Johnson Telecaster Copy

Ich habe mir diese Johnson-Tele-Copy gekauft, da sie meiner Meinung nach die beste Kopie ist im unteren Preissegment. Der Korpus ist so dick wie der einer Fender, nicht so ein Brettchen wie Squier. Der Body ist aus Erle und in schonem sunburst lackiert. Der Hals ist gut, schon fett und seidenmatt lackiert. Die Pickups sind EMG Kopien mit viel Wumms, Vintage Fans sollten die allerdings tauschen.
Leider sind die Saiten nicht durch den Body gezogen, daher ziehe ich einen Punkt ab. Ansonsten eine Tele, und das was man davon erwartet, also 9 Punkte.

Wie zu erwarten gibt es nix zu bemangeln, klasse wummiger Sound mit klaren Hohen, hoher Output und schoner Tele-Twang. Keine unkontrollierten Feedbacks.Der Body schwingt wundervoll mit beim Spielen. Volle Punktzahl.

Super Verarbeitung, Saitenlage und Qualitat. Und das bei dem Preis ! Das habe ich selbst bei teueren Gitarren selten erlebt. Die Tuner laufen weich und einwandfrei, die Potis angenehm sahnig-schwer.

Ich besitze mehrere Johnson Gitarren , und es ist meine Leib-und Magen-Marke geworden. Das spricht fur sich selbst, da ich Mr. Pingelig bin.

nie gebraucht

Also wer eine gute und gunstige Gitarre will, der solle sich eine Johnson holen. Fur ein Original zahlt man mehr als das Vielfache und teilweise ist der Gegenwert nicht gegeben. Auch Squier Kopien kommen da nicht mit, obwohl lizensiert. Johnson Starts und Teles sind der Geheimtipp!!!! Ich spiele sie ausschliesslich in meiner Band, schaut und hort selbst :
www.polariot.org

Just recieved it today, thanks to all the reviews here, thats why i bought it!.....
Made in china, bought of ebay #67,00...limited edition black with white binding, mmmmm this is the reason i bought it!
ya know its a tele, they remind me of a 60's mustang (car)just the basics..but solid....its not a string through body, but its still has a nice sustain, emg pickups, which sound quite nice actually,
old stlye machine heads, ( i dont like) neck is a horrible yellow color!!! and thick with varnish/laquer, so i started sanding it off!
nice tele bridge, with 6 adjustable saddles

SOund it really good, to say its not a string through , it sings!
all combinations sound nice.
really impressed so far!
you get a nice springsteeny sound,

To be honest, mine was set up really well!, intonation was spot on!
strings not as bad as i thought, i will dismantle it though as i bought it to "change " and have as a project guitar...
body finish is good, like i say, i dont like the "antique " look on this ones neck, but the wood looks really good, and finish is excellent!

Im from the school that, what the hells going to go wrong with a guitar... theres not much to the electrics on any of them.. this is really solid i would definately gig with it...after i get rid of the varnish on the neck!!!!!!

but built to last.....

bought from www.topsoundseller.de no problems;//

I own a gretsch ( its lovely) a charvel ( im selling) and ive also just bought a squire special edition black and chrome which looks similar, the johnson is fantastic, i thought it could be a waste of money, but its cracking for the money!. Theres things i like more than the squire!!!!, its in the feel, ya know?. I bought a seymour duncan hot stack for the squire #60 its a great pickup, but im thinking now, mmm shall i keep the johnson and sell the squire? (taking the seymour from it first!!!)

I do lots of digital recording, and single coils are a litte noisy, however, the emg's are "better" than the stock squires (my opinion)

Im gonna, make a few changes, ( new tuners, as they are Cheap!!)

Obviously guitars vary across the range, i tried a USA tele and HATED it with a passion!!!!! it was #1200!!
My friend has a USA strat and its amazing!, i think the setups alot to do with any guitar, I have been fortunate enough to play lots of different guitars and i can honestly say, for the money the johnsons blown me away!
The only thing is, this is great value for the money, but some poor sod in china is making these for pennies, which lies a little strange with me, cos ive just been made redundant, (media designer) as an indian company has bought us out, and they will do my job over there....mmmmmm

Anyway, buy one!, its one of the best things you can spend #67 squid on!!

I will add a link to a sound file soon, so you all can hear what it sounds like...

This is a somewhat "de luxe" model with white binding around the black body. Black EMG pickups. A skunk stripe on the neck. (Pure cosmetics, though, as it is painted-on!) Top loader design (the strings do not pass thru body). Thicker neck than on my previous Mexican Telecaster. The shape of the peg head is not true to original Fender.
Made in good ol' red communist China.

I play rock, punk, blues et cetera. (Played for some 30-odd years.) I've owned two genuine Fender Telecasters and two copies. This Johnson (also known as "Axl") sounds surprisingly good. In fact, I don't think I will change the pickups at all. There's lots of bottom without sacrifising the brite jangliness of a true Tele. The neck PU is the best Tele neck-PU I've used or heard. Cranked thru the overdrive of my Peavey Classic 30 it really digs deep into my prenatal mojo blues cravings with a touch of twisted Cramps garbage credibility. In short: this guitar sounds good.

The set-up was really, really bad. Also, the original strings were gluey. I did not care, as after strumming the guitar for few minutes, I cut the strings with a Leatherman, and proceeded to dismantle the Johnson into planks, nuts and bolts. I bored thru the bridge and body, inserted string ferrules, put in new brass saddle bits, reshaped the peg head into resembling the original Tele shape, slid in a fake decal, customized the black finish with a hammer and sand paper, honed the frets and adjusted the truss rod. The results please me. Now the guitar looks like it should have been in the first place (no closet classic this one) and its playability is great.

It's a Tele. Nuff said.
The tuning pegs resemble old Klusons and seem keep in tune just fine. I oiled the pegs and gave each one a hundred twirls or so to get rid of the new creepiness.

Bought the guitar off ebay.de. Customer support, who am I kidding? Well, I don't care.

This Tele copy is exactly what I expected. After some adjustments I was rewarded with a well balanced and great sounding work horse I am not afraid to use live. If this was stolen, I think I would order another from ebay.de. Heck, I think I will order a butter scotch colored Johnson Tele anyway.

Not sure of DOM but based on some earlier reviews which panned the 2000-era models (more about that later), and because I just bought it brand new, I'm guessing 2004 or 2005 MFG. Mine is the 3-piece Alder in natural finish, with EMG-designed pickups. I paid $120 for it with no bag, strap, etc. just the axe - and well worth it. Tuners, pots and switch all smooth, (pots not "dry" as other reviews have stated). I rate it a "10" because it has everything a real Tele has and more - the bridge has 6 individual saddles, where a Fender has 3 paired saddles - and I like setting each string's intonation and height individually, thank you

Neck "lipstick" PU is amazingly smooth and balanced, not too hot. Most of my playing will be in the neck position or middle. The bridge PU is incredibly bright and very hot, easily overdrives my old Rickenbacker transistor amp into a nice bluesy distortion. All electronics are clean, clear, and noise-free, and the output jack is solid - a relief, as I expected this final link in the signal chain to be a place where money is typically saved. The nut is a little low on the top strings, and I get the slightest string buzz on the low E, and the bridge springs resonate/buzz at certain notes and chords, but not audibly when plugged. A little nutwork and I'm confident the buzz will be history, and some tubing over the springs will cancel the bridge resonance.

