Eart SSS vs. Monoprice Indio - AFFORD-A-STRAT! - (Contest closed)
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
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The first episode in the new AFFORD-A-STRAT series (brought to you by Daddario)
In each Afford-a-strat video I will compare two budget strats that have the same strings and set up, pick the winner to continue to the next round and then GIVE AWAY THE LOSER! Make sure you set the bell to all so you never miss a premier of the afford-a-strat because you will need to be quick to win.
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Ryan, the Monoprice Indio Cali Classic sells for $99.99. The EART SSS sells for $219.00. The Monoprice Indio Cali DLX Plus sells for $229.99. A much better comparison would have been between the EART SSS and Indio Cali DLX Plus in which case the DLX Plus would have won hands down.
Couldn't agree more. This really is an unfair comparison.
@@genipaisley4340 was it done on purpose to disparage Monoprice?
@@lylemoors4194They eventually lowered the quality on their guitars so maybe he's just a fortune teller.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 Ha! Thanks for your input. Probably right too!
Yup! I would Love a Stage Right Tube Amp as well ;)
Thank you, D'Addario. You guys rock.
The EART should be compared with the Indio Cali DLX model, which is in the Eart price range. Budget Indios should be compared with Glarry or something.
Totally I got a 10 yr old cali deluxe. Another world I bet would blow the eart away
Agreed. The Indio typically sells for $85-$99, the Eart sells for at least twice as much. The DLX is a way better guitar and sells for around $200.
The glarry is junk compared to the Indio.
@@popsfereal Maybe the Kramer Focus should be compared to the basic Indio.
Absolutely right! I have 2 of the Indio Cali Classics. One came out of the box about 98% of perfect for finish, feet ends, and setup. The second one needed much more fret dressing. The electronics are nothing special but very usable and good enough in quality not to need replacement. However, they are $99 shipped at this moment on the Monoprice website. The included gig bag would cost at least $25 - $35 in any store. The deluxe model would definitely be a more fair and realistic direct comparison. This is not a fair comparison of evenly matched guitars.
I would buy the cheaper Indio by Monoprice, for the price difference of 110 you could buy a $30 Guyker bridge and $25 Guyker locking tuners, a $16 bone nut and $14 string trees and have 25 bucks for a second hand pickup set or better pots, caps, wires and insulation tape.
I really enjoyed your video. I think a more comprable comparison would be Donner versus Indio, as they are both about $100 on each vendor‘s website. I think the EART generally starts, when you’re comparing apples to apples, for about $100 more than the Donner and Indio.
Agree - Eart is in a different class.
@@cdavidlake2 as it should be for twice the $$
@@deftone1715 Then why is Ryan comparing them?
I have the blue burst Indio classic . I got it for $99 bucks when it first came out and for the price it’s really a great instrument .
Yeah, he said the hook looks ugly. But I quite like it personally!
I got the Indio 66 DLX Plus Goldtop and it's FKN AMAZING. I absolutely love this thing. You can see it in my avatar. I swapped a Seymour Duncan 59 Model in the bridge and made it even better. If this inexpensive guitar is this great, I can only imagine what a good Gibson is like.
My guitar came perfect. All, I had to do was tune up and play. Didn't even have to intonate it. Fret ends are rounded off and frets are level. Action was perfect. I couldn't believe how great it was when I got it.
@@mrbtwist me too, the hook was the coolest headstock ive seen on a strat copy
You got ripped off! I got mine for $88! LOL!. It really is a good guitar, isn't it!
@@JC-11111 A real Gibson isn't going to thrill you any more except for the name on the headstock. You might even get a bad Gibson, which happens, that is worse.
The Eart should be better at nearly twice the price.
Exactly. Lol
You're almost at 80k! And while I love you Ryan and I'm up for just about anything I will not do "the tik tok." I have to draw the line somewhere.
Hear hear!
