Johnson JM-998 Brass Bodied 'O' Style Resonator

desribed in other reviews better then I could do, check out other reviews for this catergory

This is my reason for submitting a review.. I agree with most all the opinions regarding the sound and I took the advice and installed another cone. I ordered one from National. I had to modify the bisquit to fit. You can't just "drop in" the one from National, at least not in my Johnson with the "chicken feet" cover, not a big deal but you need to take your time for the right height versus the height of the "external bridge" over the strings also the length needs to be trimmed, but with that said, and done, its true, the difference is significant. Now keep in mind, it depends what your looking for. I was curious more then anything. The stock cone and bisquit is more metallc, and as another reviewer pointed out it can have a banjo kind of vibe, the higher you tune, the tighter the strings, the more banjo.. but for me this wasn't a problem and I actually took advantage of this with certain early American "back porch" blues. Pretty unique sounding for certain stuff, you could get the "plunk" of a banjo by grabbin a handful near the bisquit and mellow it out up the body. The combination of "plunkin" and sliding sounded like there are two players, one a' plunking and one a' slidin' on a steel. I miss that sound already but the good news for most that are looking for that stereotypical "humid Mississippi slide sound" it delivers with some nice overtones that I didn't expect. Kinda hot and buttery. Doesn't seem like the same steel with this new cone and bisquit... I got a feeling the new National bisquit that came with it plays into the change in a fairly big way. Is all wood and well made with at least another 1/8 of hard wood that the strings make contact with (1 piece). While I'm at it, when I called National to order, a real person answered., there was no computer voice tellin me to push buttons. A very pleasent and knowledgable woman took my order, and I received it in 3 days! I hope reading this saves someone the frustration of getting a cone and bisquit only to find out they have to modify it. But as I said, its no big project, just take your time and you will be pleasently surprised when you get your new cone installed and you get out your trusty slide and run it up the strings and "worry' the notes a little, listen carefully and you'll hear "dogs began to bark, and tha hounds began to howl"

the action is higher now that I could make the choice while modifying the bisquit.. I got it perfect for me.

I've had this thing apart enough to realize that it would make a heck of a human persuader if needed.

Playing for long time. Own mostly vintage wooden boxes. If it was stolen I might get a National, but I'm not sure... I really like this guitar. Pickn" and a slidin on a budget! But I did like the friendly vibe I got when I called National. I been thinkin of a tricone from National and keeping this Johnson.

This is a Chinese made copy of a '37 National Style "O" without the hawaiian etching. This is the 14 fret body style with 9.5" single cone biscuit bridge. Unbound flat(no radius)rosewood fretboard. Plastic position markers. Nut appears to be bone and is 1 11/16" wide. Nickel plated mirror finish on bell brass body. Headstock is non-slotted with Gotoh tuners. The scale length is approximately 25". "Chicken foot" coverplate and stamped/arched back. The guitar is heavy compared to a regular acoustics and has a tendency to slide off your leg when playing. Since the body weighs so much more than the neck, it is somewhat awkward to play/hold. It takes some time to get comfortable with it. Overall the features are good for the price, but the new Nationals do look considerably better IMO. I prefer the look of the more rounded 12 fret body as well as a bound fretboard and slotted headstock. If Johnson could have simply given the guitar a slotted headstock and bound fretboard (even cheap plastic binding), I would have rated it much higher. But, as it stands it looks pretty good and the shiny look always draws a comment.

This guitar sounds like it is supposed to and compares favorably to the new Nationals being made. The tone is punchy, loud, with fairly short sustain. The bass response is fairly weak, for those of you used to dreadnoughts. It is NOT a good all around guitar and works best for fingerstyle blues and ragtime. Slide is ok, but a tricone or painted steel body single cone is a better bet if you want to play mostly slide. Do yourself a favor and install a National Cone and biscuit if you buy this guitar. It truly does make a difference in tone and is an easy thing to install at home. The national cone does bring out a fuller, more vibrant tone. Also, use medium strings 13-56, at the least. This helps the tone as well and brings out a little more bass.

