Johnson JG-610-N

Made in China, 1999(?). The neck has a rounded fingerboard with 20 thin frets. The body and neck are mahogony with a Chinese spruce solid-top with natural finish. It's a dreadnaught body with what looks like straight-bracing (I'm not too familiar with acoustic guitar building, so that's what I'm guessing it is). It has a fixed bridge with compensating saddle. The tuners are Kluson-style gears. It has your generic single-ply teardrop pickguard.

I'm told the strings are Martin, and it has a nice tone. It covers the range of round lows up to bright highs. I was very impressed with the range it could get, and even more so, the volume. This thing is LOUD when you hammer on it. I bought it for practice and learning, and I didn't expect much. But it has a nice sound - I might even be willing to play it in public!

Here's the downside. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the neck and the frets. There's a huge scar starting after the second fret along the edge of the neck going all the way up the fingerboard. A few of the frets on that side have dried glue showing. The opposite edge seems OK, but the frets have sharp edges. Playing it doesn't cut your hand, but if you grabbed the neck hard and pulled your hand down it, you'd come up with a bloody palm. There was a loose dollop of glue on the end of the headstock, but I've managed to scrape that (mostly) off without compromising the finish. The dots on the fingerboard "bleed" color. Then there's the nut, which hardly seems to be cut. And since the strings were loosey-goosey when I unboxed it, the truss rod isn't set right which has the action raised very high (but not unplayably so). I need to adjust that still. OTHER than all that, it looks beautiful sitting in the corner. The natural finish on the top really shows off the grain and the black finish on the rest is flawless.

I think that if you feel a dreadnaught will survive live, then this one will, too. The strap button at the base is metal. It actually was a bit loose, causing it to twist, but a quick adjustment with a Phillips-head screwdriver took care of that. It feels as solid as any acoustic I've picked up. And for what I paid, it wouldn't be too bad a loss if it got trashed, and I could easily pick up another without breaking the bank!

I don't think I even know where to find those guys. It has a three-year warranty, though. I guess I need to find the paperwork it came with!

As a raw novice, I bought this thing to pound on and not feel too bad when it wore out. Hopefully by the time that happens, I'll be ready to use a better quality instrument and will buy accordingly. But if you need something to leave lying around to practice or compose on, you can't go wrong with a Johnson. If you need a spare acoustic to knock around on, why pay more? Just don't expect a Martin D-28 for $79!

Acoustic six string dreadnaught with Nato laminate back and sides and probably a Nato neck; the fretboard is rosewood. The N at the end of the model number indicates a natural Spruce laminate soundboard. These also come in Black and Blueburst (which generally go for a little more money). It has enclosed tuners, and a teardrop shape pickguard. Mine came with Gibson strings, which sounded nice.

The guitar has a very bright sound, especially for a Dreadnaught. This could be, in part, due to the Gibson strings which I am told are bright to begin with. I also am wondering about the soundboard, because it does not look like any Spruce soundboard I've seen; it looks like Ash (Very light with a wide grain). This guitar is almost exactly like my Fender DG-9 (Nato w/Spruce top). When I compared them side to side, I thought the Johnson sounded better. I must say the strings on my Fender were ~2 months old and the Johnson had new Gibsons.

The guitar was setup quite well, with action as low as I've seen on an acoustic. It is very easy to play. Even after I paid $40 to have a luthier replace a broken nut and lower the action on my $190 Fender, it still was not as playable as this Johnson.

Seems as durable as any other acoustic guitar. The covered tuners seem sturdy. I don't know what else could go wrong.

It came with a two year manufacturer's warranty. Thats about all I know.

I bought this guitar for a friend. I felt confident buying the Johnson because I already owned a Johnson Telecaster Copy (JT-100), which I was very impressed with (read my review). I can tell you I was not disappointed. Johnson has long been a maker of dobros and resinator guitars, and they seem to be expanding into the foreign made guitar arena. They are doing it right. I am now anxious to checkout their Strat knockoff (JS-100). They also have an electric/acoustic bass that looks interesting.

6-string dreadnaught with fully adjustable neck.
This is a very nice-sounding guitar, good for playing many different kinds of music at the beginner level. My only complaint would be that the strings are quite close together, which makes fingerpicking somewhat tricky. (It might make chord fingerings hard, too, but I'm a mandolin player with small fingers, so I'm used to that.)

I play with three other guys--an Ovation and two Martins. When we play acoustics, we do not use amps. We play everything from folk (acoustic Dylan, Fairport Convention, etc.) to rock (Oasis, U2, Stones) on acoustics. The Johnson does not sound -quite- as good as the Martins, but then again I probably paid less than a third the price of those instruments, too.
Anyone with experience who has heard my guitar is amazed at the fullness of the sound coming out of it. It does not sound like a guitar someone paid $60 for on Ebay. The bass notes are particularly full.

In addition to the minor complaint I have about the nearness of the strings to one another, I would add that one or two of the tuning pegs were slightly loose.

I have no idea how long this guitar will last--I bought it thinking that I'd use it to practice, moving to better models by the time this one wore out. (But I've come to love the sound so much that I'm hoping to hang onto it for quite a while...)

Came with a 2-year warranty. Never needed to use it.

I'm a mandolin player who needed a cheap guitar I could play when I'm alone. But I've started playing guitar more in our informal weekly jam sessions simply because I love to play this guitar.
Its sound definitely holds its own with models costing three times as much. If I lost this guitar, I'd replace it in a heartbeat, and I have recommended it to anyone who was interested in getting started. (A friend of mine is an audiophile and a fairly accomplished electric guitarist in a local band--he has never heard an acoustic he likes better, and he's getting one for himself.)
Bottom line: this model gives you great sound for not alot of money.