Johnson JT-800 Tele Copy

This is a copy of a Telecaster made in China.The body is said to be solid alder with a one piece maple neck with a choice of maple or rosewood fretboard. It comes with diecast machine heads,1 bridge & 1 neck pickup with a 3 position pickup selector. Tone & volume controls,rosewood neck stripe. Colors include:black,white,sunburst,natural,cream,translucent blue,red,green.

I play mostly Southern Gospel music so I need a tele type guitar and this one seems to fit the bill. I don't have a regular guitar amp right now but I plugged it into my bass amp and it sounds pretty darn good! I've owned two Fender tele's and this guitar gives it a run for the money.The bridge pickup sounds pretty bright, I'm sure it will sound much better through a regular guitar amp but the neck pickup seemed to lack tone & volume.The only dislikes are the strings they put on and the volume & tone controls are scratchy but that's minor.

The guitar I got seemed to be set up fine,I know alot of the other reviewers complained of loose screws,high action,etc... but I was well pleased when I brought it home. The finish is a beautiful sunburst, the only flaw I could see was it looked like on the back of the headstock that they didn't do a good jop putting on the varnish coat or whatever it is but once again it's no problem.

I haven't had the chance to use it live but I don't see any problems when I do. The guitar seems to be solid but I would change the strap buttons cause they seem to be too small.If your someone that plays alot of live gigs then I'm not sure if this would be your main guitar, it would be a good backup. I haven't found a guitar at this price that looks,sounds,and plays like this one does.

I'm giving it a 8 because it comes with a 5 year warranty.

I've been playing for 27yrs. I've had about every kind of electric guitar made seems like and I'm never satisfied. I didn't want to spend alot of money for a guitar cause I don't play live as often as I used to so a friend told me about Johnson guitars so I checked them out.If your looking for a first time guitar or a backup I would give them a try.

This is a 2003 Tele copy. It has 22 frets with a large maple fretboard and natural body. The bridge is an "old style" top loading version. The body is alder. Tuners are generic sealed type.

The guitar does have a very good vintage Telecaster vibe. The pickups are decent for a guitar this inexpensive. I run it through a Champ 30 and Digitech GNX1. The guitar has a distinct bright Telecaster sound that can be tamed by effects and pickup toggle. It doesn't strike me as noisy at all.

The guitar was not set up before shipment. It was virtually unplayable and I had doubts that I could make it playable. Since the guitar seemed very good otherwise, I took it to the local guitar tech who fixed it up nicely. He re-set the neck and intonated the guitar almost to perfection. With his help, the guitar now plays and sounds very good. I would say it is comparable or better than the BIG Name Brand Tele. I have never seen such a transformation in a guitar. I like it very much, but because it was a hassle and cost more to fix, I would rate it low in this category

I plan to use this for practice as well as live playing. It has good enough tone and it plays well enough to use. I wanted something I could kind of abuse, but now I don't want to scratch or lose this one.
It seems very dependable, but I would not take it to gig without backup. By the way, the finish on this guitar was darn near perfect. The only thing I noticed after very careful inspection was minor imperfections in the fret inlays. Nothing to be concerned about.

5 year warranty. When I first got the guitar, I considered returning it and Mandalay was cooperative about whatever I wanted to do.

I have been playing for 35 years. Over that time, I have owned many guitars and made a lot of mistakes. I wanted this one because of the woods used and the comments I saw on Harmony Central. I would rate this guitar very well against any in the 300-500 price range. I own an Am Std Tele and this one honestly sounds better, but doesn't play quite as smooth. All in all, this is one good bargain.