Johnson Guitars Review: JG-610-N

History:

Purchase: I purchased this guitar at a "Guitar Expo" held in the Cincinnati Convention Center in 2001. I paid $60.00.

What I Like About This Johnson Guitars JG-610-N: The tone is beautiful at low volume, but don't expect to pound on it like Richie Sambora. The fully-enclosed tuning machines are surprisingly good. Therefore, the guitar stays in tune very well. Of special note is the spruce top. It is rare to find an inexpensive guitar with a spruce top such as this.

What I Do NOT Like About The Johnson Guitars JG-610-N: I'd like this review to be a little more useful than the others I've read on this site for this particular guitar, so I'm going to be specific: 1. The bridge is made of very soft wood and you will find the strings cut into it deeply. 2. The neck joint, sloppily glued and set with a truss rod accessible through the sound hole, is obviously cheaply done, even to a novice like my son. 3. At high volume, when strumming with vigor, the tone becomes muddy and indistinct, due in large part to the poor bridge, badly glued bracing and laminate woods.

Johnson Guitars JG-610-N Quality Rating: With the sole exceptions of the spruce top and tuning machines, the overall construction is poor. The binding is cheap and was already flaking off every model I looked at, though I chose the best of the lot. A glance inside the sound hole will reveal cheap woods sloppily glued. The plastic nut pinches and the saddle is too soft.

Review Summary: It is possible to get a functioning guitar in this line, but you have to be picky. Look at all of them and choose the one with the least number of cosmetic errors and neck problems. You will probably find that at least one or two frets buzz unacceptably, but a good luthier should be able to plane a fret job for under thirty bucks. At this price (I paid sixty), you probably can't beat it, but expect to buy a replacement within a couple of years.

Rating of this Johnson Guitars product: 2

This Johnson Guitars JG-610-N Acoustic Guitars Review Submitted By: Areophile

Review Date: 2004-09-27