Johnson JH-440S

Hollowbody archtop, dark "tobacco" sunburst, mahogany sides, laminated top and bottom, looks like thin flame maple on cheaper wood (plywood?).
Two humbucker pickups.
Three-way pickup switch, tone and volume controls for each pickup.
Tune-O-Matic bridge, Guild style tailpiece (sort of).
20 Medium frets on relatively fat neck.
Generic hardcase included.

I have used the Johnson in a funk jazz group, big band and jazz combo's. The amplified sound of the neck pickup is nice fat and woody, but a bit bass heavy. Bridge pickup sounds softer, thin and twangy.
The acoustic sound is soft and clanky but can be used for practise without amp. I use a Line 6 POD2 and Peavey Envoy. The Johnson sounds good with both. Cut some bass and mid to avoid muddy sound, especially at higher volumes. I bought this guitar as a backup for my custom/modified Hofner archtop and actually like the sound better. Not recommended for rock/distortion sound.

Factory setup is poor, thin roundwound strings, very low action and lots of rattles and buzzes. Some brown discoloration on binding, but the finishing is not too bad. Nut is too small, ugly gold color tailpiece and pickguard. Only one strap holder on the bottom (tailpiece), ill fitting bridge base and crappy tuners but straight neck and good fretting job.
Tightening all screws on the guitar and replacing the pickup springs with flexible tube got rid of the buzzing. The bridge pickup has to be placed closer to the strings compared the the neck pickup to get equal volume.
I replaced the tailpiece for a ES335 type, replaced the bridge to get better fit to body (wider base), replaced the tuners for Gotoh's, installed D'Addario Chrome 12's, added strapholder on upper bout.
Inntonation was very bad, approx 10 cents almost all over the fretboard! Installing an Earvana compensated nut fixed this. Costs of modifications approx $100.

Reliable enough for gigging, especially with upgraded tuners. Quiet pickups prevent noise and laminated top prevents feedback at higher volumes. The finish looks okay still after 2 years, frets show some wear but not too bad.

Did not deal with customer support.

Have been playing for over 20 years. I own a modified Hofner archtop guitar, Line 6 POD and Peavey Envoy amp.
Selling point of the guitar is neck pickup sound, very good for jazz. Neck plays comfortably, frets are good.
Acoustic sound, neck pickup sound, setup and intonation are poor, lots of modifications required to get the guitar playable.
Total cost including mofications about $400 US is not that cheap anymore but I would still replace it if I have to.

hey I BOUGHT MINE FROM MANDALAY MUSIC TOO,PAID WITH POSTAL MONEY ORDER
ARRIVED QUICKLY AND I'VE HAD FOR ONE-ONE AND HALF YEARS HAD IT SET UP
FOR SLINKY # 10'S ( LIME GREEN ) IT PLAYS PRETTY GOOD THE ONLY FAULT
I'VE FOUND WITH IT IS THE TURNERS JUST ONE THE G STRING DOESN'T WANT
TO STAY IN TUNE OTHER THAN THAT I'D HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.For the
money you can't beat it.the man who set it up is the top or one of the top set up men in our neck of the woods and the only fault he
found in it was the pick guard didn't follow the contour of the
cut out

the sound is great for the 50's rock and early country.I play it
thru a music master bass amp by fender ( a 12 watt tube )and use a
delantero chrous pedal sometimes

finish on mine was good,1 loose pickup screw tightened right up
i already mentioned the complaint with the tuners

yes to all

no I haven't tried to get it repaired cause i've had no problems
the warranty was 2 years

I've been playing sense I was 12,now 47 I use a ovation cleribity
most of the time I also have a Fender Surfcaster and have in the past
a Fender Musicmaster and a old Fender Bullet I started out with a
Silvertone hollow body thin style Thats one reason I bought this
one, one of the advantages of the big body is you can hear it a little
bit when its unplugged.I wish I had gotten a hardshell case with mine
all i got was a 10'cord I've been pretty satified with it

2003, Chinese, Full size jazz box with 2 Gold humbuckers, Sunburst (thus the "S" in the model#) Flame maple (laminate) top and back archtop with mahogany laminate sides. It is set up with classic Gibson tone and volume, blender wired. A single cut away ala Gison jazz boxes. VERY ugly pick guard and truss cover - more on that later!!