If mine came from the factory like this, they are getting better. The intonation was close enought to play without cringing, and all I did so far was tweak the truss rod a bit tighter to lower the high fret action, and adjust the bridge PU to favor the fatter strings (did I mention how HOT this PU is??). The woodgrains were a bit mismatched, with the outer body pieces being a bit lighter than the center piece, but it still looks great. Every bit as good as a Squier, maybe even better. Nice, deep, glossy finish and no notable flaws anywhere. The heel is a bit blocky, but high fret access isn't inhibited by it. The fat "U" shaped neck was a bit of a surprise, I would have preferred a little thinner profile (my other axe is a '63 SG, it is THIN), but it's no problem, and very stout. The fretboard is a nice clear maple with well-finished frets, dark dot markers and well smoothed. BTW I ordered natural so I can easily hide my reshape of the peghead to be more ke a Fender, since the Johnson headstock shape is just...weird. I haven't removed the neck yet to check for grunge and wood chips, but when I slice up the peghead I'll find any such stuff and deck the mating surfaces for a perfect fit.

Too early to tell, but everything seems solid and well put together. The machines seem clean and don't feel creepy at all. The finish looks very durable, I don't really care as this is destined to be a beater guitar, to spare my SG ;-)

Based on my limited time with this axe, I would prefer a backup, and for gigging this IS my backup.

My biggest concern is the string hold-downs at the peghead, they look to have very sharp stamped edges and should be hit with a file to avoid incidental string (or player) damage. I'm rating it a 7 only because of the uncertainty and this important oversight...

5 years, yeah right, I'll never use it or care. If it died in 6 months, I'd still be ahead. For the record, the guy who sold me this one on EBay was prompt, courteous, fast and blah blah blah. I'm giving it a 8 because at least there is a warranty, a website, and Johnson is apparently taking strides to improve their products.

I've played since about 1974 and have owned a host of guitars, amps, FX, etc. I've never owned a Fender, but have played other Fender-style guitars. I bought this as a blues/country rock / acoustic-like electric guitar and yes I would replace it if lost. I love the value and sound, my favorite feature is that neck PU, my dislike is the peghead shape. Compared to my SG, the action and playability is maybe 8/10, but I can buy 20 of these guitars for what my SG would bring today. If it had a decent trem, it would be worth another $50, easy. Definitely a "Fantastic Value".

BJ 2004, china, maple neck mit maple fretboard, 22 frets, Klarlack
(sieht gut aus!) EMG PU's, Telekopie

Ich spiele Klassik , Rock, Blues, Country. Ich benutze keine Effekte spiele direkt uber eine PA anlage oder uber einen Echolette M40. Diese EMG PU's sind die Schau! Die EMG PU's klingen voller und warmer als meine US Tele und rauschen auch weniger, was der Gitarre einen naturlichen und irgendwie holzigen Klang gibt. Ich werde nach dem Kauf dieser Johnson meine original US Telecaster verkaufen! Die Gitarre ist au?erdem perfekt zum Slide-Gitarre spielen!

Die Werkseinstellung ist beschissen. Um die Gitarre vernunftig einstellen zu konnen, mu?te ich die Reiter (Messing) demontieren und an den Seiten etwas abfeilen. bei der Gelegenheit habe ich auch die Bruckt und den Korpus durchbohrt, Buchsen angefertigt und montiert und die Saiten durch den Korpus gefuhrt, neue Saiten aufgezogen.
Die Elektrik an der Gitarre ist O.K, irgendwann werde ich mal die Mechaniken austauschen welche zwar soweit O.K aber auch nicht so toll sind. Au?erdem warebn die Muttern der Mechaniken total locker.

An dieser Gitarre ist alles gut und robust au?er der Klinkenbuchse und den Mechaniken. Wenn die Klinkenbuchse durchhalt ist ein Live auftritt ohne Backup kein Problem.

Keine Ahnung

Ich spiele seit 25 Jahren und habe ein Alvarez DY 86, eine Fender US-Tele,
2 US Strats, eine Jolana Tornado, eine Stevenson & Brown Stratkopie und schon viele andere Gitarren gespielt. Ich wollte mir eigentlich eine Billig-Gitarre zulegen um die es nicht schade ist wenn mal was passiert und bekam viel mehr als ich erwartete. Ich werde mir nochmal eine Johnson Tele kaufen, weil ich jetzt eigentlich nur noch sie benutze.
Vor allem hat sich die Qualitat der China-Gitarren in der letzten Zeit standig verbessert (ganz im Gegensatz zu anderen Gro?en US Herstellern). Das einzige was mich noch nervt und ich bald austauschen werde ist die Klinkenbuchse.

Certainly made in china or korea.
22 frets
Body: Solid Alder ( very loud! Alder wood? I don't know...)
neck: wood: ? / nice satin finish
neck/scale: rosewood
original 60' copy, mine: body color natural, pickguard : white / selector / bridge: chrome
Other color available

Two pickup EMG . Well... change this!!! tele sound with just don't exist !
The pots (correct .22 uf capacitor for tone)and selector are good. The bridge is connect to the ground.
I give 2/10 only for the pots!!!!

WARNING: ASIAN bridge!!!!! not the correct scale ! Play with is a joke!!
Very bad strings.
Finish neck frets is good, nice " on touch", nice to play with.
The body is a little to loud, but he have a good "reply", vibration? (sorry I don't know the correct word in english... I hope you understand!). Very nice finish.
Tuning are correct.

I will trust in this model! With all changes I've done, it's finally a good "telecaster", with a nice finish!

Well, when I finish to do this:
- put a correct USA bridge
- install a seymour duncan tele kit
- change the strings for 10-46 martin@co
- change the pickguard ( for another color!)
Finally I love this guitar!!!!
and for the price pay, "custom" for $96 ( seymour duncan are not new!), I think you can do a very good Tele for a small (cheap)final price.
I play with: valve DSP Zoom 9150 preamp / marshall valvestate 8008 / 2x 2 x 12" old celestion speaker
I play thince 8 years, not very a good guitarist!! but I love sound!
Other guitar:
- fernandes strat with seymour duncan
- ibanez with di-marzio air tone pickup
- Johnson solara elite ( copy les pauls) with gfs pickup

and now, thince 2 months: only with this "custom" johnson copy telecaster!!!!

This is a follow up on the review submitted when I originally purchased the guitar nearly 10 months ago. As many of the reviewers stated, chuck the strings that come with it. Use a little contact cleaner in the rheostats for the tone and volume controls because they are very dry. Set the neck and strings for your comfort level and action. It is not a horrendous deal!! Since I spent a little time on "tweaking" it, I have a lot of other players shaking their heads about how little this baby cost me. I am now putting it through a Phase Two amp and it gives tremendous sound. Very pleased with this unit.

Once I made the changes mentioned above most of the problems with the sound of this guitar comes from the guitarist, not the guitar. Other players rave about the tone coming off mine. It plays clear and crisp whether through a PA system or through a quality amp.

I had to set the intonation/ It wasn't off by much but enough. Factory setting had the action too high but it is really no trouble to set it to your comfort level.

I am thinking I will place a different set of tuning heads since the factory ones seem to creep a little over time.

rosewood/maple fretboard, sunburst color, bought it new from a music store over ebay. Strings go not through the body, they re fixed on
the bridge. Build solid.