Just going by what I see and hear in the video, the Indio sounds thinner/more Strat like, and a little louder. Slight adjustments in pickup height (even 1/4 turn) can make very big differences in tone. Saddle springs can be easily trimmed to get more room for setting the intonation on the Indio. The Indio has a slightly better neck, and I prefer the look of the body as well, and it comes with a gig-bag as well. For $100 less, the Indio is a steal. You could use that $100 savings to get much better pickups if needed.
Yeah, 99 dollars for the Indio.
Catch Monoprice for a sale and these are around $ 75-87 delivered to your door USA. The EART is a fine instrument at it's price point. That said with the EART, Squier Bullet & Affinity are in play for alternatives. The Monoprice, GLarry is the other guitar brand and I prefer Monoprice > GLarry. As good as the Monoprice neck is as new, it's hard to justify another $ 100 for the EART. The Monoprice, there is always the possibility one of the pickup(s) is(are) microphonic. I bought the Retro Classic Teles, blonde & 3TSB. One pickup needed wax potting. No big deal, the cover came off, $ 3 for a bar of surfboard wax and microphonic pup solved. I felt like EVH without dipping a pickup in a wax filled saucepan. I'm happy with the Monoprice, 1 year later, it made it thru warranty & I have no intentions of selling either Tele. At the price, I think I can get what I paid for them, or very close at the sale price. I don't think they'll ever be worth less than $ 50, but you never know based upon what another offers & I would accept as a financial hardship situation where it just had to be sold.
Hey Ryan, would you mind awfully doing an Affordaboard power supply comparison video?
think that could be a bit dull tbh - the harley benton is very cheap and works fine
I use a walrus aetos for my big board and a donner power for my small one, both are good and do what they should
The Mosky C8 is modelled after the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2. It is isolated and has a transformer and stuff. Not the most inexpensive but still quite cheap and good quality. And quiet.
just get a truetone 1 spot until u can afford isolated ones
From experience, budget power supplies are shit.
I just saw Monoprice has the Cali DLX strats back in stock, they start at $189. Would be cool to see how the eart compares to one of the upgraded MP guitars. I had one of the DLX Plus teles and it was pretty dang awesome I must say. Then my niece played it and commented how much better it was than her guitar and how her birthday was coming up and well, you can guess how that story ends. LoL. She still plays it all the time, although I believe she upgraded the pickups recently.
I'd love a free guitar, but not enough to create a facebook account. 🤮
You could use mine except I'm in the midst of a 30 day suspension for violating community standards against nudity (breasts).
Start an affordamp series and complete the Ultimate afforda challenge: play a gig with only afordagear!
I’m a huge EART fan, I’ve got 4 of them, waiting to see their new headless model they’ve been teasing in their emails, may be my #5!
Edit - regarding the indio, they’re cheap upgrade platforms with a decent base. They even mention I their marketing blurbs that they’re made for upgrading.
I’ve got the Eart NK-C3 in charcoal burst which I bought used on eBay and already heavily upgraded!
It has Iron Gear Rolling Mill PAF style humbucker with Alnico 5 and Vintage 6ts with Alnico 2 magnets, better pots, capacitor and selector, upgraded locking tuners, graphite nut and Wilkinson bridge that I may well upgrade to a Gotoh 510.
The guitar plays and sounds like something costing several times the price and I only paid £200 ($279!) an absolute steal!
So if there’s nothing much to pick between them, but the EART has far superior quality Bridge, Trem, Arm, Frets, Pick Ups & Pots, Tuners and workmanship…..
It’s a no brainer for me
I can't stand Teflon tape on my Strat arm. The threads shred it and makes it impossible to remove. I just use a spring. Way easier.
Hey Ryan! Great video! Glad to see Indio getting some love. Monoprice has got its sights set on being a player in the affordable range of guitars, and I think they're doing a good job of it. I have one of their budget Tele style guitars, and it's solid mod platform, but I also grabbed a OS30 DLX- it's basically Jag-Stand (if that makes sense)- think Cobain's guitar. Comes with P90s and the only thing I upgraded was the bridge. And that was only because I had a spare Fender bridge from a cannibalized partscaster. There's a lot of potential here, and I think it's awesome that you share this with people- I never would have known about them if not for Darrell Braun's video on modding the same blue burst Strat style axe you have there. BTW you can turn that thing into a BEAST for not a lot of cash.
