year or so ago. I replaced the pickups with alnico 5's for $20. Sounds great. My neck was fine, just a truss rod adjustment, but frets were smooth.

[@jerrycrowder6520]

I877 6

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Ah cool, yeah tehre are amazing pickups for cheap now.

[@InsideTheStadium]

Your a Rockstar Andy, totally answered all my questions, thanks for tge video. 🍻

[@phillipholt6005]

If you get a chance check out the 1962 spects. My fretwork is awesome smooth! The 62 came in surf green Burst and blonde also it stays in tune with stock strings are still on it!

[@travelinman617]

VERY NICE I HAVE A LYX TELECASTER FROM AMAZON ONLY COST 109 DOLLARS I LOVE IT THAT GUITAR ALSO HAS VERY NICE SOUND BEFORE THAT I BOUGHT A GRETSCH STREAMLINER FROM AMAZON BOTH LEFT HANDED ALL MY NINE GUITARS I HAVE ARE LEFT HANDED MY GRETSCH STREAMLINER AND MY LYX TELECASTER ARE MY FAVORITE

[@traileater]

Very very well done review, in depth yet easy for anyone to understand. Great chops too.... a few Keef licks would have topped it off I bought the blue one, shipped to canada it cost a bit more then yours but still far below the cost of an Affinity in a local store. Im very impressed with the overall package and the awesome tele neck you get....not a weird thin china design. Like you said, they knew what they were doing. I owned a bullet tele for a while that didnt play as nice, but the pickups sounded a bit better, possibly better wiring/pots, Im not sure. But more tele twang to it out of a champ. Im hoping to tweak mine to get a better sound. cheers

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I will be trying a bullit this year for sure, just got to find a good one.

[@columben7272]

Nice review

[@Dude_Guyman]

Edit: Just got mine, and happily it is not bad looking at all! I guess your lighting/camera just makes it look "radio active" orange and red. Mine looks great, feels great, a couple slightly sharp fret ends as expected, frets seem level, not a blemish or crack, and the tuners are even not too bad. I have not heard it yet. Giving it a few days to acclimatize before any tweaks or fiddling and want to use the crappy stock strings for that before tearing it down. Original comment: Way too much RED in that burst. If I get this guitar, and it actually looks like it does in this video, I will be scuffing/dulling that finish down to matte just to hide/subdue that a bit. I would have gone for the red one, but it was not in stock. Only burst and blue are, and I don't care for the blue at all.

[@phillipholt6005]

I got the butterscotch blonde but the burst would've matched my Squire Bullet Strat HSS HT! It's my favorite guitar 🎸 out of the 7 that I own!

[@benjaminlutz5075]

I ordered this tele as a back up for my my Yamaha FG401 acoustic. I've always liked and wanted a telecaster I play Country music. And many artists have used telecaster's over the years. It's supposed to arrive today! If anyone has any info on this guitar or how to play it well please let me know. Thank you.

[@crescentfreshsongs]

Just ordered one of these after debating over cheap teles/strats for months (trying to get back into guitar but the budget is a-squeezin'). Almost went with Glarry, but everything I've seen about the Indio has blown me away for the cost.

[@hildolfrdraugadrottin7279]

People that go on and on about tone wood need to learn how to use their tone knobs and EQs. You can take two identical guitars and the tone can be totally different sometimes. It's more about the density and weight of the wood than anything. There's big differences in this depending on each tree and where from that tree the wood is taken from the tree.

[@shawntajbakhsh1624]

Are there any other electric guitars you would recommend for beginners? I've been playing ukulele and wanted to go into electric guitars for a long time, and suggestions?

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Depends on what you'd like to play. If you'd like a more open kind of hollow bodied or semi-hollow bodied sound, look at my epiphone and firefly reviews. I hear both of those going well with a ukelele. But if you're looking for speed, I'd say check out the harley benton, or ibanez

[@yomommaahotoo264]

I snagged the blue with maple/maple neck when they were on sale for $79 shipped to my door. Yep...had to file some fret sprout and polish the crowns but no big deal. All frets were level enough for low action. Nice tight neck to body fit, but had to fold up some tin foil to tweak the neck angle. I didn't even bother listening to those ceramic pups and instead put it some excellent very under the radar BYO Vortex alnico 3 Hot pups for $50. These are what a vintage tele SHOULD sound like. A few tiny dabs of synthetic Super Lube with ptfe in the plastic nut slots and other string friction points and the tuning is rock solid. Aside minor tuning machine tightening or loosening, the tuners are decent....albeit 14/1 ratio. Don't likes: -Headstock 'Indio' - (reminds me of tech support scammers). -Vintage size firewire as opposed to medium jumbo. -Basswood is soft (so be careful not to strip screws when modding).

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Ahhh great point about the screws, great ideas all around. Definitely replacing the ceramics too.

[@yomommaahotoo264]

@@AndrewFriedberg When upgrading pups DON'T forget to ground that neck pickup cover. I neglected this and annoying static builds up and sounds like a lightning storm through the amp anytime the neck pup is engaged. Tried dryer sheets which worked only a few minutes....then figured out that the problem had nothing to do with composition of the plastic pickguard or lack of pickguard/body shielding. Running a simple wire from the neck cover to the volume pot not only solved the tooth grinding crackling, it increased clarity and punch of all neck combo positions.

[@yomommaahotoo264]

I did upgrade the tuners to Wilkinsons 16/1 I realized I had kicking around. It did make a difference....if you look real close at the stock tuner stem bushing going into the gear housing you'll notice it's only one nylon bushing.....whereas the Wilkinsons add another nylon bushing to lessen the friction. That and lowering the nut slots (especially the big strings) improved both the tuning stability and the intonation at the lower frets greatly. I kept wondering why setting intonation was so iffy.