Guitar was unplayable, when I got it. I had to do some works like
bring the riders on the bridge in the right position, lower the
hight of the strings and so on. When this was good, the sound and
harmony still was not saddisfying. So I changed the strings, which
the guitar came with, and this was very good. New D Addario Strings
10 to 46 brought a much better sound a a better possibility to
do get harmony into this strings. Its a wonderful useable Guitar
now, better, than I thought I would be able to develope it. Super!
You cant beat the price!!!!

Very good.

Solid.

Wonderful Telecaster copy in the low price range. You have to
work a little on it, but this will bring sucess.

This year's Del Sol, cream w/ maple fretboard. 22 frets, jumbo! Solid alder body, hard nice maple neck & headstock one piece, maple fretboard seperate piece. Chrome hardware. Big 3 way switch knob, vol & tone. Bridge angled single coil flat poles, neck single coil lipstick, tuners decent quality. White 3 ply tele pickguard. Came with decent cord, medium gigbag and cheapo (but nice looking) strap. Bridge is tele style ashtray. Not a string thru body type. Pickups are probably good quality Chinese. Everyone is using computers to do all the wood cutting, and assembly help. The thing I really like is the Johnson headstock vs. the weak chin usual tele style. That's why I always disliked them before.

I play acid rock/blues/metal. Go thru a Rocktron Vertigo Vibe into a Carvin SX300 full stack. It does very well on most things. Doesn't have a whammy bar, but it makes up for it with a wider tone range. Twangier if I want or really smooth mellow with that lipstick. It does want to start making noise when I really crank, so it is more suited to mid and lower volume stuff. Very nice sounding, with a lot more range than I thought it would have.

The Del Sol tele copy I bought from Mandalay Music just had to have the big rubber switch knob put on, then tuned up. As any guitar, it is staying in tune better the more it is played. No defects, set up well, nice finish. Frets were great, no edge roughness like I often see. I really hate edge roughness because I take skin off sliding fast. So All I did was red oil the fretboard (as usual), wax her up, spray on some string ease, tune up, plug in, and rock!

Everything looks like it will last and withstand live gigs quite a while. I would never gig without several guitars. At the price I paid for this, I could buy 5 for the price of one 'real' tele, which is only 50% max better, maybe.

Mandalay Music was real good. I've seen a local music store that had Johnsons (and other brands) all needing fret edgework (they claimed it was the dry climate). Mandalay Music is in Phoenix. Maybe they ship their rejects to Meeker Music or maybe they put a little work in them. I WORK ON MY OWN GUITARS. If it was screwed up in any way, they would have paid the shipping back.

I have played 28 yrs. Have 2Strats, LP, Jay Turser hollwbodies(JT134 & 270F), Carvin, and RG350DX, Rogue bass, 2 full stacks and TNT115s, bunch of effects. I would replace it if stolen. It has the best headstock of any tele. I always miss the whammy sometimes while playing non whammy guitars, but usually have other tricks that suffice. I think it is the best value and best looking of any tele style, feels nice and sounds nice.

Johnson Tele, Alder, Made in China, See thru dark wine finish, Price $109.00 at Toys from the Attic in White Plains.

I needed it for the Rooftop portion of a Beatle Tribute band. All I use it for is 4 songs. I use Vox AC15, Cambridge 30 twin, Laney VC 30 (Amp depends on the venue). War & Clear sound.

I had to set up, but I've had to set up my $1800 Rick 325 & $1500 Epiphone Elite Sheridan, so I'm not complaining. Finish Look good to me. No flaws on mine.

I don't think it's gonna fall apart for 4 songs but I'll let you guys know. When I go out I have over 4 guitars, but they are needed for different periods & not back-ups, they are all needed.

Have not delt with them yet.

I've been playing for over 25 years. I shurly would buy it again, if the butterscotch looks good, I'm getting it. I'm amazed that it's alder wood, which is the wood that Fender uses on their new Rosewood Telecaster, they add the Rosewood vineer but that cost $$800 after tax. Man, I hate the peghead, but I'm gonna fix that, just fine round the points & stain the Peghead.
When I purchased the Tele, I got a vintage ashtray & placed it over the strings, like George in Let I be, the new Fender Rosewood tele, dosent even come with that.
I know that I'm most probally gonna get the New Rosewood tele, but That will be in due time, not in a rush, that's due to Johnson that I have now.
OH, BTW- I got a black 3 ply Pick-guard from Rondo.com for the price of $4.95 (Instead of $29.99 from Fender) to complete the look with that ashtray. I guess the guitar is cheap enought so I could experiment with different pick-ups (I hear Linsley Frinlins are the Bomb)

Made in China in 2002. Comes with 22 frets and solid body. Two tone one volume control with 5-way selector switch, Body is solid alder with an inlaid two tone deck. Finish is silver lacquer on the body and clear flat finish in the neck. Has the standard Tele style bridge. The neck is flat and good for small hands.

I found the second tone control scratchy so I preset it before plugging in. I will probably change it out later. I am using a small Yamaha amp with it and the sound is fairly good for a $79 (US guitar. When I first got it, I didn't like the strings so I put a set of handmade FG flat wounds on it and it improved the sound.

For me, I think the bridge will be lowered but otherwise, feels good.

Appears to be a guitar that will last as long as I will. Finish looks good but I am not crazy about the color. I will likely repaint it later. Not bad though, all things considered. I am already using it playing with a group.

bought it off e-bay and the dealer was very good in getting it to me. Because the guitar came from the US and I live in Canada, it bogged down with Canada Customs but delivery was within the stated three weeks.

I have been playing for 20 years using Fenders, Yamaha's. Harmony, etc. I still play a Yamaha 12 string standard.
If it were stolen, I would certainly consider this make when seeking a replacement. It came to $170 Canadian when all said and done with exchange, postage, customs, taxes etc. The cheapest line I found locally was $375 so I consider, grade for grade, that I got a good deal.

Solid alder body, unfortunately covered in black. I tried to get a blond one but they appear to be very rare. Why??? Standard Tele configuration and hey, the bridge is exactly like the original Broadcaster bridge, top marks here. Pretty well made for a guitar under 300 EURO's.

The neck pickup sound is so creamy, it's simply unbelievable. This guitar looks ands sounds like a Tele. That's what you get and they've done a jolly good job. This baby eats Squiers for breakfast.

Very good now, but out of the box it was one of the worst guitars I've ever seen. For that reason only 9 points, but now it's a killer guitar.

It's heavy, solid, trustworthy, reliable, friendly, good looking, good sounding.

Would certainly buy it again, but next time it would be a blond one. One thing I can't understand is, why is there no option for a black scratchplate.

Standard Tele copy. One of the better ones I have found. It has the vintage style string through bridge like the late 50s tele that will accept the true fender ash tray. Plus it has the 3 barrel bridge saddles. They are grooved so it is impossible to adjust string spacing. I will probably upgrade to fender brass saddles for $10. Overall a nice tele copy, much better than the squiers and even on par with the mexican Tele with a little work.

I was looking for a tele for a backup to my strat. I wanted somthing I could modify and kinda kick around without too many worries. This guitar fit the bill. For a cheap knockoff it is outstanding. I really shouldn't call it a cheap knockoff because it is far beyond the others I have found and even better than the Squier line. I did have to do some adjustments and mods to get it decent sounding. I had to tighten all screws, tuners, reinstall the neck, replace the strings, adjust intonation, and oil the switch. After that it sounded quite good and had a very good tele sound. The pickups were a bit microphonic, but other than that were pretty low noise. I did however opt to replace the pickups since it was in my plan from the start. I installed a set of Fender Texas Specials and a 4 way switch so I could have the pickups in series too. Just doing that mod made it a guitar perfect. It sounds just amazing. I would expect to pay at least $700 to get a guitar that sounds this good, but it only cost me a total of $160, and it needs nothing more. I now favor it over my American strat. It is now my main axe. I only give it a 8 because of the work I had to put into it. After the mods I give it a 10.