Wish this were true.
Do people still use Facebook?
Yeah, they invaded the capital on january 6th, damn Qtards
@@Ottophil invaded a public building paid for by their taxes lol
Waiting for my Eart 335 to arrive ! I can deal with any imperfections as long as the neck is fine ! If the neck not fine , then send the guitar back for replacement ! My Hagstrom Ultra Swede was the only overseas guitar that I have never done anything except replace strings and setup adjustments ! Enjoy the inexpensive guitar journey !
I bought the Indio for my guitar student wife about three years ago. After a proper setup and a fresh set of D’Addario strings (that’s all we play) and it’s a solid instrument.
take off and cut the springs on those saddles to allow them to get a little closer. obviously if they're going to "live" that close, you don't need a long spring.
I don't know why I feel compelled to comment this, but I think the Indio headstock looks way better then the Eart.
Agreed. The Eagle Headstock looks cool
completely dissagree, i think the indio headstock looks like a fender headstock mixed with a fishing hook. where the eart looks more kramer beak / suhr / AZ like.
Just biased because Indio headstock is such a close knock off to the fender design, how predictable.
More importantly dadarrio strings are great, almost as good as Ernie Ball strings.
I like Ernie Ball, but, I prefer D'Adario
Good for D'Addario for doing this. I've always been a EB user(creature of habit) but next string purchase I'll pick up a few packs of D'Addario's and give them a try.
I've been using D'Addarios for nearly 30 years. Never had issues. I upgraded to their other black label series for my Ric 320. Much smoother, more comfortable than their standard range.
I APPLAUD YOUR APPROACH TO THIS SERIES!
Thank your sponsor for giving us this great view into a true apples to apples comparison of budget gear at it's near-stock best.
Seen plenty of budget reviews and this isn't just more entertaining but it's really informative. I learned a couple of things from just one video.
THANKS!
Sounded great on the jam.
I have this guitar and your complaints were my complaints.... The pickups are a bit anemic but sound better with some tonal assistance. The plastic is cheap and the trem block is laughable. The finish is fantastic (especially if you're a Manchester City fan. I thought the fret work was shockingly good and far superior to any budget Squiers I've had. The edge of the fretboard was rolled and the neck is super comfortable. I don't care for the tuners, I'd prefer cheap Squier tuners.
I got it to be my 'travel without worrying about it getting hurt' guitar and it has served its purpose admirably. It's also going to undergo some mods this summer.
I'm not surprised you chose the EART over it, but the Indio punches far above its $99 weight class.
Weird...the Eart guitar looks like a cardboard cutout of a guitar with that finish.
It looks like it's just added to the video in post when it is on the table on a stand, it's like some uncanny valley of guitars with unnatural reflections.
@@tomieilamo Yes - unfortunately :-(. The SSS series is only made in a deep matte version, which I don't like. Otherwise, it's a great guitar for the money!
@@lubos1207 Not a difficult job to buff up the matt finish to a shine with some auto paint restorer then finish off with some actual auto polish to protect!
Job done!
Hopefully you do a Xavier guitar from guitar fetish next.
Yeah, I agree, compare it to the Indio Cali DLX. Ash body, Wilkinson 2 point trem, Alnico pickups that sound really good. Post-setup it should destroy the Eart. It also has a swimming pool route so swapping pickups/pickguards is seamless, I put 3 mini humbuckers in mine with quick-connects so I can switch electronics easily.
I didn't see that one on amazon when I was shopping. I'll consider it for the future.
@@60CycleHumcast I just joined your Facebook group, I'll post a few of my frankenstrat pics over there. The plan is to have a guitar that can easily swap pickguards/pickups with each string change.
Ryan, despite me not at all wanting a budget guitar, that was a highly engaging and enjoyable video.