Like most guitars in this pricerange it is not flawless. The body plating is basically perfect, but the neck had some minor flaws. I have heard that lackluster woodwork is a trademark of Johnson. Frets are filed off a little uneven and the nut spacing was off. The biscuit was cracked as well. Overall, the flaws were nothing major and the playability was fine right out of the box.

As it has been said before, the body is like a tank. It could probably be run over by a truck and still play. When picking it up, you have to hold both ends--if you just grab it by the neck it may snap off! As I said before, it takes some time to get used to holding it. Your best bet is to play while sitting. Playing while standing is even more difficult/awkward with his guitar. The guitar will probably last forever, so dependability is high.

I doubt you could actually contact the Johnson company, but musician's friend is pretty good. My only beef with them is that their pictures oftentimes aren't accurate to what you really get. The picture of this guitar on their website looks nothing like the original. Their website picture looks like it has a matte (not mirror) finish on the body, and the fretboard looks bound. Be careful!

Is this guitar every bit as good as the new National for 1/3 of the price--of course not! It is worth the price however. If you are interested in this, try to pick one up on Ebay--they seem to have them for sale quite frequently. I would venture that you could get one for under $400 there. I would not buy this guitar again if it were stolen, I would look into other options(probably shell out for a National). Try looking at the Regal RD-2 or the Dean Chome S before buying this. They have a similar look and similar price. They are not brass bodied (but rather steel--which gives a harsher tone), and the Dean is chrome plated rather than nickel. Trust me, nickel looks better than chrome. Nickel has a warm, classier look compare to sterile looking chrome. The bottom line on this guitar is that it is a decent value and has the sound it is supposed to have. You should shop around before buying this and educate yourself before spending the cash.

the other reviewers described guitar features.. no need to repeat here

Reading the review below mine, I was motivated to put in my nickels worth regarding the sound of this guitar (or most others for that matter) The reviewer mention after he replaced cone he could replicate Johnny Winter and Taj Mahal.. I wanted to say before you think you have to modify this guitar to get "the sound" take these basic's into condideration - what kind of strings were used by the delta artist on his steel, what material was his slide made of and something that is overlooked many times- was the player using finger picks, if so what was the material, there is a good chance steel finger picks were used at times and at times not. Where on the cone was he picking etc. not to mention that the recording method used, even in the early acetate days make quite a difference and the players "chops" (method) is key. This is not to say that replacing the cone or whatever won't make a difference but I know so many times a newer musician can go thru many guitars and bux trying to make a particular sound when the potential for that sound was there all along. I do alot of SON HOUSE material and he played NATIONAL mostly and with the exception of him being far superior to me, my Johnson could fool many a blues fanatic into thnkin I was using the same guitar. To further illustrate the point, I do TAMPA RED material, he played a beautiful tri-cone but his open tuning is usually a couple of semi=tones lower then the "standard" open tuning and even if you had a NATIONAL TRI-CONE unless you relaxed the strings as much as he did, you wouldn't get his sound. With my inexpensive Johnson, tuning down and trying to get his "touch" down gets me in the ball park. The bottom line is if you want a particular sound, do some research on the musician and his style and "tricks of the trade". Some time ago I went nuts trying to get a sound like BIG JOE WIILLIAMS got playin his Harmony Soveriegn, slide and fingerpickin' finally I got down to some researching him and found out he had a big ole' whiskey bottle and a metal pie plate hanging in front of his amplifier speaker that shivered and a shook to the vibrations and made that something special sound.. its too much aint't it!!!

action is great for fingerpicking but if your not use to a light touch with the slide it will take a little getting use to but well worth it.

its like a big old Buick, would advise comfortable strap with dependable "tie" around headstock.

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Its true that this guitar is not a National, and National makes a beautiful guitar but I get sounds from this guitar that is great for the decadent stuff I do play and also for more melodic slide style. If I had National I'd worry about it too much so I definately would by another JOHNSON if it was stolen because I could afford it and eat too!

This is the Chinese made Johnson's take on the National "O" Style resonator. To call it a clone really isn't accurate, although the resonator cones are interchangeable. Be sure to check out the reviews of the AXL998 as they seem to be the same guitar model.