It was more or less a preassembled kit. I had to rebuild it. No big deal, took me all of 30 min. The neck was great, and the body was finished nicely with all the proper routing -no excessive routing like I have found in the past. The frets needed a bit of filing, but were not bad. The selector switch was crap. It didn't have any detents, you just had to move it to the general area to work. I replaced it.

After my reassembly I fully trust it for live playing. I got it to be my backup, but now it is my main axe.

I would replace it if I lost it. I am even thinking of getting another in a different finish, at this price why not?

2002 (?) made in China Tele clone. It's more or less a copy of a 1958 Fender Telecaster. More or less, this is not a matter of philology, of course.
22 frets
? pieces (who knows? It's painted) solid alder tele body, black finished
rosewood fingerboard
2-pieces maple neck with (fine) rosewood stripe
Flat radius (maybe 13 3/4)
25.5" scale like all Fenders
Standard tele 3-ways switch
Standard tele passive S-S configuration (neck lipstick pup)
Vintage 3 (chrome steel) saddles tele bridge, top loading (not string-thru-body)
Die cast tuning machines
vintage (thin) frets
come with a cheap but fine bag + a crappy (but working) small practise amp and a cheap strap. Quite amazing for $ 97!

TWO THUMBS UP! I wanted something that looks and sounds like a tele, but without paying a lot of money. I choose a Johnson since two years ago I bought a Fat Strat clone by Johnson, and I've found out that it was a pretty fine copy. So that I tried the Johnson tele this time, and it was a gret surprise, too. This axe is a little bit worse in its finishing that my strat, but the sound is amazing. It's got two low output (jut have to turn up a little your amp volume) pup's that work. I play jazz, so that I prefer to play thru neck and sometimes middle (neck + bridge), and this little black cheapo toy PLAYS & SOUNDS pretty well. I play clean (no effects at all), and the tone pot works fine, you can obtain a sufficiently good variey of sounds, from dark (but well defined) jazzy tones to razor edge's ones. About the bridge pup (I seldom use) I can say it twangs as it's got to do. The pup's are not that noisy: anycase, they're single coils, you know that's normal.

As several friends wrote before me, out of the box this guitar is a disaster, but it took just an hour to transform it into something good, and I had a lot of fun.
First of all, you'll need a complete screwdrivers set: if you pay LESS THAN 100 $ for a guitar, you can't expect that's ready to play. It's just assembled, but not set up.
I had got to screw:
the tuners
the bridge screws (I mean the ones that hold the bridge attached to the body)
the selector plate screws
the pickguard screws
Moreover, I can't agree with someone who wrote that the neck matched perfectly the body neck pocket. I removed the neck (always do it, it's fundamental) and I found half a disaster: there were woodsheds, lacquer spots, some glue (?)... but in 20 minutes I easily cleaned the surface with some sandpaper. I've to admit that the neck size suits the pocker, slipping in perfectly. After this little sandpapering, everything was OK, this amazing girl demnstrated a fine sustain (I repeat to nausea, it's AMAZING for 97 $)
WARNING: I already knew, and I immediately changed those horrible (0.009"/0.042") strings. I immediately replaced them with my beloved 0.010"/0.046" Ernie Balls.
About the neck: it's not perfectly finished (some imperfections in the varnish on the fingerboard sides), but it's not that bad. It came terribly dirty and dry: I cleaned and smoothed with some wood wax, and its color tutned in a pleasant dark rosewood. It's quite straight, maybe a little more relief could be better, but the frets are straight enough not to have huge buzzes (unhearable when plugged), so that you can play with a rather low action.
The pup's switch was dry, too, it just needed two silicone oil drops.
Out of the box this guitar deserves 5, but with the above settings (not a grat job, believe me) it will deserve 8

It's a tele, anycase, so it's solid as a rock. The harware is cheap, but this doesn't mean that it will cause problems. I've been playin' the aforementioned Johnson Strat for years, and no problems occured.
The finish isn't the usual 5 mm-plastic-lacquer you usually find on the cheap instruments, it's a normal one. I know for sure that it the one you'll find one by far more expensive guitars. The stap buttons are OK (screw them!).
I suggest this guitar as a cheap but fine & solid backup, do not hesitate if you want a solid axe to carry in your car trunk for your holidays, but I guess this incredible little tele can be used on stage, no doubt.

5 years warranty I'm sure I won't use.

People at Music Brokers have been professional and gentle, very friendly (both by e-mail and on the phone).

I've been playing for 26 years. I have an old Eko Ranger 6 / el dreanought, a 2-buckers Yamaha Pacifica 311 tele, a Johsnon JS810 fat strat (see my reviews here on Harmony Central for each of those). I play through an old no-name valve amp, that gives full & rich sounds also to the cheapest guitars.
I love this guitar since it costed almost nothing, while it gives you a lot since it plays good for few bucks. If stolen or lost, I'll order another one immediately.
I wish it were string-thru body, but that's a fixable issue (and not urgent at all), you can drill the holes and put the ferrules... but who cares? It's good as it is. Fender built some toploaders in late 50's too...

My Johnson telecaster copy is the JT-800 model, which is made in China. It has a 4 piece alder block body and is finished in a good looking transparent dark blue. The headstock is a shape that reminds me of an Ibanez. It has a maple neck, slab rosewood fretboard and rosewood "skunk stripe" on the back of the 22 medium jumbo fret neck. The neck has a vintage honey tint to it. The neck is wide with a boat shape and is very flat. It may be a 12" radius. It is a formidible neck. The tuners are the sealed variety, but feel somewhat cheap. The E1 tuner has a rough spot in a gear.

The pickups have ceramic magnets. The neck pickup is adjusted by removing the white 3 layer pickguard. The bridge pickup has a brass plate attached to the bottom.

The bridge has three saddles and the strings are top loaded, just like the Fender Esquire. Well, not quite as the saddles are chromed.

The guitar came with a gig bag and Allen wrenches. So, it has all the feature a tele should have.

This guitar has a great blues vibe. The amount of sustain is truly amazing for not having strings through the body. This must be due to the heavy body and neck woods. Don't get me wrong, it's not uncomfortably heavy, it's just more heavy than my Stratocasters.

It sounds nice and somewhat bright. The pickups balance well with each other but lack the richness of Alnico magnet pickups.

I use 50 watt, tube or solid state combos with 1X12 speakers. It sounds good with either but the front pickup thru a tube amp is very sweet.

The bridge pickup is microphonic while using high gain distortion. It howled but is okay with Tubescreamer overdrive.

Dump the factory strings ASAP.

Did I mention it has tons of sustain?

From the factory, the intonation was right on and everything functioned. All new guitars need the hardware tightened, a setup and neck adjustment so, no points off for that. The fret ends were nicely dressed for a guitar in this price range. There were minor finish imperfections that cannot be seen from 2 feet away.

Now for the digs. Starting with ten points, I give -1 point for nut slots not deep enough, -1 for frets not level, -1 for too much nut material above the strings. These made the action too high. The neck pocket was rough and had loose wood shavings in it. So, -1 more. Total score = 6.