It's a shame that there's some problems with the Eart's frets catching the strings and stuff because they are genuinely astounding looking, I've never seen that attention to frets on a cheap guitar. Oh, and I couldn't hear much of difference between the two's pickups - very interesting that there was a marked one in the room.
Don't you know how to dress fret ends???
I'd rather have a guitar with cheap toy control knobs and a good saddle than the other way around.
Searching for a $100-$200 guitar with better pickups seems like an exercise in futility to me.
Some guitar enthusiasts would find it educational and satisfying to upgrade their cheap guitar as a DIY project...a valuable experience.
I bought a hss indio strat for $69 shipped. No complaints from me.
I got an Indio cali. On amazon and ebay they look like 3 tone or fade bursts, not just a cheap 2 tone burst. I sanded mine down, dyed it red, and gave it an oil finish. definitely looks better. definitely a decent guitar for $99. round the fret ends and roll the fretboard with a bit of sandpaper, set the neck flat, set the intonation and action, set the pickup heights, and you're good to go. I have 4 ~$100 strats of various brands in my collection. The indio is on par with the rest as to quality for the price.
I think the Indio had more clarity and not as thin as the EERT
This is a worthy challenge to my own unpublished series, "Can You Beat the Squire Bullet Strat I Bought at a Pawn Shop for $60 That Was Surprisingly Well Set-Up and Does a Respectable Strat Sound, Even Compared to MIM Strats, and Even Though I'm Not Crazy About The Strat Sound but Want Something to Convince Me I Should Think Otherwise".
I agree. I just love my Fender Starcaster Strat, $42.00 from goodwill. Was in great shape, hardly played. Had to adjust intonation on a couple of strings and its perfect. I have a n EART SSS, I like that too, the Indio sounds like my first Strat style Glarry.
While this may have been a fun comparison it's wasn't a fair one. The Eart is more than double the price of the Indio so it was gonna win from the start. Next time get a closer pair !
Wrong!
I got a Monoprice guitar and the frets was like needles not frets and saddles was up as far as they could go and intonation they needed to move in. I contacted them immediately and sent it back.
I think the Censtar Brand would be a better shootout with Eart, however; Gibson,Epiphone,Kramer,Maestro ; Censtar May be Earts Maestro. Dunno I digress, and no matter how many hoops I jump I still can’t win anything but telescam grams that Your Mannequin could do a way better Job making Me believe won! Thanks Always though Ryan! Great Content. Oh last But not least on the headstocks, the Eart reverse headstock would Be so much cooler IMO.
Glad to see you getting so much mileage out of the whole Afford-a-Thing series. I'm always telling my friends I came up with the Afford-a-Board name and they never believe me. Lols. It's cool, I know the truth and my daughter wears her 60 Cycle Hum T-shirt proud. :)
Keep up the good work Ryan.
When doing multiple day video recording, you should have Day One/Day Two T-Shirts
In my opinion all you got to do on the indio is to adjust the pickups, try to lower the high e side
Damn buddy......I am Mr. Affordaboard.......now Affordastrat..........I love you man!
I have that Eart strat and let me tell you it's unbelievable. Mahogany body, compound radius roasted maple neck, bone nut, STAINLESS STEEL FRETS, and decent hardware although I changed out the tuners. This guitar is possibly the best under $200 guitar in the history of guitars. No joke
Very similar to American Idol, where the best talent doesn't win the competition. The Indio is a toy and nothing else, where the Eart SSS is a professional grade instrument.
Take the Blue one Neck off and shim it forward a 1/16" or 1/8" and intonation will line up.
Apparently, on all of the Blue Indio Cali DLX's with the maple fretboard, the Wilkinson pickups don't line up with the strings, because of the pick guard placement. After I noticed mine was that way, I checked the blue Cali DLX guitar in the ad pics, and it's the same way.
The pics of the Cherry Burst and the Natural finish Cali DLX's look fine, the strings and pickups line up pretty good, so it's just the blue Cali DLX model.