Somewhat of a OO sized guitar by Martin's specs. Lower bought is approx. 14 3/8" wide, upper bought is approx. 10 3/8" wide. Squared shoulders as opposed to the National's sloped shoulders. Guitar seems slightly larger overall. Rolled f-holes and cut diamond "chicken feet" cover plate. Body and cover plate are brass with polished nickle plating/finish. No etching, although it is available. Bottom strap button only. Body depth is approx. uniform 4" with extended "rounded" back as opposed to completely flat.

Neck is listed as mahogany, although I'm not completely sure it isn't actually maple. 19 frets joined to the body at the 14th fret. Frets are on the small side tending toward vintage. Average looking rosewood fretboard with plastic "dot" fret markers. Flat fretboard radius. Neck has a semi-glossy brown finish. Bone nut measuring 1 11/16". Narrow non-slotted peghead with overlay and gold "Johnson" logo stamped in. Sealed Gotoh branded tuners. Biscuit and saddle are hard maple. Cone is listed as spun aluminum.

It has everything needed, but is a bit on the plain side. There is no neck binding, fancy fret markers, or fancy peghead logo.

This is a two part deal. I got this guitar as a damaged return at a discount. Cracked neck, dented cover plate, and crushed cone. It was unplayable and I bought it on strength of reviews and the good price. I glued the neck, popped out the cover plate, and re-shaped the cone. I'm not sure if the problem was the damage to the cone, or it's quality. Did not sound too good. Very metallic primary tone. Very little overtones and harmonics. Poor sustain. Slide vibrato was a lost cause. Basically sounded like a modern banjo. Great for short bursts of ragtime licks, but not much else.

I then replaced the cone with a Quarterman cone. They looked almost identical and it was a drop in fit. I went ahead and used the original biscuit. I expected some improvement, but not what I got. The difference was remarkable. Lots of overtones. Harmonics jump out. Sustain is very good. The tone sounds a little less metallic now although the undertone (thankfully) is still there. Much less trashy now and more refined. And L-O-U-D. Man, it's loud. To really appreciate how loud these are you need to have a friend play it for you, or at least set the guitar on it's back and fingerpick it at arm's length just to get an idea. They're like megaphones. I'm tellin' you. The dogs and cats leave the room.

Sound before the cone upgrade was maybe a generous "4". After the upgrade I'd rate an "8" or "9". My benchmark is a genuine National "O" that I've tried. This comes pretty close. Not quite as much bass or authority, but close. I guess I'll average it as a "6" as maybe an original undamaged cone would sound better. Do yourself a favor. Spend the $55 and upgrade to a Quarterman cone.

Setup doesn't really apply in my case since the guitar was pretty trashed. Nut slots are cut O.K. but like about all lower priced guitars they need tweaked and polished. Top of nut needs some material removed so that the slot depth is correct. The nut is not really high enough for good slide playing. O.K. for spanish style playing. Guitar came with .12 guage strings, possibly .13's. I set it up with .13's since I plan to use it for both slide and fingerstyle, although that's a compromise. Frets needed polished and a few weren't crowned properly. Nicely finished fret ends. The saddle is a bit low for optimal slide playing as well, although not too bad. One little thing that gripes me are the cover plate screws. Cheap, soft metal. Easy to strip the heads on which I've already done to one. Grrrr. The truss rod nut is slack now with minimal neck relief. Heavy strings or high tunings should not be a problem.

It's a bit odd that a guitar with a flat fretboard radius would have a nut and and saddle that are slightly radiused for ease of fretting. A bit of a contradiction that makes me think the designers were copying certain features from completely different styled guitars. It works for me since I wanted for a dual purpose guitar. It's a screamer now, but I'd bet if someone wanted to install a tall nut and saddle and .17 guage strings for lap steel playing, it'd be a monster.