Noisy pickups? These are single coils, not humbuckers. Deal with it.

Yes, this guitar would survive live playing and the hardware will last. You could depend on it. I'd have to play it a year for it to show me if I could use it without a backup. Strap buttons? They're better that what Gibson put on my Les Paul Studio.

I don't plan on using Johnson customer support. I've already voided the warranty in making upgrades.

I've been playing guitar since Kennedy was president and got this guitar to experiment with. Check out the prices on the internet. These are more cost effective than a Squire. The blue finish is sweet and the finished alder body alone is worth the price of the guitar.

I'm presenlty recording and needed a tele sound. Since my "accountant" can't spring for that Fender American no-caster reissue, this will have to do. For now...

I replaced the wiring, switch and jack and installed a set of standard alnico tele pickups I had laying around. I kept the stock dime sized pots because they have a nice taper. After a fret level, neck adjustment and fixing the nut, it's a good guitar. The flat radius is KILLER for slide work.

Wishes? I wish Johnson had wax potted the pickups. Then, I might have kept them in. But this is just a project guitar for me and it may sport a white pearl PG and a new neck. Total cost will still be less than a Fender Mex Tele.

This is a good guitar for students. Too bad they didn't make these when I was a kid. I highly recommend this to parents looking for something for their kids. Just get it setup, first.

I'm gonna rate this on the "bang for the buck" scale.

This is a 2002 (I guess) model, 21 frets on a Rosewood fretboard. It has the typical Telecaster layout with respect to the controls. The body is Alder with a 3 tone sunburst paint job, finshed nicely (no serious imperfections) with decent grain. Aside from the headstock, the only other indicator that this is not a true Tele is that the strings are not run through the body.

I give it an 8 for having most of the "standard" features that I was looking for.

I wanted to plug it in to see how it would sound right out of the box. Okay, there could be some improvement there. I removed the strings, then the pickguard, and adjusted the height of the neck pickup. When I restrung it, I put on a set of 11~52's. It sounded much better than I expected.

I give it an 8 because, I didn't expect much for $97, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The action (string height) was good, the strings were right about where I like them; however, the intonation was off a little. This was not due to the increasing string gauge because the measurement from the inside of the nut to the top center of the first saddle was slightly less than an eighth (maybe 3/32") of an inch too close to the neck.

The body is 2 piece, not bookmatched, but not bad either. The finish is very nice, no uneven finished areas.

The neck pickup was all the way to the bottom (and then some... looks as though someone took some sort of screwdriver and removed material from the pickup route so that the big magnet on the bottom of the pickup would allow the pickup to sink a little further... they probably should have just left it alone. Oh well, its adjusted now anyway.

Other than that, no real problems with this guitar's action, fit or finish. I will say that if I was not aware of how to set up a guitar, I would not have been happy.

I rate this category a 7, since I could correct the issues, but they weren't correct when I took it out of the box.

I do believe that the guitar is extremely solid. This is a relatively simple guitar design, not very mechanical, not very many switches or moving parts (re: no tremolo, no floating bridge, etc.. things that you would see on other guitars). I believe the finish will last as well as any other guitar out there. It's not extremely heavy, but you know it's there, that's for sure. The neck to body joining is very tight, in a good way.

I have not had it long enough to know that it would withstand live playing, but I don't see why it wouldn't, and I would never gig without a backup... ever.

I am going to be generous in this department, just because of how it feels, and I will give it a 10

I have been playing for about 11 years, I have a 4 acoustic guitars (2 of which are Johnsons, and sound great), and 3 other electric guitars (all Fenders - Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, 72 Custom Tele re-issue).

If this guitar were to be stolen, I would simply replace with another just like it.

I will be changing the neck for a more vintage Telecaster type (thicker), but that is a matter of taste, there is nothing wrong with the current neck.

Overall, I will give this guitar a 9. For the money, you actually can get a pretty decent sound out of it.

Hey, it's a tele, they don't differ too much. This one has a sunburst finish and a rosewood fret-board.
I have no clue to when it was made, but I do know it was born in China.
It has a fat neck for a Tele, which is cool by me. I like em like that.
I ended up with this guitar in a very bizzare way. My band (Slow Motion Riot) was playing an opening slot for Joe Bonnamassa. Our local public radio station were raffling off the guitar (with Joe's signature on it) for 15 dollars a pop. I did not enter, but My drummer Drew did, and won. We already had a stellar night, so this was icing on the cake. Drew told me earlier that night that if he won, he'd give the guitar to me. Now THAT is a true friend! Thanks Drew!
When I got the guitar home, I played it. It blew. I looked it up on the internet and found out how cheap it was. Then by chance I happened upon this site. When I read about the strings and the action being really crappy, I decided to tweak it a bit. A half hour later I had an amazing guitar in my hands. When I put some Boomers (10's of course) it transformed to a blues machine. I can't belive this 100 dollar knock-off makes me want to throw my other guitars in the fire.

This guitar saved me from double-Humbucking hell, and I ain't going back. I play in a blues/rock band. This guitar sounds great and plays good once you set it up. If you put 9's instead of 10's on this guitar, you will miss out on the true tone.

The factory set-up was horrible, but who cares. I am the only one who knows how to set up my guitar anyways. I like my action a little higher for slide playing.
The pick-ups were just where I like them.
There was one minor finish flaw, but no big deal.
the hardware seems solid, and the electronics work just fine.

I would never suggest playing without back-up guitars, but if I had to, I think this guitar would be just fine.

I am just worried about the Joe Bonnamassa signature wearing off. I have to play it, I don't belive in display guitars!

Don't need it, don't care.

I have been playing guitar for 15 years.
My amp is a 100 watt Carvin amp w/tube electronics. I love that amp!! I have a blue sparkley Squier Tele with two double humbuckers, and that has been my main guitar, but no more. I have come back to the land of true blues tone. I also have a red Ibanez G10 with double humbuckers that I now despise with all my being.
I think I want another one of these Tele knock-offs, in a different color. Why not?
If you have a child looking to start playing, this guitar is the best bargain you'll find. BAR NONE! I got the best deal since it was a gift, but 100 dollars seems to be the average price for this guitar. It's worth more than that to me. I spent 250 on my squire, and it sucks in comparison. Go out and buy ten of these and donate them to schools. They sound amazing, just take the time to give them a little TLC, and they will perform for you.

Made 2001/2002 Korea or China
Basic Telecaster copy.
Don't know what one looks like got to Fender.com

Everything cosmetically is there.

Did not buy, tried out three models (finish-wise)
at local music store in MI.

Terrible sound quality, if any sound at all.
Pick-ups where excruciatingly weak. Selctor switch only
worked on bridge and middle position.
Pure sh%t, as sh%t can be. All thre models were defective.

All had a tinny sound. All buzzed like hell.

I guess if you don't know a good guiatr when you hear one,
you could mistake it as twang.

These are the sh%tty necks I've every tried to play.
The finish gripped your palm all to well. Any decent neck
with no finish aid should never do this.
Therefore, playability, had no ability.

Typical tele knock-off, body and finish okay.

Well seeing as the neck sucked and the pickups were weak and the selector switches all were screwed. ....can you guess?....

Thank God I wasn't blind enough to one,
to deal with any customer support.

Looks can be decieving. And in this case, they prove that saying.
DO NOT BUY a Johnson telecaster copy. Save and spend another 60 bucks and get the next best thing ...a Squier.