I don't know how much this affects the sound, because it plays and sounds pretty good. It's a beautiful guitar and it's not really noticable unless you know it's there. But, I know it's there.
The reason for buying a cheap guitar is that you can customize it any way you want... learning how to adjust and work on guitars while you're at it. I have an Indio Tele that's loaded with Fender U.S.A. Tele hardware and electronics. I had the parts lying around from other builds, so it was a no cost upgrade... and it made a big difference. Win - Win! P.S. Round off the Eagle Beak on the headstock and now you have a Fender-esque Headstock. No, it's not a Tele... but it looks and sounds like one and THAT is what sparked my interest in Tele's. I now have the Indio, Harley Benton Hollow Body P90 Tele, 2 Fender U.S.A. Tele's and one Custom, neck through Tele with Abalone adorned body, fretboard and headstock... it's sounds as beautiful as it looks. Funny but I ignored Tele's for 40 years... now they are my favorite Guitar compared to my Gibson LP, Gibson SG, Fender Strats, Schecters and Ibanez guitars.
Nice job on this. I also have the Indio and ordered it several months ago as a project. I love the blue as well. It is in my opinion that this $99 guitar plays and feels like a $200 guitar in my mind.
You should try their $249 guitars. Mine plays like it's easily twice that cost. 😁 It goes well with my Stage Right 15w tube combo from them 😉
And I'm thinking about buying the 66 DLX with quilted top and black burst that's on sale for 159 right now. First time I've seen them in stock in 8 months.
@@JC-11111 Be here Monday! Indio by Monoprice 66 DLX Flamed Maple Top Electric Guitar with Gig Bag Honey Burst
Could you try to find a JCX Stargazer guitar? I have a LP type one and I love it Im wondering what you're thoughts are on it
Thank you for posting this helpful video!
You should gotten the 200 buck Indio strat deluxe
Why, so you can win it?
@@SeasonedSalmon For the reason it would have been a more accurate comparison and price points.
Yeah very strange he didn't. I believe that one comes set up with better electronics, a graph tech nut and D'Addario strings already on it. Probably a much better block as well.
@@SeasonedSalmon I have a 5 grand custom designed by me guitar , sir. I’m talking about a fair comparison😊👍🏿
The 66 DLX Plus Goldtop in my avatar is an incredible guitar. It needed nothing but tuning up when I got it. Literally nothing. Fret ends were rounded off and frets level. It was intonated. Action was perfect for me. It was obviously set up by a pro like they said they are. I absolutely love this guitar. Especially now that it has a Seymour Duncan Alnico 5 '59 Model in the bridge. It matches up with the neck pickup a lot better than the stock alnico 5 bridge pickup did.
U could open a beer with either one of those headstocks
I would have watched this sooner, but Andy took Forever!
And yet again, sending us to other social media that some of us avoid.
you don't have to participate in the giveaway.
@@60CycleHumcast Well, gee, I guess I won't.
For me, half the point of buying a cheap guitar is to change the pickups, maybe the pickguard, repaint it. I wouldn’t do that with a more expensive guitar.
I wonder if Blind Boy Fuller or Champion Jack Dupree or Gutbucket Johnson ever did one of these videos?
Thank you for actual honest reviews... I have to stop following those channels that are always like "this is just like n American Strat", they are purpously being misleading :P
i need an AFFORD-A-JAZZMASTER/JAGUAR series.
Cut the saddle springs in half for the low E and G strings.
Good idea
For an extra $100, you could throw some pretty decent pickups in the Indio.
Strat trem arms - (not many people know this): there should be a little coil spring that you drop in the hole before screwing the arm in. This should (and does) hold the arm in any position you leave it. No need for plumbers tape! www.wdmusic.co.uk/genuine-fender-c22/genuine-fender-bridge-parts-c23/fender-trem-arm-tension-spring-1-of-p140
I luv luv luv the color of the indio.cant find it anywhere. Bought something else.Luv that color.best sounding color for sure.