I'd predict reliability to be high. I had a chance to poke around the inside of the guitar. It's all simple, robust contruction. The neck extends into the body and is braced to the guitar's back in two spots. Mine must have been shipped in a cardboard box, laid on it's back, and then stacked with lots of weight to get the neck to crack at the heel. Either that or the delivery driver fell on it. Short of sitting on it or falling on the headstock, I think it will hold up and be less sensitive than a regular acoustic to temperature and humidity changes. I'm looking to make this my #1 and use it in standard, slack, and high tunings. It sounds that good. This is not a guitar you're going to have to worry about.

I imagine support is non-existent from the manufacturer. This is where you can somewhat comfort yourself with the expense of a Dobro or National. Unknown warranty. Bought "as is" from Musician's Friend Clearance Center from their "damaged" rack. There really isn't anything to break besides the neck since everything else is metal.

I've been wanting a metal bodied resonator for awhile now to get that Johnny Winter slide sound and Taj Mahal fingerpicked sound. With the cone upgrade it's much more versatile than expected. You could cop Delta, acoustic jazz, ragtime, country blues, bluegrass, Americana, whatever. It's up to the task if you are. I'm starting to see these being advertised on the web for a little over $400. Considering a National "O" will set you back about $1,800, well, you can see the value. Unquestionably the Nationals are better finished, more refined guitars, but the Johnson can hold it's own. Tonewise, it actually leans more toward the National Polycrome Tricone with the Quaterman installed. I was wanting a guitar to use with multiple tunings with minimal fuss. One that could be subjected to hot or cold temps, taken out on the back patio, set against the porch swing, and played in the street. Brother, that's what I got. I'm still in the "Gee, I want to keep it shiney." phase, although I love the look these things take on as the finish oxidizes and wears. National guitars are really nice if you can afford them and don't mind the liability when playing out or outdoors. The Johnson sounds very close and isn't going to stress you playing out. It's still a looker, and definately a keeper.

1999 brass-bodied single resonator guitar (chrome finish, no engraving), made in Singapore. Biscuit bridge, 14 frets to the body, 24.9" scale neck. Fretboard profile is FLAT (no radius), not sure about width, but it's less than 1 3/4" (probably 1 5/8"???). Neck has a matte finish, feels a little rough, but not too bad. Sealed Gotoh tuners.

Fairly solid construction, has withstood some live playing and travel. Hasn't let me down! Bear in mind, I almost never would give out a 10 unless something was museum-quality, so an 8 is very high.

Use for fingerstyle country blues, has that great single-cone sound! Basically v. similar to a National, EXCEPT on the upper two strings at the upper frets, where some brilliance is lost. Other thatn that, it's almost (almost, mind you), a clone. Like most people are doing these days, I plan to swap the one w/ a Quarterman. Because of the issue mentioned above, I'll give it an 8.

Set up great for fingerstyle, but not for slide. For me, it was perfect. Not crazy about the rough-feeling neck, but I hope w/ time and sweat it will smooth out. Mirror-chrome finish looks awesome, has stood up well (I just wipe it off everytime I finish playing it). No flaws really...they even gave it an arched (rounded) back instead of a flat back.

It's a tank! Like any well-made metal-body, it stays in tune well and can really take a pounding. Like the Nationals, only one strap button at the base of the body, so you have to tie off the strap at the headstock. Very dependable, have (and will continue to) use it live w/out a backup.

Haven't dealt w/ the company, but since they are an overseas "volume house," I suspect there is no way of getting in touch w/ them. I bought it from Juniors Music, who (on th eother hand) were great about immediately emailing replies to my oft-inane questions. No, they aren't comp'ing me to say that.

One note: get a case when you order one (they're an additional $100 or so). I thought I could pick one up locally, but finding one the right size has been problematic. Rating here is for the shop I got it from, not for the Johnson company itself.

I've played for 13 years, mostly acoustic blues. I tend to gravitate toward the well-made, less expensive guitars since I pound on them quite a lot. I think I would be hesitant to play my way on a $2000 taylor, so that's why my other guitars are Seagull Folk models (another fine guitar for low $). Given that, this fits my specs perfectly. Great sound, very durable, not a lot of money. If it were stolen I'd get another one immediately. At this point, I'm not too sure I'm going to continue to save the $1500 or so for a comparable National, instead I'll probably spend $1000 or so on a Johnson Tricone (instead of a comparable $2000 National). Look for a review on that in the future. Not to bash National, they are fine, fine guitars...I just don't want the spend 2X as much for a (IMHO) very similar product.

