Johnson Swamp Stomper Resonator Guitar with Pickup

I've been shopping for a resonator for a long time, but I really wanted one that would plug in without alteration. For only 300 hundred bucks, this is a good quality and great sounding resonator. I plugged this in and it sounds great. It is not as brassy and twangy as the metal body models, but I like that. A great instrument which has already given me hours of pleasure and renewed my energy and interest in writing and performing traditional music. I haven't actually held and played the Jay Turser, the Oscar Schmidt, or Fender models. One thing is, those other models are hard to find in guitar stores, a limited market for resonators. I don't like the way the Jay Turser and Fender models look. The lines on the Turser are too hinky and the Fender looks too much like a cheap cigar box. This guitar is very understated and elegant, but will scream if you put a slide on it. I play with a 30 watt Line 6 spider 3 amp and there are some great warm or sleazy crunches you can get! Fun...Read more

Everything about this guitar was fine, except for one thing. First, the good news. It's built like a tank: THICK plywood, probably couldn't break it if you tried. The fit and finish was fine, nothing sloppy, good binding. The neck was perfectly straight right out of the box. The frets were finished well. Decent sealed tuning machines. The action was just about perfect: just a little higher than I would normally want on an acoustic guitar, but just right for bottleneck. The pickup worked. The sound was as expected on a wood bodied resonator: lacking the bite of a steel body, but still loud and edgy.
So what's wrong with it? It has a matte black painted finish. It looks fine, but I suspect over time, that finish will start to look pretty raunchy. But even that is not the big problem. The problem is that the neck is also painted matte black, which makes the neck feel REALLY slow, and frankly not very pleasant to play. It resists the movement of your hand.
Other...Read more

Great Guitar to start with! Sounds good, could be much better. Have to tune it very often. It is an eye catcher, people always ask about it, if you have a good amp like a new mustang with some effects, you will have a great set! I on other hand WAY overpaid for this one, from a local guitar shop, i paid about $650, and to me its worth it. So if you are thinking about getting a Resonator guitar for this prise, in my opinion you should.