I'd love to see you do a white Donner strat, so that I could hopefully win it and I don't have to buy it myself...
I like the yellow donner strat, kinda like the fender buttercream color.
I think the Indio is Gorgeous. I'm sure somewhere out there is another maker with a similar blue burst but I've not seen it. Closest fender I've seen is a $1700 American professional 2 in Miami Blue and it's not a burst. I've seen the vid reviews and of how well it plays and sounds in the hands of talented folks so after a year I bought myself one for my birthday. That triggered me buying the positive grid spark amp and I've been having a ball with it.
"Now let's talk about these nuts," he said. Classic.
"I dont like either of these headstocks." LOL...neither do I, but the Indio can be reshaped into that famous brand we all know and love. Thanks for your honesty, Ryan.
FYI Monoprice's ACTUAL $200 guitars are better quality than the blue $99 guitar you have here. You should've purchased their actual $180-200 guitar and done a fair comparison. My guitar was $219 from them and it blows that $99 model away. It won't touch my Indio Goldtop.
Can you throw in Old Bay Seasoning?
Ryan, you're so wrong on the headstocks. Have you NO imagination? The EART allows a sawblade to be inserted and I can saw off small limbs, or perhaps even scythe an alfalfa field. And the Indio headstock - PERFECT for a beer-cap flipper. If you ever break off a pop-top, grab the Indio and voila! You've got your beer-can opener! You lack imagination, fella! Great review and thanks for the time.
Harley Benton st20, with shipping to the USA should still land under $200 and would be interesting in a "versus" video. 😎👍
The ST62 is the way to go, a much better guitar for not a lot more $$$$!
Just bought the Indio....$79 on sale..Free FedEx shipping and a gig bag. How are they making any money?
Gig bag is probably worth nothing and the guitar probably costs like twenty bucks per unit in bulk
I tried dealing with Monoprice, but they refused to send to my address. I live on Redbud Road, but they kept changing it to Redbud Street. There is a Redbud Street, but it is 4 miles NE of my address. We have had the people on Redbud Street bring our packages that were delivered to their address. I guess the company didn't believe I knew where I have lived for 33 years.
Great job and good comparison.
For me, It is impossible to find a guitar (within a budget) that checks any or all the boxes. In years past I would buy an inexpensive guitar with an alder or ash body and tear it apart making it my own. The reason for that, is that at the time I did not know how to paint a guitar and I could never find the paint job, the neck or the pickups that I liked all in one guitar even at the high end levels without breaking the bank.
The only comfortable necks for me are soft V and mid sixties C. MODERN C OR D SHAPED NECKS NEVER FELT RIGHT TO ME! The bad thing is that no one makes guitars with soft V necks at the affordable price point and or has decent pups to boot...yet all the professional musicians (save a few) that I have played with over the years all use soft V or something a little thicker and everyone of them also upgrade their pickups regardless of the cost.
I have played on stage for over forty years and there are only few types of pickups that work for me i.e. Fender pure vintage 59's, 54's, 57 reissue (which can only be obtained on a custom shop strat), Texas specials and last but not least EMG DG20's.
I also change the bridge and saddles as well as the wiring harness. After that my custom made parts-caster is still cheaper, plays and looks better than many of the high end counter parts available today.
So, these days after years of research, screw ups and practice I build and paint/relic guitars for me, my buddies and their friends. So, when all is said and done, we get what we want and still don't have to pay a premium price for it. If you are a beginner there has never been a better time to buy cheap guitars than now. Eart, Indio, Slick (user alder and ash) and Xavier are your best bet...avoid the popular name brands as they have become very pricey and use a lot of crappy materials or better yet learn to build your own. PEACE.
The nut on the Indo did not look like it was straight on the neck (perpendicular). It looks like it's at a slight angle.
Keep the Blue one . Swap the pickups and Bridge with the Eart.
I bought a 10 yr old an Indio strat. I’m curious
Monoprice has a quilted maple LP-style guitar with black burst on sale for 159. If it's anything like my Goldtop from them, it's an incredible guitar. Or try the one in my avatar, the 66 DLX *Plus.* The quilted top is only a 66 DLX. That's not a cheap gig bag. Unpadded nylon is cheap.