I have two guitars, an Epiphone LP-100 I use for playing punk and alt. rock ($310), a Fender Special Ed. Strat for playing almost any style I feel ($340) both a run through a Vox AD60VT 60W w/ effects.
I don't hardly use the effects onboard the amp, I just have a Boss compressor, chorus and overdrive. Like to keep it simple.

I was wanting to round out my axes with a tele-style guitar and didn't want to spend a lot more than I needed to. So, PLEASE, PLEASE,
PLEASE, save the extra 60 bucks and get your self a Squier or something.

Johnson Telecaster...just plain old sucks.

Made in China in 2001G
orgeous Sunburst finish
Solid Alder body
22 Frets
1 single coil, 1 lipstick pickup
volume, tone, 3-way selector
Maple neck w/rosewood
Tele style bridge
Included gig bag, Allen wrenches

After you change the stings (OEM strings blow), it's got a nice tele sound. The pickups are pretty weak though... the lower notes get picked up really well, but I really have to pick the higher notes harder for them to be heard... but I don't have a lot of experience with the tele so this might be normal. I would describe the sound as more bright than rich... it sounds really good with "distortion" on the Johnson 15 amp... my Johnson strat copy (w/humbucker) is way overdone on distortion, this one is perfect (not so much without distortion) for what I play (mostly the simple "learning" songs that come in the learning books. I don't like the way the stings are spaced so far apart near the bridge... it's hard to get used to since I mostly play my strat copy. Unlike my strat, the tone knob really works and works well, and the 3-way selector is a LOT quieter than the strat copy.

Out of the box, this thing was a basket case. I probably could have pulled my gig-bag all the way through under the strings at the pick guard. But that was easily fixed. Also, I had to tighten most of the screws on it. Other than a crappy setup, it was perfect. I have to REALLY try hard to see where the grains matched up on the top. There wasn't a single cosmetic flaw on it. Tuners seem to be secure and precise... This guitar was worth the $100 just to sit there and look pretty... Finish on it (at least cosmetically) is as good as the REAL sunburst Fender Telecasters I've been pawing on at Guitar Center

This is a very solid guitar... time will tell about the tuners and such, as I am not hard on my guitars at all...yet.... but I would imagine that it will take a lot of abuse and keep going... it seems to be made of quality components, even if Chinese slave labor can't get a screw tight...

2 year warranty... but at $100 brand new, it probably would be easier to just replace whatever breaks... but so far, nothing on it seems very fragile... the dealer I bought it from (over eBay) seems to be dependable if I should ever have a problem, so I'm not losing any sleep worrying about it.

I covered most of this in my above answers, but I would buy another if I ever lost this one... seems to be a great deal... When/if I outgrow what I can do on this, I think I'd probably keep it and upgrade parts (and still come out cheaper than buying a Fender)... I compared it to a real tele, and with my minimal skills, I couldn't justify the $$$, plus I need to pay my mortgage :) Also, if I ever do buy a real Fender, I'd keep this one to throw in the trunk for vacations and such... it's a lot of value for the money

Transparent finish T-style. A strait Tele copy - except for the neck and such. They included a good case and a pretty flimsy strap (I sewed it up and it woks fine) Pretty good for $99!

I play every style of music under the sun, but mostly psycho-blues. The only pedals are a BOSS DS-1 and a Crybaby all into an old Bassman. After a few little tweaks, I was left with only one thought in my brain, why did I pay so much for my Fender? It sounds a bit thinner and punchier then my old Fender Esquire, but not in a bad way. The tone control rolls off a bit to much volume, but it's easy to ignore because the guitar is so good as a whole.

Frets and every thing were great. Nut needed some attention, and a few of the screws were loose, but hey, it's $100!

Brilliant durability. Would gig without a backup.

N/A

Brilliant value

I got 2 of these 2001 or 2002 copies of a 1952 tele on eaby. They are made in China. I have no idea, nor do I care what a 52 tele was like, but this guitar is supposedly a copy (per the ad text). It has a 3 piece alder body with the typical tele pickup/controls layout. The bridge pickup is 15K ohms, the neck pickup is 10K ohms. 3 way pickup selector switch with master volume/tone controls. Noiseless electronics, unless you are standing close to your amplifier. Huge, massively thick 22 fret maple neck with a maple fretboard. Small frets, fretboard radius like a typical classic Fender tele neck. Fast-ratio tuners. 3 barrel type bridge with bridge plate anchoring (not thru the body).

By no means do I beleive a typical guitar with 2 single coil pickups to be a versatile tone machine. It does a couple of things, and thats that. The Johnson has some good treble with the bridge pickup, and some nice mellow tones with both pickups. Just like my original 71 tele, and most any other one, the neck sound/tone is kind of anemic, but you can get some classic blues tones out of there. Could be because that's what alot of the old guys originally used in the 50's and 60's. Noiseless electronics and some decent range on the volume and tone pots. The neck/body joint is pretty good on these guitars, that likely being a contributing factor to the decent sustain one can get. I may convert them to thru the body string anchoring for a little different tone. They are not bad as they are, but don't expect a fire spewing metal monster or a shred machine. The neck and pickups just aren't suited to do that kinda stuff.

The bodies were both finished decently with no great surface flaws being obvious. Because they are both transparent finishes, you can see that the wood is not the greatest as far as grain quality and all that, but they are OK. The necks are finished nicely and are very smooth. The fret ends are finished off OK but they stick out just a little further than I am used to and prefer. Both guitars needed a thorough set-up and intonation. I also removed the necks to clean out the crapola that they left in there during assembly. The surfaces were smooth and tight, but all that sawdust and grit in there doesn't allow a perfect body to neck mating. Cleaning out the neck pocket REALLY changes the sound/tone of these guitars (and any others for that matter). I managed to adjust the guitars to have quite acceptable action. The necks were both straight and true - no warps.

Seems to be pretty solid. I did the first review of the earlier production Johnson tele copies and the newer production models seem to be decent quality for $100 guitars. Transparent finish seems to be durable and the chrome plating seems OK. Strings need to be replaced ASAP.

Don't know, don't care for this price. I will probably end up modifying them so any warrantee that existed won't after I do that. Mandaly Music are very decent folks to deal with.

I've been playing about 37 years now. I've owned alot of expensive and cheap guitars and amps. The Johnsons are pretty close to ground zero for low price, but the quality is acceptable, especially for simple designs like a tele. There ain't nothin special there you know, the design is 50 years old, and pretty easy to copy, even with slave labor. Like I said in the earlier review, the Johnson's provide a decent platform to build upon, at a price about 1/3 of what you have to pay for a boxload of parts that you have to fit and finish. I like tele's in any form, and I like the Johnson copies. Tough to beat for $100, but that big neck will not appeal to everyone.