[@marktser0jedi]

Thanks brother great review!

[@jimcamp2423]

I call the Monoprice headstock shape the Partridge Family bird logo. I actually prefer it to the pre-CBS & CBS era Squier & Fender Telecaster headstock shapes.Hey, even if the Partridge Family bird logo isn't your liking, it's better than others that shape the headstock like a hockey stick shaped blade or something that looks like Kevin Durant's feet in a sock.

[@jimcamp2423]

I went with the blonde, the Sunburst was nice, but like you said, the red band of paint was too narrow and the transition from red to yellow could've been implemented and bled from black to yellow a little better. I wish they made the blonde option with an all maple neck & fretboard, but the Rosewood is fine, probably more durable than the maple fretboards ?

[@jimcamp2423]

The middleman is you won't find these in traditional brick & mortar music stores. Monoprice handles sales directly & online. They buy from a manufacturer in China & distribute them from California for USA purchases. As I understand it, the guitar is inspected & set up in the USA. Other than that it's a mass produced Chinese guitar. Might be able to find them on Ali Baba or Wish for even less. Anyone that wants to buy larger quantities and resell them as a dealer is free to do so. End of the day though, that middleman requires marking them up, taxes & S&H. There would be no incentive to handle this guitar as a middleman if it wasn't marked up. What does one need to charge to make it lucrative enough of a business. The Monoprice are bundled with an optional monthly online music lessons. That's the only thing I see that would be incentive enough, making a living as a guitar instructor in that regard. And we all know there are quite a few online guitar lessons being offered from $ 19.99/month to whatever the artist can/wants to charge.

[@jimcamp2423]

From the heavy gain hum test at about 6:29, the pickup switch sounded a little springy & pickups were even microphonic. So I'm kind of wondering if the pickup switch is intended to have that classic springy sound when you switch it. Some people like the springy noises of a retro classic era, others prefer a smoother & quieter switch. I think I like the springy noise myself. There's no reason to want to tolerate & hear a microphonic pickup though.

[@johnwelch557]

The actual reason guitars are shipped with sheet under the fretboard: Electrolytic action between the metal strings metal and frets. Oxidation occurs between differing metal compositions. This is slow 'combustion' similar to rust. I've opened more than one Fender, Gibson, Guild and other guitars after sitting in a closet or under a bed that have developed severe fret erosion under the strings. Nice 'V' pits! These guitars were all purchased by a person many years ago and never played. Estate sales usually. I always passed on them, not that the asking price was high, actually I could have turned them for very good $$. But I play, not a collector or a seller. Also, most new players for these won't give a hoot about art. Wood grain prominence, red, black eveness, and such, who cares, I sure don't. 63 years playing a zillion guitar types, materials and it's 90% the play, not the guitar. Save money and disappointment, forget 'upgrading', just grab it and learn to progress as a musician. I give it a 10 out of 11.

[@noternunstoned]

I just thought that the hook on the headstock would make a dandy can or bottle opener!

[@thomasleehowell7591]

I ordered this exact guitar. They sent me the one with 3 saddles instead which is not as good as this axe.

[@rayfranchi1507]

The new version comes with three saddles

[@williamj.sheehan2001]

For what it's worth, Thomas, I've always preferred the 3-barrel bridge on a Tele-style guitar. A more "vintage" vibe, and once you tweak it, it's less fussy than the "6-individually-adjustable" Strat-type bridge. Granted, the intonational precision may not be quite as good with the 3-barrel, but definitely good enough for rock 'n roll !!!

[@petercyr3508]

Wish you would play Haggard or Don Rich style licks on the bridge pu with tone all the way up to see how that goes.

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Good call, appreciated.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

I paid $80 for a Blonde on sale at Monoprice.

[@newpain01]

When was that? I wanna pick one up, looks like the blonde is $100, but there is a red one on sale for $80.

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

@@newpain01 It was around Black Friday, but they run these sales from time to time, just keep checking their website or sign up for their email updates✌️

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

@@newpain01 ...or just get the red one 😉

[@Zukoz26]

They were on sale not that long ago for 80 hey mind if I ask how long did it took you to get your guitar I been waiting for a while to get mines

[@MrChristopherMolloy]

@@Zukoz26 About a week.

[@joemanuel5053]

I have both the Glarry telester and the Indio telecaster and the Indio strings go tru the body like a Fender and wt is the same the Glarry is not.

[@AndrewFriedberg]

Thanks, ill def check out the Glarry's soon

[@GMec78]

It’s $79.99 right now

[@danbremer7010]

It’s still $99 on Amazon now.

[@danbremer7010]

I just looked it up. It’s $113 now. Still want the link?

[@tjforgey7854]

You can't build a guitar for these low priced Amazon guitars.i know I have tried.the lowest I have gotten is 130 bucks,all in,without labor time included.

[@Dude_Guyman]

Yep, usually just the cheapest body blank alone is ~$60+. You'd spend more on friggin glues, sand paper, and tongue oils, etc. if you didn't already have them laying around than the whole guitar. Last time I shipped a guitar, it cost me $125. This whole guitar, shipped to my door, cost me $105.

[@noternunstoned]

I don't think a parent paying $100 is going to sent it immediately to a luthier and pay $200 to file fret edges.

[@DougHinVA]

The headline has 'INDIO' spelled wrong. Someone is responsible for that silly error.

[@AndrewFriedberg]

haha, the thumbnail yes. Thanks for the heads up, I'm not a natural speller.