Fans of offset guitars like the Fender Jazzmaster have a lot of reasons to be happy nowadays. Even just 20 years ago there were few options other than expensive Fender Custom Shop Jazzmasters, but the modern guitarist now has dozens of Jazzmaster clones to play with. Take the Indio (by Monoprice) Offset OS40 DLX Plus — at just $200, the Indio promises to pack a ton of offset appeal at a very low price. Is this affordable Jazzmaster clone a great find, or simply a fail? And how does it compare to a real Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster? We aim to find out — and make sure to check out our No Fear Gear video for a detailed demo!

Indio by Monoprice Offset OS40 DLX Plus — Specs ’n Stuff

Monoprice Indio Series, 6-String Offset DLX Plus Alder Electric Guitar - Right Handed

$249.99

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A quick glance at the Indio OS40 DLX Plus tells you we’re working with a Jazzmaster clone, and closer inspection offers some surprises considering we’re in the $200 price range. Just like the original Fender Jazzmasters, the Indio OS40 boasts a real alder body, maple neck, and rosewood fretboard instead of the budget tonewoods found on many guitars in this class. As to be expected on a modern budget guitar, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus is finished in durable polyurethane, not the nitrocellulose lacquer finish found on vintage Fender Jazzmasters.
Where the Indio OS40 DLX Plus truly departs from the classic Jazzmaster formula is with its pickups and electronics. Here you’ll find an aggressive pair of P-90 “soapbar” pickups in lieu of the wide-bobbin, narrow-aperture Jazzmaster pickups found on original specimens — expect the Indio OS40 DLX Plus to deliver a bit more output with more midrange bark and bite than a traditional Jazzmaster. You’ll also notice that the infamous Rhythm circuit is nowhere to be found, and we suspect that most offset fans won’t miss it.

Indio Offset OS40 DLX Plus Full Specs

Offset alder body with gloss polyurethane finish
Maple neck with “C” profile
Rosewood fretboard with 22 frets (2.3mm frets, roughly “medium jumbo”)
350mm fretboard radius, much flatter than vintage Jazzmasters
Dual P-90 “soapbar” single-coil pickups and 3-way pickup selector switch
Floating vibrato tailpiece for expressive bends and warbles
Vintage-style rocker bridge with rounded saddles

Something that surprises me… is that it has a traditional Jazzmaster-style bridge on it: usually the budget offsets throw a Tune-O-Matic on there. I think this might be the cheapest guitar I’ve come across that has the traditional bridge that rocks in the thimbles, which gives you the tuning stability with the offset trem. — @60CycleHumcast

This will take gain in a really nice way! — @JayLeonardJ

Does the Indio OS40 DLX Plus Sound Like a Jazzmaster?

The classic Jazzmaster sound is big, rich, and open, with very distinct sonic profiles for each of the three pickup switch positions. The well-balanced Jazzmaster voice has been shaped to suit a wide range of musical styles, but always manages to retain its delightfully thick-yet-somewhat-hollow tonality. So how does the Indio OS40 DLX Plus sound compared to a real Jazzmaster?
The most important thing to know is that the Indio packs a pair of P-90 soapbar pickups, which are a distinct departure from traditional Jazzmaster pickups. P-90 pickups are known for their barky, midrange-focused grind, as well as their hotter output compared to traditional single-coil pickups. This gives the Indio OS40 DLX Plus a punchy, growling character that is perfect for coaxing some crunch out of your amp’s clean channel. Lower your volume control or dial back your amp and the Indio OS40 DLX Plus cleans up very sweetly, especially in the middle position. While the sound isn’t what you would expect from a traditional Jazzmaster, it is exactly what you could expect from a Jazzmaster modded with P-90 pickups — a big, full sound that’s ready to rock.

Barkier, more mid-pushed, more aggressive. — @60CycleHumcast

That makes it more of a rock guitar. — @JayLeonardJ

While the Indio OS40 DLX Plus is quite capable of convincing Jazzmaster-clone tones through a clean amp with a bit of spring reverb, it really comes into its own when you turn up the gain. The aforementioned P-90 pickups really like gain, and their plucky character really encourages you to play dynamically. With a tube amp or a good overdrive pedal set to the edge of breakup, you can go from velvety cleans to biting drive with just your pick attack.

Indio OS40 DLX Plus — Build Quality and Playability

As noted earlier, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus sports an impressive specs list for a $200 guitar. Real alder is used for the body, favored among tone aficionados for its resonant, well-balanced tonality with a bit of an upper-midrange push. The maple neck is topped with real rosewood, another surprise at this price point. As would be expected, the nut material is ABS plastic in lieu of more expensive bone or TUSQ, but this could easily be upgraded at your local guitar shop if desired.
As we move to the bridge and tailpiece, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus continues to impress. Practically every Jazzmaster clone you find in this price range will be equipped with a generic Tune-O-Matic bridge with blade saddles — not this one though. The Indio OS40 DLX Plus features a vintage-style rocker bridge with rounded saddles, just like original Jazzmaster models. When set up correctly the rocker bridge makes the tremolo arm action much smoother, and helps your strings return to pitch more accurately. The rocker bridge and floating vibrato tailpiece play a huge role in a Jazzmaster’s core tonality, so we’re pleased to see the Indio staying true to form here.

