Hondo guitars

[hondo76]

does anybody besides me love these old knockoff guitars or own them.

[boozer]

i have a 335 knock off that i got from avalue village years ago for twenty bucks.
it had no harware or pickups so i had to replace that, at the time i had no preference for parts so i did it as cheap as i could and i haven't changed it one bit.
it plays great and sounds great!!!

[StuH]

My interest in the Telecaster started when I was in grade 8 and my brother bought his first electric a black Hondo Telecaster. That would have been around 1984.

The only reason I own 4 Fender Telecasters is because of that old black Hondo that used to pickup every radio station in the city when you plugged it into an amp.

[Blueblood]

Yeah!
It's a '77 Hondo II LP Clone- (don't laugh) All natural, bound body & neck (black block fret markers). Seems like a 'one off' since it's AWESOME! Great tone and action that makes you forget about the mother of pearl name on the headstock. Believe me, I was TOTALLY shocked...

[furrfurrfurr]

I have an '83 Flying V.

Haven't touched it in 17 years. I think it's in my parents' upstairs closet. (I think your grandpa has a few up there too, Hondo )

[andromeda673]

there are a bunch for sale on ebay right now

[Papa Joe]

I have a Hondo bass that I got for $17.00. I've modified it with a Fender Jazz pup added in the bridge position and a 3 way Tele switch..PJ..

[serialsteve]

I HATE 'em. My first electric was a real POS Hondo 79s Strat copy. Just bad all around. I remember being really upset because I wanted a 60s Mustang that the shop had (super clean and a real Fender) that was the same $149 (this is 1979) as the Hondo. My brother got an equally horrible black LPC Hondo. We somehow managed to get by on them for two years. My Hondo died a horrible death on the floor of a fraternity house in NC when I was playing a party there. Of course, it hurt me worse-that thing wouldn't break apart and my arms hurt for days from the shock of beating that thing against a concrete floor. How did Townshend do it all those years?!

[JasonRobert]

Great guitars. I got a really beat up one for my first guitar project a few years ago. The fretboard was cracked and had chunks missing, The paint was really bad, and the pickups didnt work. I had to replace the fretboard, re fret it, strip the paint and gave it a clear coat, and re wire (not re wind) and pot the pickups, and put covers on them because the plastic was falling apart... I really learned a lot from it.

[roth]

I found this late 70's Hondo II Longhorn copy NOS about 2 years ago with OHSC. Cool guitar with active pickup with phase, coil tap and active-boost switches.

[BritishBluesBoy]

The bass player in the first band I ever played in (around 1982) played a brown double cut-away Hondo bass. Here's a pic (that's me with the Peavey!) Nice sky blue sweaters too! Yikes...

[Sollophonic]

No but I used to.

My very first electric. A Hondo strat style, which had a three saddle pressed steel bridge and saddles, a hugely high action (that actually would have been great for slide if I had had the ability then), a body weight that pulled one shoulder down lower than the other, and pickups with virtually zero output. I soon got rid of it for a nice Antoria semi, which served me well.
I was also given a Hondo Les paul copy in the early 1990s. It was black and had a neck which you could use as a barometer, some days it was playble, somedays it was not. Also unlike most les Pauls it was light as a feather and had a tone to match.
Other Hondos Ive come across. Another Les paul copy which weighed even more than my old strat copy, and had a disgusting maple neck with block markers.
yet another LP copy that belonged to a bass player friend who played in a gigging indie band in the 80s. This guitar though was a trouper, it served as both a backup and sometimes a main guitar for what was then called the Wedding Present, who achieved some success during this time. It had reasonable pickups, a nice neck, was a decent weight, and reliable too. Only thing was it was a revolting purple colour. Basically its colour could be held up in a lawsuit, should it ever be acccused of being a "copy"
They made some good ones though didnt they? The Longhorn is one, the also made some well regarded thru necks, and also the SD Curlee basses and guitars as well.
Hondo, good and bad, I suppose, but one up from the 70s and 80s Kay guitars

[Encinitastubes]

Nice amps for a first band!

[andromeda673]

Originally Posted by BritishBluesBoy

The bass player in the first band I ever played in (around 1982) played a brown double cut-away Hondo bass. Here's a pic (that's me with the Peavey!) Nice sky blue sweaters too! Yikes...

awesome pic!!!!! you guys look like "Joy Divison" a great old 80's indie band that had some U.S. hits

[Rocks]

I had a Hondo LP copy that had a tree trunk for a neck, I loved that guitar and for the life of me I can't remember what happened to it. When I first got it I thought it was a piece of chit. I made some adjustments and fell in love with it.

