Johnson by Axl JS-800 Strat Copy Green

For sale is a late 90s/early 2000s, pre-EMG pickup Johnson by Axl, JS-800 strat copy, made in China.  Guitar is in good shape overall, it does have some general wear due to the age but doesn't seem to have any major wear/damage.  Vol/Tone/Pickup covers have yellowed a bit (unsure if they were like this new, I don't believe so tho ).  It is in working condition and is fully functional electronics-wise, will likely need to be set up though.  Heaviest wear seems to be on the bridge screws ( some oxidation/rust, this level of wear isn't present on any of the other metal bits on the guitar so not really sure what's going on there, you'd probably want to consider replacing the bridge with a Fender Highway-1 / MIM for $20 ).  Guitar has a green trans finish. 

For some further info on this guitar I found this post from a user called Virgman that was made in 2013 when someone inquired about these guitars:

"It is a Johnson JS-800, pre EMG designed pickups. Awesome color. The JS-800 are quite good guitars irregardless of them being in the budget price-range. I've compared a JS-800 to a 1970s Fender American built strat my brother-in-law has and there is not much difference to be honest. Even the pickups are decent.

As far as serial numbers and so on forget about it. It's made in either Korea or China in the late 90s/early 2000s. AXL owns Johnson and they stopped making these guitars a few years ago. The AXLs are basically the same though. AXL also ghostbuilds some of the Squire strats and also some of the Classic Vibe Squires.

I have three of these guitars. 2 are pre-EMG and another has the "EMG Designed" pickups and they all sound the same to me. I wouldn't put too much into the EMG thing. They are not EMG pickups but based on an EMG design whatever that means.

That being said there are some physical differences in the pickups. The EMG Designed have actual removable pickup covers while the pre-types do not (seem to) as I have taken them apart to a degree and to actually remove the inside pickup from the pre-models would probably break the pickup.

These are good budget guitars for the money. The single coils are lower output (4 to 5K ohms) ceramic so they are good for bluesy type playing. All three pickups are the same but you still get different tones depending the 5 way switch position. Maximum quack is in position 4. Since they are single coils they can feedback with high gain. That's why it feeds back with your heavy distortion. The pickgard is shielded by the way.

As far as specs, the Johnson you have there has an alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 3-ply pickgard, and vintage trem type bridge. Using the whammy is possible but likely as with most strats it will not stay in tune so I recommend you simply tighten the bridge spring claw all the way and screw the bridge down flat so it won't move (ala Eric Clapton) and put the wham bar in your sock drawer.

I'd keep the guitar stock and play the heck out of it rather than mod it and mess it up. It is a good single coil strat and you get good tones and quack out of it. You always can use a decent playing single coil strat.

If you do insist on modding it I'd put a single coil sized mini humbucker in the bridge and leave the others alone. Use the humbucker for your metal playing.

A good setup is probably needed on your guitar if it hasn't been done. Go to the Fender website and use their setup guide for stratocasters for your guitar.

Stratocaster® Setup Guide | Fender Support | Fender®

I also fret leveled all of mine. Yours (and most new factory built guitars) generally need it to play well. Yours might not. Play it for awhile and see how it is and it might be fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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The two guitars with pre-EMG were approx. 7.8k on one guitar and 8.5k on the other. So the pre-EMGs are actually hotter pickups than the EMG designed. How about that?
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