I’m actually impressed with the trem unit on here! — @60CycleHumcast

Compared to traditional Jazzmasters with a 7.25-inch or 9.5-inch fretboard radius, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus features a much flatter fretboard radius (approximately 14 inches), lending it a fast and modern feel. The nut width and scale length will be familiar to any Jazzmaster fan, and the C-shaped neck profile feels appropriately comfortable.
When it comes to overall attention to detail and setup, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus passes inspection surprisingly well for a $200 guitar. We found no rough fret ends, nor any obvious finish blemishes that are common on low-end guitars. The overall setup was quite playable, but certainly did not feel like it was fine-tuned to any degree. With a few minor tweaks to the truss rod and saddle positions, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus could certainly give more expensive guitars a run for their money.

Make the Indio OS40 DLX Plus Your ModMaster (JazzModster?)

It’s no secret that inexpensive guitars are a modder’s delight, and the Indio OS40 DLX Plus gives you a solid starting point to make it your own. A set of inexpensive vintage-style tuners would be aesthetically appropriate and would help tuning stability as well. Upgrading the nut to bone or TUSQ would be a smart move for any guitar with a plastic nut, and particularly for any Jazzmaster with a tremolo arm: a premium nut will make the guitar sound better and help the trem work more smoothly.
In a way, the Indio OS40 is already pre-modded — plenty of guitarists have loaded their Jazzmaster with P-90 pickups, removed the rhythm circuit completely, and never looked back. The growing availability of aftermarket Jazzmaster parts gives you plenty of options for making the Indio OS40 your own, but you can leave it as-is and enjoy a hot-rodded Jazzmaster right out of the box.

How Does the Indio OS40 Compare to a Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster?

Luckily, our No Fear Guide @JayLeonardJ brought his own $5,900 Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster to our video demo to truly put the Indio OS40 DLX Plus to the test. It wouldn’t be completely wrong to consider this an unfair comparison: Fender Custom Shop guitars are handcrafted by some of the best luthiers on the planet and set up to Fender’s exacting specifications. Beyond that, the huge difference in price also accounts for premium components throughout. In other words, the Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster should make the Indio OS40 DLX Plus sound like a pale imitation — but does it?
Compared to Jay’s Fender Jazzmaster, the Indio OS40 delivers much of the characteristic tonality we’re looking for in a Jazzmaster clone. In the middle position, chords sound lush and full with a well-balanced character. The bridge pickup sounds twangy and hollow, and the neck pickup sounds throaty and vocal-like. Compared to traditional Jazzmaster pickups, the Indio’s P-90 pickups definitely sound like we’d expect: growling, ready to push your amp into overdrive, and focused on the midrange in a pleasingly aggressive way.

So while we can’t expect P-90 pickups to sound like traditional Jazzmaster pickups, we can say that the Indio OS40 focuses the traditional Jazzmaster voice into a rock-oriented growl that still retains the wide, open sound that players expect from a Jazzmaster.

Video thumbnail: Cheap VS. Expensive Jazzmaster Challenge — Indio Jazzmaster compare with a Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster

As far as playability, it’s definitely not fair to compare the Custom Shop Jazzmaster with the Indio OS40. The former has been set up by hand by a master luthier to exacting specifications, while the latter has been set up to be playable but not fine-tuned for optimal playability. The reality is that with mass-produced guitars like the Indio, the important thing is that they be built well enough that they can be set up properly after purchase: you simply shouldn’t expect a top-quality setup on a $200 guitar. The Indio definitely passes the test here: other than a tweak to the truss rod and some action adjustments, we couldn’t find anything to complain about.

You could play this guitar, or you could do some work on it and set it up, and make it play the way that you want — it’s totally a playable guitar. — @60CycleHumcast

Speaking of truss rod adjustments, this is one area where we actually prefer the modern design of the Indio OS40 compared to vintage Jazzmasters — truss rod accessibility. It’s bad enough that Fender thought players wouldn’t mind removing the neck to access the truss rod on the original Jazzmasters — even worse that modern incarnations like the Custom Shop model retain this design in the name of authenticity. In our humble opinion, pretty much any guitar will benefit from truss rod adjustments throughout its lifespan. The Indio’s modern truss rod access point at the headstock is a welcome feature on any Jazzmaster.

Along with the pickups, the iconic floating vibrato bridge is a distinguishing characteristic of the Jazzmaster, and the $5,900 Custom Shop Jazzmaster shows us exactly what it should feel like: smooth, subtle, expressive, and responsive. Compared to the Custom Shop model the Indio definitely feels stiffer and a bit more reactive, pretty much on par with most aftermarket JM tremolos on the market. Some players go to the effort of compressing the tremolo’s spring in a vise to help loosen it up and soften the action, but this will happen naturally over time the more you play anyway. We can say that while the Indio OS40 doesn’t feel as smooth and fluttery as the Custom Shop Jazzmaster, it definitely gets the job done. As mentioned, we’d expect that any minor pitch issues when using the tremolo could be solved by a professional setup and possibly a nut upgrade.

Indio OS40 DLX Plus — An Affordable Jazzmaster Clone with Modding Potential

To sum it up, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus gives you a lot of guitar for only $200. Right out of the box, it stands out in its class for good playability and good craftsmanship. The electronics package is a departure from the traditional Jazzmaster configuration, with P-90 pickups that replace jazzy pluck with a growling punch. You could leave it as-is and have a great guitar for rock, alternative, punk, and surf styles, or mod it to suit whatever style you choose. However we played it, the Indio OS40 DLX Plus managed to deliver the core experience that players look for in a good Jazzmaster clone.