Fancy flametop and back are typical to todays guitars as is the high gloss poly finish. Amazingly nice REAL flamed maple laminate. So nice it is boringly pedestrian. Gold tuners are ok chinese grover sealed gear knockoffs. Gold tailpiece and bridge are decent knockoffs too.

I like it. It is smaller sounding, as a f-hole guitar will sound, than say a dreadnaught but nice like a parlor sized guitar. Nice for noodling on at night in a small home. Has that mid range tone that the jazz boxes of yore have.

I play through small customized tube amps. A bunch of SIlvertones basically and modified a bit. A 1482, a 1484 "Twin Twelve" and a custom Silvertone Vibro Champ ala tweed fender and a 1959 Marshall 18 Watt clone I built. I use modern speakers - Webers or Jensen RI's and swear that is the answer to tone!! Old tube amps and modern, effiecent, vintage toned speakers are killer. I don't use effects with this guitar but only use a compressor, delay and a modded TS-9 to TS 808 specs when I use pedals.

Plugged in is better than I thought! The Chinese pickups are way better than the Korean stuff from the late 80's and 90's. I was gonna put a Rio Grande Bastard and Fat Bastard P-90 in it but I will suffer with these for a while. They need to be adjusted alot but then again the whole guitar neede TON's of adjusting!! It was boomy and brittle but chunky as set up when I got it, used and messed with by the last short term owner. I backed the bass sides down a lot and brought up the pole screws as needed by ear and -- not too bad!

It is pretty musical in the middle postion, woody kinda?? The neck is ballsy and a tad boomy still but nice and fat when cleaned up with the volume pot. It seems to be pretty responsive to volume pot changes which is a big plus over the Korean pickups I remember in the old days. Bridge is fairly hot and sizzly and yikes brittle if dimed!! Actually sounds nice driven hard in the rock sense but not in a jazz sense (not that I can play jazz BTW!).

Great for Blues and rock a billy and faux jazz. HA thats me!! Faux Jazz!!

Yikes! Not so good here. Lots of potential though so I give it a 6

The owner before me put a new set of strings on - A MUST I hear! and messed with pickup height etc. It was mediocre to bad but hell it was a "cheap" guitar! Hell, after a getting stiched up at the emergency room for fret wire cuts, I decided I liked the basic guitar quality!! So I was off to my buddies guitar shop (thanks Mark!) and leveled the frets, crowned and polished them, set the bridge and intonated it, and b'geez this thing ain't too shabby! Ithen got super anal and re-shaped the worlds ugliest pick guard to a ES 175/125 type look, reshaped the retardo truss cover ala Gibson sort-of. I have lived with the guitar for 3 months and it is probably #3-4 favorite of my bunch of guitars I own.

The poly finish is super glossy and has some blemishes and the nice multi lam binding has its share of flaws but I am over it. Amazing for the dough simply %*&&!!& amazing - poor sino slaves...

This guitar weighs WAY TOO MUCK!! The plywood behind the nice maple flamey stuff must be made off recycled shipping skids!! Ok, I am over it.

Hardware is fine. Maybe it is a thin gold flakey stuff but time will tell. Its fine.

Hell yeah gig with it! I don't think any real pro would use it except as a prop and for a rare hillbilly jazz rave up but after the set up - its a player and rock solid.

Nope. I would repair it myself.

OH! BTW, the gounds for the pickups are cheesey little slip on jacks that they slide on the threads of the pickup height adjusters and CAN FALL OFF! Tighten the jacks if you want to make sure they don't fall off when messing with the height adjusters on the pickps. You have to go through the f-holes to do this.

I have played acoustics since the late 60's, never any good. I had a mid life crisis (well 3 or 4 of 'em actaully but thats another subject!) about 7 years ago and started playing alot more, owning about 40 guitars since and developing a pretty darn good ability at restoring and making guitars and repairing, modifying and building tube amps.

I owned 6 or 7 pre 1965 Harmony and Silvertones (2) H-75 (Switchmasters), a Meteor, a rocket, stratones, a Hollywood etc and wanted to see what new hollowbody offering was like. I was pleasantly surprised! I loved the old Harmony built guitars and made them all play really well with a bit of work. The same goes for the Chinese Jay Turser, Agile, Epiphone, Stellar, etc today. They all can be made to play pretty damn well but out of the box generally suck.

