Monoprice Offset OS20 Classic Electric Guitar - Right Handed, Basswood Body, Gig Bag, Sunburst - Indio Series

It's got a stiff kinda whammy bar. Different feel, but I like it. I replaced the neck pickup with one of those skinny humbuckers. Sounds good. A very cool guitar for a very cool price. I love it. Plays good, looks good, sounds good. ten stars

Overall rating for this OS20 is good or very good for the price. Pickups make for a slightly dirty sound that’s not quite Jazzmaster, but still quite acceptable. Build quality is better than expected and great value. Monoprice has done something amazing with the Indio line, and despite the incredible price, these are not cheaply built beginner models. I would expect the price to continue to increase as these become more popular. DELIVERY / UNBOXING: Box arrived a little beat up with a big gouge at the bottom and a smaller one towards the top of the neck. Neither resulted in damage to the guitar or gig bag. Maybe if it had been raining, it’d be different. The guitar itself was in its gig bag, and wrapped in a foam packaging sheet. It was nice and snug and secured with just a rubber band. Strings were wrapped in paper, secured with tape. No rust, and were not stretched. There was an Allen wrench and short cable on a small ziplock bag and tremolo arm was loose in the box. BUILD QUALITY: Materials are average. The body is basswood, with a maple neck bolted on, and what appears to be rosewood frets. There were a couple of superfluous holes drilled that are hidden under hardware covers and my pick guard came with a 1” hairline crack. The neck is semi-glossed and slightly bent (concave) but within tolerance. Pickups are P90 like, though not exact. Despite what some reports have said, fret wire ends are not sharp, and no filing will be necessary. The gig bag is a lightly padded synthetic, about what you would expect to pay $20-30 for, so again, very nice at such a low cost. It is absolutely not waterproof though. PERFORMANCE: I won’t comment on the Jazzmaster design, as clearly it’s meant to be an offset bluesy guitar. It’s largely faithful to the Fender aesthetic, with a 5-position pickup selector switch, single volume and tone switches and output jack on corner / bottom of the body. Tuners are okay and don’t need to be adjusted that often between sessions. The string height is low and comfortable. The sound is mostly what you’d want, though it does not have as much twang / “surf rock” and produces a crunchier effect, especially in the mid-range. As a practice platform or rock/metal lead, it would work very well. It’s a little too dirty to be a dedicated jazz rhythm guitar, but to each his own.

Honestly this is a very good guitar! Sure the frets are a bit sharp (but minor) and the whammy bar was a little snug, but overall a very nice package. Now what blew my mind was the 5 settings on the single coil pickups, and not two but three of them . Neck, neck & bridge, bridge....and in between. The are so smooth and warm, and my only single coiil except my tele (with a neck bucker). I. have tons of guitars from expensive to this $120 Jazzmaster copy....and this rates with some of the top ones! It's INSANE! Comes with padded bag, tools, cord.....get one today and this crazy price!

This is my third Indio (by Monoprice) guitar, and they have all been fantastic quality for the price. This OS20 (Offset) model looks and feels awesome: glossy neck, clean finish, vintages knobs and pickups, mostly smooth frets. Better, it plays really well: intonation and action were correctly set up right out of box, and the HSS pickup configuration allows plenty of tonal combinations. I was pleasantly surprised by the output of the bridge humbucker! As usual with Indio guitars, you get a quality padded gig bag, too. Just a beautiful looking and sweet sounding "Jaguar"-style offset guitar with unique "super Strat" HSS pickup configuration...kind of like the old "Jaguarillos"! Minor complaints: tuners are cheap so some feel loose, others stick. But tuning seems stable so far. Fret ends a tiny bit sharp, but not unplayable, and easily sanded/filed. Certainly not the worst fret ends I've felt, and smoother than several more costly guitars I own. All three Monoprice's Indio guitars I've purchased (Retro Classic Tele, OS40 and now this 0S20) have been very solidly crafted, gu. To play and comparable to entry/mid level guitars by more well known name brands. A little set up, new strings, and you're playing a fine instrument on par with those that lost for several hundred more.

Ok, so it didn't play great out of the box. There were some RAZOR SHARP fret ends (easily rectified with a foam sanding block and 10 minutes of elbow grease), action was a little suspect, uneven frets, etc. But two things to know about me: 1) I'm allergic to Strats (the shape never hooked me), and 2) I love modding guitars. I pulled the stock humbucker (dark and wooly-sounding) and replaced it with a humbucker-sized Filtertron ($25 on eBay). Had to mod the pickguard a little to fit. Replaced the volume pot with a push-push for a coil split (so I could still get that cool Pos. 4 Strat sound). Reshaped the headstock, because MAN that thing is ugly. Leveled and polished the frets, set it up, and here it is. I own 23 guitars (from cheap project builds to very high-end). I've had this one for about 6 months. And at the moment (still, 6 moths later), it's my favorite. Plays great, VERY light for its body size, versatile, nice to look at. They're out of stock everywhere, and for good reason. As a modding platform, you can't beat it. I'm waiting for a restock so I can grab a white one - I want to try a P90 in the neck position, and don't want to take this one apart. If you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, this is a steal.