Italia Monza

Made in 2005, I suppose, in some Asian land. No serial number or label identifing place of manufacture. It's a 22-fret solid-body that looks a bit like a molten Strat as designed by Fellini. Strat pickup layout with three single-coils and five-way switch but just one volume and one tone. Unlike most Strats it has a practice amp clipped onto the output jack, with a tone and volume knob. Fun! I can't begin to imagine what sort of wood this was made from, as the finish is thick and gaudy. Neck is totally smoothly coated as well, with no visible truss rod adjustment. I guess it's accessed by removing the neck. This is a very poor solution to neck adjustment but mine happened to come with the proper relief. Wilkinson floating tremolo, medium-biggish (for a Strat) neck with a fretboard that is not as radiused as a typical Fender. I'd guess an 11-inch radium. Graphite nut. Finish is sparkle blue on top, with a creamy backside and mother-of-Vegas pickguard and headstock veneer, big chrome badges, and interesting gold piping (not really binding) over the places where the sparkle top joins the cream back. I knock off points for the hidden truss rod nut, and add points for the good bridge and Gotoh tuners. And one nore point for including an amplifier, which admittedly can be called a feature.

My style? Um, I suppose it could be called "indie" in that it's original songs that have pretty clean parts and also have parts that have to be sludgey and heavy, and a few that that involve fuzzboxes and envelope filters and a theremin in the mix. The sound is a very normal Strat sound, AFTER work (see Action, Fit & Finish, below). The number two position is really nice, and it is not noisy at all for this type of guitar. There is nothing particularly memorable about the sound: if you like a guitar with three single coils and a five-way switch, you'll like it. It is certianly not inferior to a Strat in sound, though maybe some of the high-end ones with the new "noisless" pickups or some Duncan vintage designs would sound richer. The built-in, clip-on amp is fun. Sounds like an old AM radio but is sort of useful and might be fun for some recording stuff.

Worst setup ever. The fit and finish are actually fantastic, right up there with a normal US guitar. Nice fretwork, smooth cut on the fretboard where it meets the body, smooth finish, very swanky. There is a visible seam where the body was joined from two pieces of wood (offset, not down the middle) and the pickguard is a little tiny bit warped. But the action was sky-high, and angle of the bridge was all wrong even with the flimsy, dead .009's that came on it. The intonation was completely random and the guitar was essentially unplayable until I put .010s on, got the bridge height right, then the action, then the intonation. On an instrument with a floating bridge, this takes some time. Also the bridge pickup was EXTREMELY weak, even raised all the way up. At the local shop they tested it and agreed that it was nearly dead, in terms of ourptu, so we found something rattling under the bench that was far hotter (maybe a Duncan, maybe a Chinese toy pickup, who knows?) and the guitar came back to life in the number one and two selector switch positions. But the setup, aside from neck relief, were shockingly bad, and it was delivered with a pickup that was anemic, to put it mildly.

It seems sturdy. I put straplocks on it. Tuners and bridge are good quality and there is a massive amount of wood on it so I guess it's a sturdy as any guitar and chunkier than most.

Been playing for 20 years I suppose, though I've been playing bass for longer and never have taken guitar too seriously. I've played for big crowds and toured and had a record deal but a lot of terrible musicians have done that, too. I play though a Yamaha DG Stomp and an Effector 13 Soda Meiser into an old Yamaha 100-watt combo. Also have a G&L F-100 and a no-name hollowbody with humbuckers that plays smoove like buttah for reasons I cannot discern. I actually would buy another if it were stolen, but I'd insist that the the music store do a real, thorough setup and I'd play the heck out of it to be sure the pickups were functioning. It's a great glam-punk-surf alterntaive to the Stratocaster clones, but what happened between spraying on the beautiful metalflake paint and assembling it? Sheesh.

SSS pickups, great tremolo, 5-way selector switch, one tone and one volume knob. Also has detachable amp that connects to the output jack.
Mine is the red one, which can be seen at italiaguitars.com.

I love the sound of this guitar. This will give you all the Fender quack you want, if you want it, but the pickups are great, almost noiseless as far as most sc's that I have had the pleasure of knowing, and allow for versatility.

This is easily the most playable guitar I've ever owned or played. I might just have been lucky, I mean, who knows, but this guitar arrived ready to play. Perfectly intonated--and has stayed that way.

The guitar's one drawback--FOR ME--is that it is a bit on the heavy side, but it's heavy because it has been built to sustain AND to hold up under any kind of rugged handling it might encounter. I simply do not want to live in a world where this guitar could be easily destroyed. :-)

Haven't needed any support.

If you like unique, you will love the Monza. These guitars are like retro works of art.