The frets ends on my Goldtop came rounded off and frets level. Already intonated. It also has a REAL bone nut and Alnico 5 hb's. It sounds great. Came with D'addario strings. It's a great guitar overall.
exaggerated amplified
enlarged magnified
overstated inflated
hyperbolized excessive
overblown extravagant
EART SSS...I love my EART SSS and I have Select Strats.
Now I can take my EART to gig and not worry about some punk walking away with on of my Select Strats.
The Indeo dose sound out of phase I bet there might be a wiring issue. The bridge could be swapped out. Bother guitars look and sound cool.
You should double-up your shootouts ... add in a loaded pickguard swap from guitar to guitar and see how the 'better tones' follow with the pickguard pickups and harness controls or the rest of the guitar like the bridge/"wood"/etc. You'll need a solder step or use automotive style crimp connector plugs to facilitate the swap. Where does the cheapness live? Where does the cheapness not matter? You'll need to ensure pickup height adjustments are the same (either physically or 'by ear' because often you can lower ceramic magnet pickups to sound like alnico rod magnet pickups). ...Also try to figure out their business model, like how Harley Benton vs Glarry vs Firefly have different middlemen they cut out to lower the prices: HB dumps the big brand owner, Firefly seems to be investors buying guitars in batches to sell direct via Amazon, Glarry seems to be direct from the factory to the consumer via Amazon.
Just clip some off of the bridge springs.
When you described the pickups, actually you described what I heard. So the recording was good. I prefer the Eart, the pickups are lower output, mellower, softer, warmer. Normally I would not like that but compared to the other guitar which seemed quite harsh to me (on all positions) I really liked them. Especially when you're into a tube amp and have a drive pedal, it gets a really cool bluesy and grungey sort of old-school tone I really like. I'd go Eart based on that, plus the bridge on the other looks as bad as the bridge on a Cort or Squire Bullet. Ugh. Would need to change that and pickups, plus u said the plastic is cheap etc and seems the tuners are best on the Eart, seems like a no-brainer.
Love the channel, but yeah he compared the wrong Monoprice. Should have compared the Monoprice DLX for a real comparison. Oh well, someone got a decent beginner guitar. Still a fun video though.
This is my 24 volt peddle assist shimano 21 speed friction 26" mountain bike. All my own idea from concept to finish. I like monoprice guitars and happen to love that headstock
I am not very tech savvy how do you leave photos?
Yeah, that blue is definitely your color, Ryan. I actually thought of you the first time I saw one of those. You did have a decent quack in position #2. The one thing I will say, is that the difference is $100, and for that I can get a Wilkinson locking trem and a set of decent alnico pickups. Ijs.
You should be comparing the Cali DLX!
Do an sx strat from rondo music. They are REALLY good.
I bet like all budget guitars some are good, some are bad , some are terrible and one in a hundred will be great because of the variations in manufacturing, wood choice/treatment, assembly accuracy, quality control and care taken in packaging and shipping.
Anyone know the exact size of the nut on the cali classic? I ordered a strat nut and it's too short. Seems like I need a strat nut close to 42×3x5? The strat nut I got is around 4mm tall, not tall enough to get strings off frets.
Please also try
HardLuck kings and Guitar fetish!
HLK sucks, and they are a bunch of a holes to deal with.
@@popsfereal i don’t own one but I do have a guitar fetish gold top and it’s honestly amazing straight out of the box other than the strings.
Eart's SS strat DOES NOT have stainless frets, they got called out on it and had to update the website.
the maple fretboard is more brittle earl slick swamp ash strat would kill them both easily
Why am I always getting notified AFTER a contests ends and not before?
I personally wouldn't bother with Eart/Indio/Glarry when the Squires and Harley Bentons kick their buts. It's hard to beat Squire at the moment, especially since they cover all price points.