Year 2000 leftover that was unsold..ive had it a year 22 fret transparent wine color <havent seen another like it> vintage style bridge 3 way switch...tone and volume lipstick neck pu and standard slanted bridge bickup, 3 ply pg sealed tuners passive pikups... alder body...maple neck rosewood fretboard string thru bridge instead of body all the standard tele features u could want.

i play a little bit of everything...this guitar can twang ... crunch...or strum with the best of them ...use a zoom 9000 <old and underrated> with a fender deluxe reverb II almost too brought...good thing the tone knob is quality. NOt noisy unless i stick it under my computer monitor. <duh> Un believable for the price...ive played plenty of real tele's that arent really any better.... which is shocking....

setup was screwed... intonation was screwed....neck was screwed...pickup height for the neck was screwed... fit and finish otherwise were very pretty... unusual wine red transparent <burgundy> finish...with the hint of alder grain coming through...matches chrome hardware very nicely... so i spent and hour or 2 with setup.. whoopee..at this price.. its a small sacrifice..i mean 78 bucks...WITH gigbag??

okay.ive had it a year.....ive had to replace the ultra short 2 screws mounting the input jack cover plate. NOT a big deal..i gig with this weakly..its NEVER busted a string..and i bend and pound on it heavily...shows little play wear ...except on the frets... <duh> people are amazed by the quality..and the price floors them...other guitarist clear thier throats..and try to satiate themselves that something MUST be wrong with it..or im some kind of liar. finish still looks like the day it arrived... hard to see scratches on a white pg...may change one screw on a strap button. Used it with and without backup...whenever the mood strikes. VERY Dependable

havent needed them

played 2 years...10 years ago....put it down...started up again 3 years ago... and having a damn blast. I have an old ovation strat from 1987 Celebrity model..that ive grown to hate...<too heavy...hate the tremolo... ugh> Fender Deluxe Reverb II... Zoom 9000 effects box with foot pedal... Johnson thin body electric acoustic...<not bad but weak in the bass side> I LOVE my tele copy....i would definately replace it with another one but i wish it was string thru the body. I wonder if the new Johnson brand AXL teles are string thru body??:? U guitar snobs out there...get over it... This guitar is FOR REAL!!!

I'm not sure what year and it doesn't tell you.This is a China made copy of the Fender Telecaster. 22 frets/solid alder body/maple neck/rosewood fingerboard/one lipstick - one coiled pickup/Black finish/tune-o-matic bridge,. strung thru bridge
First of all how do you knock a $97.00 guitar that performs like this one does. My rating system will be based on the quality verses price scale.
The finish is good but not perfect, I notice little inperfections in the surface. but overall the finish is very good especially for the price.
Most of the hardware (tuners, bridge, ect.) are lower end quality compared to the real tele. but more than sufficient for a 97 dollar guitar.
I had to do alittle set up on the Johnson, it was a little rough when I first got it. In 30 minutes it was playing great and sounding great.
It came with a cheap but sufficient gig bag, cord, strap, allen keys.
I have compared this to squires and this thing is considerably better in my opinion. Based on the price andquality and compared to other Tele copies this thing is close to a ten. I think a nine is fair.

I have been playing a late 1950's Tele and fell in love with the sound.
I wanted a guitar to preserve the Tele and mimic the Tele and started to investigate copies. I would only buy if the tone was there. I tried the Johnson. I plugged the Tele and Johnson in side by side into my digitech rp200 and played each guitar. There was virtually no difference, the Johnson was actually alittle brighter in the bridge setting, and had slightly less output in the middle and neck positions but was very close even in those settings.
The pickups are average in the noise catagory with some humming but not that bad.
I use the digitech effects box and get very sweet mellow tones and tail kicking scream through this guitar in the various pickup settings. I think it is just right in the twang catagory.
I love this guitar..so much pleasure for 97 bucks you can't beat the sound. I tried squires that couldn't touch this thing! purest put their noses up, I let my ears and fingers do the judging

The factory setup was not that great but I quickly set the intonation, string height and adjusted the neck. The action is just the way i like it.
I also adjusted the neck pickup height. It was too close to the bass strings.
How much time will the factory spend on a guitar that will retail for under a hundred? Lets get real people. you can barely buy no name replacement pickups on ebay for under a hundred bucks.
I didn't notice any standouttype of flaws besides the slight pock marks in the finish, and they are not really noticable from a foot away.
The pick-up selector is cheap and it may be the first thing to go in the future..generally speaking can't complain about action fit finish.

I play this guitar live every week since early Nov, (Its Feb now)and it does just fine. When other people play it that tell me it is a very nice instrument. (then i tell them the price and blow them away)
The hardware seems like it will last moderately. Mainly the pickup selector is a little questionable but heck if it goes it is a cheap fix.
The finish will last I think it is pretty good.
The strap buttons are ok so far.
I think I can depend on it... But who would Gig without a backup? Any name or price guitar could develope a problem.

5 year limited factory warranty.
Haven't tried to contact company.

I have been playing for about32 years (I still stink) and i have owned too many guitars to name them all..Hagstrom..Gibson..Ibenez..Guild..Ovation..etc etc etc.....
If this guitar were stolen i would imediately buy another. You can't beat it for the price.
I love the fact that I don't have to worry about it. I worried about the vintage Tele enough to buy the Johnson. If it gets dropped stolen stepped on whatever another one is just 97 dollars away.

Made in China, date unknown, probably 2000 or 2001. 22 frets, alder body (looks to be 3 pieces) maple neck with maple fretboard, rosewood skunk stripe. Lipstick neck PU and Bridge single coil, with standard Tele knobs, switch. strings through back of bridge, gotoh-style tuners. Included with gig-bag (light, but decent), strap, cable and allen wrenches. Everything that you'd expect on a tele copy. Still, I'd have liked it to string through the body.

I play mostly rock and it's actually very close to the sound I want. I play it through a Squier 15 (older Japanese model, much better than current Squier stuff) and occasionally through a BOSS Super Chorus pedal. It's no noisier than my Squier Standard Tele and I actually like it's bridge pickup better. The neck pickup in the Johnson isn't as warm as my Squier but the bridge PU has much more punch to it. As with most teles you've got fewer choices for sounds than most other guitars but it's nice sounding wood IMO.

The guitar was set up well for my needs but those needs are simple. The action is slightly lower and the guitar is free of buzz (which is nice, compared to some others I've played). The hardware is quite solid. Knobs are larger than a standard tele but one of them sticks a bit so I'll have to adjust it. The tuners are superior to the covered tuners you'll find on most low-end guitars. These are sealed tuners that resemble Gotoh's version although it's apparent just upon looking at them that they are not as well crafted as an after-market upgrade. The finish is where my model falls short. It's a clear coated, natural dye alder. There are flaws in the alder that show through the clear coat. One of the joints of the alder pieces has resulted in a small cracking of the under coats in the cutaway portion of the guitar and there are a few finish flaws, dings and pools. I'd have expected that Johnson would've just painted this baby black and avoided the flaws. Oh well, my plan is to refit and repaint it anyway so no loss to me. The neck finish has some rough spots and will need to be sanded and refinished to my liking. I still prefer a rosewood neck and have to work harder to move on this fretboard. The frets also need a quick edge filing to remove roughness. Overall, superior hardware but inferior craftsmanship.

I would not play with this live as is. Once I've given it some TLC it might. The hardware, overall, is good and should last. I will change the strap buttons though, they just don't have the width and correct angle of a good button. I would never gig without a backup. But at this point I don't gig...

It's offered with a five-year warranty through Johnson and the Music Link Corporation in Brisbane, CA and the music company that sold it (Mandalay Music on eBay) has a spotless reputation. Still, I'm going to make changes that will likely void the warranty.

I have been playing (poorly, but playing) for 18 years. I also own a 1987 Squier Stratocaster (Made in Japan, a truly great guitar) and a 2000 Squier Telecaster (beautiful to look at, average quality). If it were stolen I'd probably buy it again because it's still a great value and I'm good enough at refinishing and adjustments that I can make it sing even if I'm a crappy player myself. I still wish it was strung through the body and I may look into making that modification before I refinish it.

