Johnson Basses

[yorks5stringer]

Just doing a bit of research on German evilbay and wonder if anyone has any experience of these?

Johnson do a number of Jazz and Precision copies starting at c £100 including 2 X 5 String Jazzes with block inlays

[url="http://stores.ebay.de/ML-Factory-Gitarrenshop"]http://stores.ebay.de/ML-Factory-Gitarrenshop[/url]

I've seen Johnson on UK ebay but never 5 Stringers. I wonder if these could rival SX ( or are the same as) as shipped they are around the same price and no duty to pay?

Edited January 31, 2008 by yorks5stringer

[noisedude]

Johnson was the replacement name for AXL guitars, basically a manufacturer who put out their own line of "me too" copycats. They changed distributor in the UK about 18 months ago, from British American Distribution to Westside. I used to sell AXL/Johnson guitars and basses (in my previous life before being a lowly school teacher) and they were decent but not superior to the Aria, Stagg, Encore etc etc etc starter stuff.

One thing I'll say about them is that they were dreadfully set up as a rule. We had to work much harder to make a Johnson play well than a Stagg, for example, including fretwork more often than we'd like too.

I think that they were spoken to by Fender at some point and had to (officially at least) pull all of their P-Basses, J-Basses, Strats, Teles and other Fender copies. Whether the things you see out there are old stock still doing the rounds or cheeky copies made under radar I don't know.

Incidentally, anyone want a Warwick?
[url="http://www.johnsongtr.com/Scavenger-Bass.1241.0.html"]http://www.johnsongtr.com/Scavenger-Bass.1241.0.html[/url]

[haruki]

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='131142' date='Jan 31 2008, 09:51 AM']Just doing a bit of research on German evilbay and wonder if anyone has any experience of these?

Johnson do a number of Jazz and Precision copies starting at c £100 including 2 X 5 String Jazzes with block inlays

[url="http://stores.ebay.de/ML-Factory-Gitarrenshop"]http://stores.ebay.de/ML-Factory-Gitarrenshop[/url]

I've seen Johnson on UK ebay but never 5 Stringers. I wonder if these could rival SX ( or are the same as) as shipped they are around the same price and no duty to pay?[/quote]

Hi - if you havent taken the plunge yet... I bought a johnson 5 stringer - fretless jazz off ebay a couple of years ago. I wanted to try fretless and not pay much.

The bass is pretty solid affair and to be honest I do like playing it but it has some serious issues..
.. the B string is really flappy, pretty much useless. Not sure if this is fixable with new strings - must admit havent really tried.
.. electrics have been scratchy and I need to sort them out one of volumes cuts out.


Made me cautious about super cheap 5 strings

[Mr. Foxen]

I've used one as the basis for lots of modding. I decided I like the really thick neck, so I kept it, took a bit of a tinker and by this point I've replace pretty much everything except the wood and some screws. I just bought a Johnson jazz and am modding that too, using the neck I was planning to put on the first one. The nuts are terrible, looks like they put a soft plastc one on the put the strings on hot, also they are glued in and a pain to change.

[El_JimBob]

AXL/Johnson build the chinese Squiers for Fender - for what it's worth

[noisedude]

[quote name='El_JimBob' post='137167' date='Feb 9 2008, 05:15 PM']AXL/Johnson build the chinese Squiers for Fender - for what it's worth [/quote]
Hmmm ........... there a are quite a few companies who claim that (not to mention four different factories who claim to make Epiphone's Les Pauls) so with the greatest of respect I would advise taking that claim with a pinch of salt.

[noisedude]

I played an AXL (Johnson) Tiger 5-string bass yesterday and whilst it was a good looking thing with a fairly playable neck, the 5th string was dreadfully floppy to the point of unplayability, and the action wasn't low but the saddles were lowered onto the bridge - meaning that if you wanted to go lower you'd have to shim the neck, which is not ideal really.

No worse than any other budget stuff but not honestly something that punches above its weight.

It was a 5-string version of this bass and in an amber finish:
[url="http://www.johnsongtr.com/Bass.66.0.html"]http://www.johnsongtr.com/Bass.66.0.html[/url]

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='noisedude' post='137226' date='Feb 9 2008, 06:45 PM']Hmmm ........... there a are quite a few companies who claim that (not to mention four different factories who claim to make Epiphone's Les Pauls) so with the greatest of respect I would advise taking that claim with a pinch of salt.[/quote]

I was told that by a guy who imports them to America and uses them as a basis for customs (works out cheaper than painted body blanks or something) that was the case, when he was reccomending a buy from someone other than himself.

[noisedude]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='137291' date='Feb 9 2008, 08:30 PM']I was told that by a guy who imports them to America and uses them as a basis for customs (works out cheaper than painted body blanks or something) that was the case, when he was reccomending a buy from someone other than himself.[/quote]
Oh I'm not disputing that they make that claim - as a matter of fact I had contact with the factory in China and they said the same thing.

What I'm saying is that I dealt with other factories in China who made exactly the same claim - and they can't all be right.

Speak to a rep from Saein or Dae Won, or from Cort (who claim to 'control' 25% of the world guitar market) or U.S. Music (who claim not to use OEM factories) etc etc etc, and you'll hear a lot of the same claims over and over from different people. Yes, Sound Control's Grainger amps come off the line that make the identical Epiphone ones, but if Dae Won make Epiphone and so do Saein but neither make Legacy, who is lying? And Cort and Saein can't both be making Ibanez and Washburn, can they?

As I say - just take it with a pinch of salt because brand association is worth a HUGE amount to these companies.

[Mr. Foxen]

I expect they all make bits, some necks and some bodies, and some put the neck and bodies together. At the end of the day they are lumps of wood, the ones I have make the required noises and for the most part fit together with other bits.

[noisedude]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='137350' date='Feb 9 2008, 10:36 PM']I expect they all make bits, some necks and some bodies, and some put the neck and bodies together. At the end of the day they are lumps of wood, the ones I have make the required noises and for the most part fit together with other bits.[/quote]
Totally! A friend of mine is inspired by the guitars made by Mansons for Matt Bellamy from Muse and bought a few AXL/Johnson Teles to start putting custom circuits and FX into. Now he's moving onto basses, was thinking about getting him to put a Whammy or some sort of MIDI controller into a cheap bass so I could try some awesome new sounds without trashing a more expensive instrument.

Dumb thing is, lots of us have these cheap instruments that we play just as often as the things we saved up years for!