Johnson JM-996

Brass bodied biscuit cone resonator guitar. Made in China.

Has volume, projection and presence like nothing else I've played for under a grand. I play backyard bottleneck blues and am learning lapstyle bluegrass- this thing is just what I was looking for.

Action from the factory was a little too low for my intentions for this instrument, but would be perfect for a fingerstyle player.

Mechanically this thing seems stout. I put an extension nut and strung it with 13's without even needing a truss rod adjustment. The finish isn't holding up like I expected, it seems to chip at the corners very easily. Maybe it wasn't primed very well, but I don't exactly baby it either. Anyway that doesn't detract from the sound. I would gig without a backup because I don't have another that I can put in high G tuning.

Haven't dealt with the company, but I was just at the website and they claim to have a lifetime warranty.

Been trying to figure out these six strings for about five years, played bass about eight years before that. Also have a fender acoustic, silvertone acoustic, a pawn shop special electric, and a fender five string Jass Bass. If it got lost, I would buy a Johnson again, but I would like to at least try the sqare neck tricone they have listed on their website, I just havent seen one in person yet. I compared this with several other dobros and nothing for under a grand even came close to the sound.

Serial number is 2005012805, so I suspect it was made in 2005. 14 frets to the body, metallic black - actually a dark gray bell brass body, biscuit cone resonator guitar. A copy, more or less, of a National Duolian.
Sealed tuners of Johnson name, i.e. generic. The logo on the headstock looks better than on other Johnson guitars I've see, it is written in script and looks, well, a bit classier/old timey.

The bridge is maple with ebony laminated saddle, the cone seems pretty good, with the raised spirals like those typical of national and Amistar cones visible through the cover plate. The neck is well fitted and straight and the action/set up 'out of the box' was just about ideal for combination slide, fingered style playing.

The top has a slight 'undulation' between the cover plate and the 'F' holes. I haven't had the guitar very long and sometimes I think that i should maybe exchange it for one with a perfectly flat top, but then, it sounds and plays great, so why bother? Based on this, I give it a 8 on features

The sound is very much why I boiught this guitar. I had a chance to play both a pre war National duolian and a (different) Johnson 996 side by side in a Seattle music store. Maybe not a fair comparison given the age of the National. I was with several people and we all agreed, the Johnson played and sounded just as good, though not exactly the same. It booms and whispers, depending on attack and whether or not you are using picks.
A true resonator sound, I have heard and bplayed better, but not by a whole lot.

The top is not perfectly level. Otherwise, no visible flaws at all. The materials used seem of good quality. The slight waviness in the metal on the top, though, is a little bothersome

Itn is a metal bodied resonator guitar.
I have used it in a gig without a backup.

The seller (in germany) said a two year warranty.
I haven't called about anything, so I presume it's OK?

I have been playing longer tghan a sane person would admit (first gig was in 1962). I have owned way too many [very] fine guitars, a couple of duds.

I would buy this one again. It just has that sound. I compared similar models from different makers, including Dean, Regal, Fender, National, and Dobro [Gibson, I think]. I think this was the best guitar of its type for the money.
If I had to do it over again, I'd buy one of these.

Produced in China, don't know when, but it came brand new out of the box yesterday, serial nr. is 0000063. Bell-brass "Duolian type" body, mahogany square neck 14 frets clear of the body. Biscuit type 9,5" resonator.
Finished in vintage dark blue polychrome lacquer. Some little mistakes found in the lacquer but none that spoils the looks of it.
Body is not perfectly shaped (looks like the punched out shape at the
back isn't completely alligned) No harm done there though, it only shows when closely reviewed and (in my opinion) gives this guitar some of its charme, like it was done by hand on some old-fashioned
machinery (which it most probably is) Chinese manufacturers still rely on a lot of handwork allthough that's not so charming as it sounds.
In Europe we would call this poor working conditions...

The sound is very loud, aggressive almost. Like you would expect from
a metal-bodied resonator anyway. Due to the biscuitbridge type resonator it sounds "bluesy" and if compared to a spiderbridge it sort of howls.
Squareneck is beautifully suited for "bottleneck" style slide playing.
Allthought it isn't to high to "normally" fret the notes. (but who would NOT play slide on an instrument like this.)
I have been playing all night to test it and after the ussual tuning problems normally found on a new guitar, it sounds great. Not perfect though, mind you, this is a resonator not a "big-baby Taylor or something like that. Resonators were made to make a lot of noise !
And that it does ! My neighbours are probably going to kill me if I keep on playing this thing late at night...
For me the sound is perfect, I try to play delta style blues and it matches the expectations I had for this guitar. But keep in mind that
those old Delta boy bought cheap resonators via Sears Roebuck or the likes of it to begin with...
I don't think that you can compare it to a newly made National.
The sound isn't perfectly rounded out, but it's imperfections give it a charme of its own.

Action was set-up great, not too high to fret it, not too low to play slide either.
Neck was straight and correctly alligned to the body.
Coverplate was attached correctly on the body without touching the biscuitbridge, no ramblings found but one concern, the tailpiece is actually lying on the coverplate without any isolating material in between.
The frets are nicely filed of and the finish is amazingly well done.
For this price I expected a lot of poor workmanship but couldn't find
many signs of that (some in the coating as stated earlier)
One of the dots on the side of the neck, the one indicating the seventeenth fret, was sticking out a bit (.5 mm or so) but that was easily solved with a hot blade.

I don't play for audiences, just for my own fun. But this is a heavy made guitar that you could easily use to hammer in the fence poles surrounding your porch...
Due to the heaviness I don't think it is usefull if you have to stand-up all night. But it's well-suited for easy laidback blues from your own rockin' chair... on the porch you just surrounded with a.m poles...

Bought this thing via Ebay from musicstore in Germany with original
2-year warranty.

I have been playing guitar for 4 years now and also own a Otwin 3/4 bodied western guitar, a Fender FR-50 resonator and a Aria AK-50 nylon-stringed acoustic. I bought this one to complement the other resonator as the Fender is a spiderbridge type/roundneck resonator which isn't to good suited for delta/slide blues. Allthough I had it set-up professionally recently with a new Amistar cone and ivory saddle and nut the sound isn't "bluesy" enough for me.
This Johnson finally makes my dream come true.
If it got stolen I would try to get an new one immediately, but in the meantime hunt the vilain down who stole it as well.

This is the painted metal body model, mine is a very dark grey black/with silver sparkle, the resonator plate is chrome plated
i dont know when it was made,serial Nr is 04020/07
according to the website http://www.themusiclink.net/fretted/resonator_1.html
body material is bell brass

very thick, round profile neck, fretboard is completely flat (no bend)
unlike the original National guitars here are 14 frests clear of body

i was surprised to read the bad reviews of the JM-998 (same model but chrome plated)

to my ears this thing rings out the loud typical National sound heard on the next Bob Brozman CD or on any old Delta Blues Record

I have never had the chance to hear a perfect original National Guitar but over the years i have seen some Resonator Guitars that cost five times the price of this one and had a poor weak banjo sound

In fact the sound made me buy it completely spontaneous, i just accidently went to my local music store - i havent played too much guitar the last years, bougth the last guitar more than ten years ago

but after hearing this thing (and hearing the price) i went back to the car, sat there for five minutes then went back to the store and bought it

High action like expected on this type of guitar,
works for me though i dont play too much slide yet

Bought it yesterday...

Have been an occasional guitar player for the last 20 years,
my dream tone is a P 90 guitar through a small tweed amp
and thats what i play apart from the Johnson Resonator Guitar