Buy it, spend $125 to have it set up or do it yourself if you can and you will be happy. If you don't or can't get it set up you will be bummed I think. I suggest buy it, try it, get it out of your system or keep it for ever. Re-sale will be about $75 less than new so how can you go wrong? Its pretty and your wife or girl will like it too!

Made in China. It must be a different China than what we're all used to. I can't believe all that this guitar offers for the price I paid. They have flamed-maple tops & backs, mahogany sides & neck, rosewood fretboard, gold hardware, 2 covered humbuckers, sealed diecast machines. They have a tune-o-matic style floating bridge, with a rosewood base. All the woods are laminated I believe, but I wouldn't expect solid woods in thir price bracket. It has a sunburst finish, which looks very nice but could have been a little more even. A free hardshell case & strap was included, and it was a high-quality case. Surprising.

To be honest, this is my first experiment with an archtop guitar. I really, really like the way it sounds. I don't know if this one sounds great or if it's just the archtop sound in general that I love, but either way, I'm very pleased with the tone. The tone controls for each pickup will really cut down the highs, it's a rather dramatic effect. Which I like, because you can get the sound so SMOOTH and subdued. It's great for anyone who plays jazz, and I can see this sound matching well with blues as well.

This is where the guitar lacks a little. I had to do some adjustments to the truss rod and bridge height, to get some buzzing out of the neck. But at least adjusting the bridge height on this kind of guitar is simple. Once I got it playing right, it played well. Not like a dream, but well.
I though the clearcoat could have been a little thicker. The work around the F-holes could have been a little cleaner. Also, the gold plated hardware had a little tarnish on it, like it had been someplace moist for awhile.
But I'm not complaining. For the price I didn't expect a museum piece. Rather, this is a good sounding and playing guitar, and we're all going to get some marks and dings in them anyway :)
PS- PULL THE PLASTIC COVERING OFF THE PICKUPS GENTLY! I pulled mine off a little fast and it took some of the gold finish with it. I did the next pickup slower and it came off cleaner.

I think it would. I wouldn't rely on it for my world tour (sure, whenever that happens), but I could also afford nicer guitars in such a situation :) I had to put a strap button on the neck, there wasn't one. I was told to use an acoustic strap, but I like buttons better. There was a button on the tailpiece. I think for my needs, which are simple, this guitar was the best choice.

I would recommend Mandalay Music to anyone. The whole process was extremely professional, I ordered late at night and was playing 3 days later. I contacted service once, to ask about the strap button, and they responded in about an hour. I've written other sites and they'll take days to write back, if at all. Their reviews are always glowing and I see why.

Like I stated before, I think this is the best guitar for my simple needs. I didn't need anything pro, and for the money, around $300 with a hardshell case, this is the best buy I've ever made. It's got a great sound. Plays OK. The guitar's finish could be better, and set-up a little better, but hey- $297?? Who cares. If it were lost or stolen I'd buy again in a heartbeat. And I wouldn't even be out much money.

See the link below for a list pic. and a list of features. I did NOT buy it from this vendor.
http://www.mandalaymusic.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=1&Product_Code=JH440S&Category_Code=20

The pickguard makes the guitar look its price, so I took it off.

For the money, at $300 w/ HSC, this can't be beat. It sounds so woody.
I've only had it for 4 days now and I can't put it down!. It plays
amazingly well. I got it from a local dealer and he set it up to my
specs., that is, a set of 0.11s and low-as-possible action. He said that the stock strings were crappy so he put on a set of Elixirs. I actually need to raise the action a little (1mm maybe) since the 5th string buzzes and it's hard to bend strings at this setting.

But like I said, the guitar sounds "woody" and the 3-position switch
and the knobs are quiet. Tone control only have a noticeable effect
when going below 3. I generally set it up on the front pickup for
the more jazzy sound. The middle position sounds nice and crsip,
and the back postion sounds great for rock-n-roll. I play through a
Vox AC-30 amp.

The local dealer changed the strings and set it up for me. He said
factory settings and strings were crappy. Bookmatched flame maple look
pretty on front and back. Sides and neck are finished to match body.
It just looks more expensive that it is!!!

Oh yeah, like all Johnson guitars, it does not come with a strap holder
on the neck side, only one on the body (at the tailpiece).

