Johnson JH-440B

This is a review of a new Chinese-made Johnson JH-440, black finish, hollow-body archtop guitar. I might update this review later since I've only had limited experience with it so far. The main purpose of this review is to give Johnson Guitars SERIOUS props for their customer service.

Basic features - two Johnson/EMG passive alnico humbuckers, 21(?) frets, not sure what size. I think jumbo? Rosewood fretboard. Basic two-humbucker setup, two volume knobs, two tone. I guess you could say Les Paul style. Floating bridge, fully adjustable.

I'll give it an 8 because the tuners kinda worry me. They are definitely cheap and will need to be replaced sooner or later. Well...let's say sooner, actually.

I play rock n roll, blues, some occasional country, and a lot of slide guitar.

So far it sounds great, at least after I set it up. Alnico pickups, in my opinion, can't be beat, and for the price it's a damn good deal to get two of them. It's got a very rich, deep tone to it plugged in. the neck pick up has that awesome bluesy tone to it, and the bridge has just the right amount of twang and bite to it for country, rockabilly, straight up rock n roll, or whatever. I haven't really cranked it up or tried it with effects yet, though I've heard feedback can be a problem when it gets loud...although, who doesn't like some screaming feedback once in a while? ;) Played a little slide on it, which sounds equally wonderful, although if you're gonna play slide you almost have to use the neck pickup exclusively.

Unplugged it's no Martin, but it's got a good sound to it. Projects pretty well considering it's only got the two F-holes, one of which is mostly covered by the pickguard. The tone of it...I almost want to use it for bluegrass alongside a banjo and mandolin. It's got sort of a tinny feel, but not in a bad way at all. Fingerpick it, you'll see what I mean.

I give it a 10. The sound was very good even before I set it up, but once I raised the action and got it intonated...WOW!!

Terrible, terrible, terrible setup from the factory. Action was super-low and they put these light strings on it that I could floss my teeth with. BUT, that is to be expected. Pickups obviously were adjusted (for the most part) according to the crappy action. Seriously though, if you ORDER a guitar instead of buying it in a shop and it's anything but a high-end American made, you had better expect to be doing a setup. The factory folks don't give a crap about setting up your guitar for you. Hell, they probably don't even know how. So it was pretty much what I expected. I put some GHS 11's on it and raised the action and now it's great.

Everything else is very good. Quality everything. Nice-looking finish, well-done binding, dead quiet electronics - everything very good quality. I'll give it a 9, because the action/setup is pretty much what I expected and the looks and finish are much more.

This is one I just can't rate yet. Feels solid enough, but we'll see.

I ordered this guitar about three weeks ago from Elevation Music (www.elevation-music.com). When I received the guitar, it was cosmetically very different from the JH-440 shown on the Johnson website. I had read a recent review of this guitar here on Harmony Central saying that there were some big improvements in quality and sound made to the guitar from previous years' models. Based on what my guitar looked like I was afraid I'd received an older model.

I contacted Elevation Music, who got in touch with Johnson Guitars. Music Link - the company that manufactures and distributes the JH-440 for Johnson - called me directly to work out a solution. They offered to exchange my guitar at no cost to me - send UPS to pick it up, ship a new one out from the factory, etc. - if I had in fact received the wrong guitar. After some discussion with the very friendly and knowledgeable rep, they assured me I did have the right guitar based on the kind of pickups that are in it.

NOTE: ALL new JH-440's are constructed with the same parts and materials. The only difference between the newer models and the older models is the pickups. They're now putting EMG-designed alnico humbuckers in them. Older versions did not have alnico pickups. So don't worry if yours doesn't look exactly like the picture on the Johnson website. As long as those pickups say "Johnson/EMG" on them, you're set.

Anyway, the point is Johnson/Music Link was GREAT through the whole thing. They answered all my questions, offered to do whatever they could do to make me happy, and reassured me that I got what I wanted and would help me in the future if I had any questions. Elevation Music was excellent too. They have a live, on-line customer service rep who you can talk to through Yahoo Messenger if you have questions about anything. It's wonderful.

After dealing with companies like Fender, Boss/Roland, Electro-Harmonix and such that don't seem to give two sh!ts about you or your questions, this was a welcome change. Thank you Johnson, thank you Music Link, thank you Elevation Music. You guys are the example everyone should follow. If I could give you a rating of 386, I would.

I've been playing about ten years. I have a lot of gear (effects-wise) that I mix and match. I mainly play a Pignose G40V tube amp through a 2x12 cab and old-school-type effects. Sometimes I screw around with one of those little Smokey Amps.

Overall, I'll give this guitar a 9. They could put better tuners on it - that's a big deal to me because I hate having to spend $50 to upgrade the tuners on every damn guitar I buy.

But just the way it sounds, it's taking a seat right next to my Nashville Tele and they'll just have to duke it out for my time. I already love playing this guitar. If someone stole it, they'd better have the good sense to flee the country, 'cause I'm hunting them down. Or I guess I would buy another. I bought it because I wanted a little deep bluesy butter for slide and I got a whole lot more, plus great customer service.

This guitar is a close look-a-like to the Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II. It has a very nice glossy black finish with all the pin strip trimmings, gold colored parts.2 humbuckers,2 volume and 2 tone controls, pickup switch, f holes and is a true hollow-body, (no center block). I bought this guitar from Mandalay Music for $249.50.

I also own a lot of other guitars, in 1980 I purchased a brand new Gibson ES-355 TDSV and this Johnson guitar seems to have the deep blues tone I was always looking for, it is very sensitive to how you pick the note and lets that sound come out through the amp, very mellow and rich sound.

For a 250.00 guitar I think everything is pretty good. It reminds me of back in the 70's when I use to buy those Les Paul Custom look-a-like guitars for about $150.00. They looked beautiful, then you add some Dimarzio pickups and a few other up-grades and you had a good sounding guitar at a very good price. The action on this Johnson guitar was a little high and it has no top strap button, but I have easily fixed this myself.

I think it will last about as long as any of my les Paul copies, which I have had over 20 years and still look and work and sound fine.

Never dealt with Johnson, but Mandalay Music com had my guitar on my door step in less than 5 day after I ordered it!

I started playing guitar in 1972, I love the BB king blues tone so I only play the blues. I am thinking about ordering another one of these guitars. I can't speak for everyone, but I think this is a beautiful guitar. The only thing I don't like on this JH 440B is the pick-guard, it looks a little cheesy, the way it is cut and shaped.