This is a new (likely produced in 1999) guitar. It has a bell brass body which is nickle plated (chrome appearance), thick select Honduras mahogany neck w/ 19 fret Rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl dots on the frets, Gotoh tuners, bone nut, 9 1/2 inch resonator cone with a maple biscuit bridge. It was produced in Shanghai, China. The style of the guitar is basically the same as a 1930's Style 'O' National guitar except the headstock is not slotted. Nearly every part on this guitar seems to be of very high quality.

I bought this guitar for playing Delta blues / bottleneck slide blues. For this style, the guitar sounds awesome. I also have a mahogony bodied resonator and I was very surprised to hear how much different this brass bodied resonator guitar sounds. If you've ever heard a metal bodied National played (if not, check out a live John Hammond CD), you will find that this guitar sounds very similar, if not identical.
The One complaint that I have in this catagory is that there seems to be a slight lack of sustain and brightness when playing the 1 & 2 (high) strings up around the 12 fret (whether fretted or with a slide). This is likely the result of the cone that comes with the guitar. It is a huge problem, but, being a stickler for detail, I have ordered a Quarterman cone ($45) which, I am told, will remedy this problem. Quarterman cones are said to be the best as far as resonator guitar cones go. I would give this a 10 because the guitar sounds so good, but it gets a 9 for the above-mentioned reason.

Finish: This guitar is beautiful! The nickle plated brass body shines as bright as chrome. I found no noticeable flaws with the finish. I was quite impressed in this catagory. (10)
Action: This is my major complaint with this guitar. This complaint must be taken in context though. I wanted the guitar for Delta blues/Bottleneck playing, the action seemed to be set up for normal fingerstyle playing. If this was a Dreadnought guitar, I would have been really impressed with the action. But, because I wanted to play a slide on this guitar, the action was much too low for my taste. This was a problem for me, but it could have been perfect for others who didn't want to use a slide. To remedy this problem, I replaced the bridge with a higher, nice, ebony capped bridge ($14), but I could have just shimmed the existing one for free. Also, I had to raise the nut because the factory one was filed down too low for my taste (Again: it didn't buzz when playing with fingers, but it was much too low for good slide playing). I decided to just make another bone nut ($5 for blank bone nut) instead of shimming up the original. Either solution was feasible. Because I didn't like the action, but because it could have been perfect for others, I give the action a 7.
Fit: Guitar's fit (I assume that this means construction) was very good. This guitar appears to be very well built. (10).

Everything on this guitar has been built to last. It seems to be built like a tank. I would definitely use it without a backup.

I haven't had to deal with Johnson. I haven't seen a webpage for them though. So, I would definitely try to buy this guitar from a store or e-store that has good service customer support because I don't think Johnson is readily contactable. (I may be mistaken though).

I have been playing for 12 years. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy it again (unless I won the lottery and could afford a National or a Dobro). My favorite feature is the sound, just play it once and you'll fall in love.
This guitar has been a godsend to me. I have always wanted a metal bodied resonator. But, before this guitar came out I would have had to save for a very, very long time to buy one. I really love the sound and look of this guitar. Also, the neck is awesome, it is made from a great piece of mahogany. I can't believe how dense the wood on this neck really is.
I bought this guitar from Junior's Music at the lowest price that I could find anywhere. In making this purchase I have, also, found my new favorite music store (believe me, in 12 years I have tried quite a few). Junior's service was lightning fast, and their customer support has been far above what is to be expected. I had some questions and concerns, so I decided to email them. Not only was their response fast, but very thorough (I think that we went back and forth with about 15 e-mails). This is definitely a store that puts a high value on making sure that the customer is completely satisfied. (And, no, didn't give me any incentive, beyond great service, to say that). They get a 10.