Stratcaster copy: Make in China, 2001, 22frets, maple fretboard, Alder body, S/S/S pickups, natural finish - look very nice though.

Pickups are too weak, sound are thin - don't like it.

Action is too high, any lower will get a fret buzz. The fret are too thin, some fret are higher than others(bad). Got a bright buzz (bright is suck).

probably will last forever since I wouldn't be playing it.

N/A

Useless because of the problem with the fretboard (some fret are high than other) - that make the action would be too high to play.

This is a China made copy of the Fender Telecaster. 22 frets/solid alder body/maple neck/rosewood fingerboard/one lipstick - one coiled pickup/natural finish/tune-o-matic bridge (real tele's have thru the body)

I use it with a Crate 15R practice amp. It sounds very good with either the distorion on or a good amount of reverb. The coiled pickup is sharp. The lipstick pickup is not as sharp but lends itself to a warmer sound when switched up. The thing you must do is change the strings! I put simple Fender 150s lights on and it made a world of difference. My Brother owns 2 real Fender Tele's and My Johnson gives these a run for their money especially thru a better amp. The price I paid was in an auction so I got it cheap. But even if you pay $120+ It will beat out a Squire any day. So a "9" based on the price.

The Johnson may need some ajustment but this is mostly depending on the way you play. It is put together well. All the hardware is good. But the cool thing about it is that you can upgrade the looks with Fender parts. Mine came with a White pickguard. With a little ajustments (and I do mean little) you can replace it with a black one for that classic Tele look. I put a turtleshell one on and it looks great. Hey if you want to go all the way - the standard Fender chrome "ashtray" snaps right on!

I haven't played it hard enough to tell how long it would last but I would take it on stage as a reliabe back up.

I have both the Johnson Strat copy as well as the Tele. (I would not give the Strat as high of a rating). But for the price you can't beat it. Forget Squire,Hondo,Samick. It's a great starter guitar and one I'm going to hold on to when I decide to get that $1000 Fender.

Pretty much an exact replica of a Fender Telecaster, except the strings connect to the bridge rather than pass through the body. White in color with a maple fretboard.

This guitar produces a wide variety of tones. The neck pickup is dark, yet you still get that Telecaster twang. The bridge pickup is loud and bright. I spend most of my time using both pickups which compliment each other, rather than cancel each other out. There is no hum from either pickup. The three way switch and pots are quiet and sturdy. One thing I like is the linear nature of the volume/tone pots and the nice chrome knobs. The guitar is very well suited for Country Music, for which is was purchased. I would have prefered a maple fretboard, which would have made it even brighter, but I've never seen a Johnson with the maple, only rosewood.

It's a good looking guitar(the headstock isn't really that bad) with a nice paintjob. The chrome pickup cover(neck), chrome knobs, and chrome switchplate contrast nicely with the white finish. This guitar has the FEEL of a much more expensive guitar, and the quality pickups, switch, and pots reinforce this impression. Unfortunately the guitar (as shipped) was all but unplayable. The action was very low with a little bit of buzzing (not a problem), but the intonation was terrible. The guitar could not even be tuned. This was not a problem for me because within an hour I had it setup, but had the guitar gone to a novice, they would have been very disappointed. Then again, since the guitar only costs $82.00, you could afford to bring the guitar to a shop which would have probably charged no more than $25.00 to adjust the intonation. It is a little disappointing, though, that nobody at the seller's shop could spend 15 min to send out a guitar that was playable.

Due to the overall quality of this guitar I would expect it to be quite reliable.

The guitar came with a two year manufacturers warranty.

I own a USA Strat and an Epi Les Paul. I've been modifying the LP, which means I've invested some time and money into it. My point is this; I had two guitars that I care about and I wanted something that I could throw in my car and if it got dinged or a beer spilled on it, big deal. At the same time I REALLY wanted a Tele (some of you know what I mean 8=). I looked at the Squire Infinities ($130) and was not impressed with the sound or the feel. I started seeing alot of Tele copies on E-bay cheap and (with the help of this database) started tracking the various makes and what they go for. I also considered the Squire Standards, although they were considerably more expensive than the copies. A number of these Johnson's were being auctioned off at the same time (Dec '99) and were going for $65-$85 (plus $20-$25 shipping, w/no tax). I decided to enter one of the auctions, which I won. Aside from the intonation problem, I have been totally impressed by the guitar and IMHO anybody looking for a cheap Tele knockoff should keep their eyes open for one of these babies. A side note: a friend of mine asked me to keep my eyes open for a cheap accoustic on the internet. I won an auction for a Johnson JN-610N which is on route. It is Nato (which I actually like) with a spruce soundboard. I paid $59.00 + $20 shipping and will review that guitar in time.

1998 model Telecaster clone made in China. Alder body with 21 fret thin, skinny maple neck with medium jumbo frets and rosewood fretboard. 2 single-coil pickups with 3 position selector switch and master volume and tone controls. 6.5k ohm neck pickup, 15k ohm neck pickup. Typical 6 saddle adjustable bridge pieces with strings anchored thru the end of the bridgeplate, not thru the body like a typical telecaster design.

Typical telecaster sound using the neck pickup. Nice rhythym/lead sound using both pickups. Good hot lead sound with bridge pickup. Surprisingly quiet single coil pickups - just a hint of hum when using either pickup alone. Typical telecaster sound when not amplified. Mimics Telecaster very well, with just a little more output from the bridge pickup. The full range of the pots can be utilized effectively, unlike numerous other guitars out there.

Set-up as received was decent, but I tweaked it to my preference. Has very good action and is playable right up to fret # 21. Pickup adjustment is a bit of a pain for the neck pickup - you have to remove the pick guard to get at the screws. Pickguard is only 1 ply plastic, but it is finished/fitted well. Black finish on guitar is flawless and of professional quality. Rosewood fretboard is smooth and true and the frets are finished well, with some slight sharpness on the ends of some of them. Back of neck is smooth but isn't fast, could be the finish material used? Tuners are sealed and hold tune effectively. Headstock shape is UGLY. Looks like an arrow-head, and is not proportioned well in my opipion. Good chrome finish on all hardware. Heavy duty switch and pots. Excellent neck/body fit-up. The surface of the body where the bottom of the neck seats was a little rough so I smoothed it with some #600 paper before reassembling.

This seems like a pretty tough, well made guitar. Some care has been taken in designing, fabricating and assembling it. Should be able to suffer typical abuse of live playing. I've only had it for a month and I am generally not abusive of my instruments. I do play them hard though with lots of string bending and hard picking.

I have no idea about warranty/ customer support - bought it thru on-line auction and don't care.

I've been playing mostly blues based music for about 33 years and have a large collection of clone and copy guitars. I buy and sell according to my middle-aged whims. I wanted a cheap guitar with a soild tail to modify/experiment with. The telecaster style fits this description and this is the first one I saw up for auction for awhile so I bought it. I was contemplating buying the parts or a kit guitar but that would have been at least 3 times more money?? Why are these parts/kits so expensive?? This guitar is a whole lot more guitar than I expected, even if it cost twice what it did. It is fine as it is, but for my purposes is solid, and a good platform to build upon. Nice solid alder body with a decent neck attached to it. I am going to add a humbucker between those 2 single coils and see what I get. I can't believe what these guys can put together for a hundred bucks. Just another reason why I haven't bought a 'big name' guitar for over 20 years now.