Except the Squier Affinity is 150 dollars more than the Indio. The Glarry is junk.
The Haley Benton cost a lot more too.
Have you compared the HB to an eart? I havent played a HB low end strat yet. It's hard to imagine it being much better than the eart.
I suggest a better more fair comparison for the Eart would be a Slick strat style guitar sold by Guitarfetish. I enjoy your videos keep up the great work!
The slicks are above the price range im shooting for, hoping to not pay much more than $200 per guitar, I have a GFS Xavier strat on the way though (in gold) that was $200 even before shipping.
A Tik Tok Indio and Eart in every American pot!
Bought an EART SSS sunburst thru Amazon but sent it back, mainly because it had a cheaper bridge on it than shown in the product page photos. The bridge left a corner of the trem cavity exposed which was quite annoying. Currently test driving an Indio Cali Classic sunburst which has a cheaper trem but at less that half the price, I expected that. It leaves me money to upgrade the bridge. BTW, I looked a replacement bridge for the EART before I sent it back but couldn't find one that would fit, bummer. It was a screw spacing problem.
Quality wise, the EART was better in almost all respects. However, the more I played on that variable radius neck and fingerboard the less I liked it. Not sure why. I didn't like the sound of the pickups either although 60 Cycle Hum prefers the EART sound. (Thinking back on it, it could have been the strings, but probably not.) Nor did I like the matte finish on the body. I didn't like the look of the EART's tuners but I'll admit they worked very well. And while I like the idea of a truss rod wheel overall it detracts from the appearance of the guitar. Speaking of appearances, the mismatches in the white plastic parts along with the green toned pick guard also detracted from the overall effect.
Incidentally, my EART's setup was nearly not up to expectations. The low E buzzed right out of the box. Playing on the strings that came with the guitar turned my fingertips black. Worse yet, the fingerboard was so heavily painted or stained you couldn't tell whether it was wood or wood product. There was no sign of wood grain that I could see. I soon had to wonder whether the black on my fingertips was coming from the strings or the fingerboard. At some point, I didn't really want to know and that was another reason I sent it back.
BTW, the EART SSS was also quite heavy. They advertise a two piece mahogany body which seemed to be an accurate description. My Cali Classic is made of much lighter basswood. Weight was also a factor in my decision to return the EART and is one of the best features of the Cali Classic.
Everything about the Cali Classic screams budget guitar but it's playable and I've felt it to be a more satisfactory playing experience. The EART may had a slightly higher pleasure factor when it comes to the physical sensations of holding and playing the guitar but not enough to outweigh the problems I had with the neck, fingerboard, and pickups.
My Cali Classic's action is too high due to setup and a tall nut. After that the worst thing about it is that only takes the slightest touch to accidently turn the volume knob. The knob has no resistance at all. I've read this problem can be fixed with a homemade foam washer. It's definitely not the better made guitar, but overall I like it much better for the price. It included a padded gig bag and a guitar cable which really helped to make it a better buying experience.
(11/27/2022)
Isn't the indio headstock supposed to be a wave ?
I've been looking at unique shaped guitars, trying to find brands with mid range guitars that have weird aesthetics. I'm really wanting a Vox Phantom or Teardrop type, but anything strange, like what Guild with have sometimes... would do
D'Angelico used to make a teardrop style solid body, you can find them used on Reverb
@@mindfall82 I believe Dangelico makes the ones that look like a droopy Les Paul, I'm thinking more Brian Jones style, the Vox thing. Did they do those?
@@retromacman620 no just the droopy looking ones
@@mindfall82 meh, I like weird guitars, but I feel like that one is a bit of a lazy design
i bought the monoprice Indio retro classic telecaster style guitar it is a good guitar i was expecting less but for a cheap cheap guitar i cant falt it
Also have you ever considered wax potting your cheap PUPs. I think that will make an interesting before and after.
Curious if you would do the Harley Benton Strat?
I have a US strat & tele, but play my Indio cali classic (black). I love it. $99 bux & sometimes on sale for $80.