I've only had it for 4 days so I can't comment.

N/A

I couldn't decide which color I wanted, but ended up happily with the
tobacco sunburst model, for that classic jazz guitar look. Hell for
$300, I could've bought all 4 colors and would have been happy!

DITTO w/ the other 2 reviews for the most part. Gear ratio on tuners too high and a couple of minor blemishes on mine but for the price no prob. The guitar is very playable from the box and replacing main components like pups, tuners and controls would make it only better. It's so inexpensive that upgrading is no prob bit by bit as your finances permit. Also bought the Johnson HSC which is just a generic one size fits all acoustic case but for $45 w/ guitar it was cheaper than I would have paid for equal used from local pawn shops. Tolex is thin but not a bad case.

DITTO again, no complaints from me. Has the jazz box sound I was looking for although the cheapo stock pups are too brittle and hot. A couple of vintage '59 Gibby's w/ appropriot controls will work real well I'm guessing.

DITTO again here. A few tiny pin dimples in finish but noticable only if you look. The one complaint I have however is the absolutely ugly RED turtleshell pickguard. Did I mention it is UGLY? A black, cream or real turtleshell would work. Can't believe the detail on this thing for the price. Pretty guitar.

One strap button... why? Inconvenient but fixable. All is tight and strong. Would hold up to gigging.

Mndalay is a reliable place. Was delivered in fine shape and haven't needed any service... yet.

Is all I was expecting plus it is better looking.

Japanese? entry in the budget hollow archtop catagory. Bound F-holes, multi-ply body binding. Probably pressed top. Laminate. Les Paul type config, i.e. H/H with volume and tone for each. Three-way swith feels chinsy. More on the tone controls later....Fat neck with medium frets. Single cut-away to the 18th fret. Even though tuners are super budget, this guitar actually stays mostly in tune ;] Good tailpeice.

This is the first hollowbody archtop I've plugged in and played so I can't do a brand comparison. Running it into a 50W tube combo with 10's. I can say that I was really pleased with the tone right away, which is definately more "open" and airy than a solid body. In the neck position with volume and tone wide open the lower through middle registers sounded had and almost piano-like timbre and resonance! Middle position stars to get a glassy sort of character and bridge is definately nasal although not too thin. The one thing I can't stand about the controls though is the way the volume is dramaticaly affected by the tone pots. Try to roll of the highs for a muted
mid-rangey sound and bye-bye volume. Not to mention the thickness of the tone. Gone. Maybe the pot values themselves or possibly the control caps, I haven't checked. However, I have to put this guitar in the "you-can't-beat-it-for-the-price" catagory. Woody, jazz hollowbody tone. (oh yeah, I strung it with 10's, going up to 12's or so would only improve the color and character)

Good finish with only a few small overspray spots around f-holes and nut. I'm not too impressed with the sunburst though. Rather that a gradual fade into the color (which is more yellow than tobbacco) the burst looks like a pear with pretty hard edges. The maple flaming is decent...Must say the grain in the mahogony sides looks really good. I've fiddled with the intonation and the action and got the set-up just the way I like it. No problem. I *do* however have a problem with the fit of the pickup surrounds and the pickups themselves. When I'm playing this guitar unplugged, every figgin' thing on top of it buzzes. Normally rocking a pickup in it's mount solves that. For two minutes. Then it's buzzing again. I gently tightened everything that's screwed to no avail. Hmmmmmm..........just keep it plugged in?
Also the shaping on the rosewood portion of the bridge is a little hairy. I did say this was a budget guitar, right? Again, though, for the price, I can live with it until I can afford a Benedetto. hahahahahahahahaahahahahaha.............

I plan on gigging with it so it better hold up. Had to install upper strap button on neck heel. No biggie. "Gold" finish on hardware will probably flake if not just rub off. Overall feel is very solid. And it's hollow! Get it? I have to gig without a backup because I'm broke.

Second hand, maaaaaaaannnnnnn.

Overall I'd give it a 8 for the tone quality, looks, and sturdiness for the price. An extra hundo would get an Ibanez Artcore, though if you only have two bills and you gotta have that hollow-body archtop right now...........I love that I can now play with a tone I feel more akin to jazz, and with all my qualms, the tone still sells me. New pups, tuners, and pots, etc. here and there and it'll eventually be a really good playing/sounding jazz box for cheap cheap cheap.

