REVIEW > MJ GUitars
MJ GUITARS
GROOVEMASTER
BY DIMITRI SIDERIADIS
Montana-based luthier Mark Johnson has been repairing and building cus-
tom guitars and basses for over 35 years,
and has no shortage of experience crafting
premium-quality instruments. In the mid
’70s, Johnson started his career working
for Alembic—one of the great crucibles of
guitar innovation in history—and he has
put this experience to good use. The com-
pany he now runs with his son Ethan, MJ
Guitar Engineering, is perhaps best known
for the Mirage series, a line of handmade
instruments boasting dramatic top carves
and a unique reinforced split headstock
design. Collective Soul’s Joel Kosche is
among the high-profile pros who play
Mirage series guitars.
Getting into the Groove
The Groovemaster’s distinctive shape is
bound to turn heads at a gig. The slanted
lower bout and exaggerated bass side horn
of the flat-topped poplar slab read like a
tweaked and slenderized Jazz bass body with
Tele-style knobs, switching, and input jack.
The intonated wraparound bridge from
Wilkinson and Seymour Duncan P-90s
(P- 90 Vintage in the neck position and P- 90
Hot in the bridge) inject this MJ with a
healthy dose of Kalamazoo heritage as well.
Seymour Duncan P-90s
Poplar body
Wilkinson wraparound bridge
138 PREMIER GUITAR FEBRUARY 2012
premierguitar.com