This is a Chinese version of a Gibson L5, etc. 3+" deep hollowbody jazz box. Gold plated hardware, 2 humbuckers, flamed maple tobacco sunburst finish, separate volume and tone controls, body, neck and head binding, three way toggle switch, trapeze tailpiece, trapazoidal position markers, celluloid type, bound rosewood fretboard, etc.

Wanted a full hollow body jaz box for doing rhythm work. I wanted that sweet, smooth , rich sound hollow body jazz gutars are famous for, and this guitar delivers that beautifully. I especially like the neck pickup through the clean side of a Fender amp- total jazz chord bliss. It has a rich , full tone that never gets muddy. There is nothing I don't like about this guitar. Plays like butter.

I've read various opinions about the action and finish on these guitars and most have been favorable. Mine is no exception. I was happily surprised with the way my guitar looked and played "out of the box". The neck is very straight. Much straighter than the neck on my Epiphone Dot VS (which I paid $400 for). I did have a slight buzzing of the lower strings on the lower frets. I got rid of the light gauge strings (9's ) that came on it and switched to medium gauge (12's) flat wound D'Aquisto Jazz Strings- buzz gone. I could have also gotten rid of the buzz by a turn of the truss rod, but I wanted to switch to the heavier flatwound jazz string anyway, as it's the way these guitars were meant to be played. The action was perfect. I actually raised mine because I wanted the extra tone and volume that comes with a slighly higher action. This guitar has no noticeable flaws in fit or finish. Everything is secure and adjusted properly. I had planned to have this guitar set up when I bought it, but as it turned out that was not necessary Ihave read a few reviews that refer to the toggle switch as being loose or cheap-mine is solid and tight. I was surprised and impressed with the finish of this guitar. No complaints, and in fact kind of amazed that this is sold in this price range- at "Moze Guitars" here in San Diego, they charge $350 plus tax for these. They are really beautiful guitars- the pictures on Mandalay Musics don't due them justice. The quality is at least equal to the $600 Epiphone Sheraton II I had a few years ago. I'm extremely pleased with this guitar, especially for the price.

This guitar will withstand live playing, and in fact, already has. As for the hardware, unfortunately, all gold hardware wears off from the cheapest copy to the most expensive Gibson. The finish will withstand lots of playing , I'm sure. Be advised, there is only a strap button on the bottom of this guitar. I would depend on it and gig with it without a backup. It's actually quite well made. Is it a $1000 Strat or a $5000 Gibson? Of course not, but it is a very well made guitar- equal to or better than Aria and DeArmond jazz boxes I recently played that cost up to $849. Even with the "only one strap button" issue, I'm giving it a 10!

I don't know if I'd ever try to use the factory warranty. If something went wrong I' take it to someone I trust- mainly, Al at The Blue Guitar here in San Diego-but I have to mention what a pleasure it was dealing with Manadaly Music at mandalaymusic.com. I first saw this guitar on ebay and decided to go to their website where they mentioned that they prided themselves with their customer service. I went back to ebay and checked their feedback rating- thousands of deals with NO negative feedbacks. To me that said something about the way they do business. I ordered one by phone and they had it to me within 3 days. Unfortunately, UPS must have dropped this guitar from the top of a loading dock as it was extremely well packed and still arrive damaged. I called Cameron at Mandalay Music that afternoon who advised me no problem. He had another guitar out the next day and it arrived before they came to pick the damaged one up! I HIGHLY recommend this business. I'm sure I'll be buying from them again. Oh, buy the way, I also bought a beautiful vintage looking tweed gig bag ($22 if you buy it when you buy a guitar, or $30 something when bought by itself. Great bag with 25mm thich padding, sheet music pocket, 2 smaller pockets. Great deal. Mandalay Music really takes care of it's customers!

Have been playing 37 years and have owned all kinds of guitars both cheap and expensive, and this is one of my favorites! I also am currently using a Fender '97 American Standard Stratocaster, a 2002 Epiphone Dot VS, a Takamine acoustic and a Cordoba Classical. If this guitar were lost or stolen I would pick up another immediately-in fact, I am seriously considering picking up another one as a spare. It's an amazing deal for the price, period.