[tele salivas]

My second guitar was a hondo LP black with cream binding and a cream pickguard, I forgot what happened to it, but I still miss that sound at times, a kind of hollow gretsch sound, really, looking back on it, must have had a bunch of chambers it was so light..

[tuuur]

I had two Hondo II LP copies; I bought the first for 100 dutch guilders and sold it later to a youngster who wanted a guitar like Slash. It was my second electric guitar.

That second one had USA DiMarzio humbuckers, which sounded awesome. I took it apart to repair a Custom Les Paul copy from a friend, which had a warped neck. I kept the neck put it on the Hondo body and had it in this sorry state for a long, long time, and used it for slide:



After that that friend decided to make it into a discoball guitar, and I couldn't resist making one too!

Friend's:


Mine:


I also had a two pickup MelodyMaker copy which was a pretty decent guitar. I gave that one away, which I regret.

[Blueblood]

I finally took a photo of my '77 for your thread...Enjoy!

[sneakyjapan]

no Hondos but I did have some Joy Division back when. I own quite a few older MIJs but Hondo is one maker I just don`t see very often over here, least not in this city. Maybe they exported them all to the round eyed big nosed barbarians overseas?

[DMace]

Oh, lord, my first guitar. lol. What a piece of junk. I had a black LP copy Hondo II around 1980. I think it was physically incapable of keeping tune. Eventually, after getting a better guitar, I decided to convert it into a 'fretless'- then realized I couldn't play fretless. lol. I think it's presently residing in the Fresh Kills landfill.

[Southern Ill]

I always liked these.....

[cmatthes]

Yep - Serialsteve and I had the pair of Hondo IIs. TOTAL Pieces of $#!+ !!!

I still have my '79 LP Custom copy Hondo II - I ordered Schecter "snot n' nickel" tuners in '80-'81 and managed to get them on there so it would at least stay in tune. Monkeying around with it back then (8th grade), I pulled the cover off of the bridge pickup and killed it. It became a lame neck pickup only axe at that point. Finally saved enough to get a new LP Custom. Still have that one - MUCH better! :D

[hondo76]

here are mine

[JasonRobert]

Originally Posted by hondo76

here are mine

what year is that double cut? does it play nice?

[pistolsteve]

Seems like most remember them fondly as first guitars. My first electric was Hondo II Les Paul-knockoff. No binding, so it kind of looked like a Les Paul Studio. It was a deep mahogany or cherry finish. My mom bought it for me -- most likely very cheaply --- off some guy when I was probably 12 or 13. It was a perfectly serviceable first guitar, and one I'm glad I had the opportunity to own.

It got traded in for an Ibanez Roadstar, which I still own and play occasionally. Another fine, but underrated guitar.

[J. Hayes]

mine has the name "Univox" on the headstock. It's a quality 'paul IMHO and sounds and plays great.

One of my Teles is a "Fame Mastercaster" which was made by Hondo. I'll try to get a picture of it up in the next day or so along with the Hondo F-style mandolin which I made a clock out of after the truss rod snapped. My Fame Tele is equipped with a HipShot Trilogy bridge unit as well as a Bill Lawrence humbucker and stock Tele lead pickup.........JH in Va.

[Singin' Dave]

I just picked up a Hondo Fame 757 for $40 bucks as a "project guitar" and am looking forward to fixing it up to see if it's got anything. It's a tele copy with a bound top and funky headstock, 3 piece body, 6 roller barrel saddles and actually a nice thick U neck.

Just picked it up last night, so no pix. It's in pretty beat up shape but neck looks straight and the guitar actually feels pretty good. I'm hoping its a MIJ (or even MIK) copy from back in the day with the DiM PUPs, but just have no idea.

[Charles Obscure]

I have a Hondo II LP, traded a beat up acoustic for it. I think it's a b-stock because the bridge pup is mounted crooked. I played slide on it for a while, but lately it just sits in it's case. I thought it would be a good project guitar but I never did anything with it.

[geoff_in_nc]

Originally Posted by Blueblood

I finally took a photo of my '77 for your thread...Enjoy!

I had this exact guitar as my 2nd electric ever. As I recall, mine came from the factory with DiMarzio's in it. Despite it probably having neck binding, I seem to recall tearing up my hands on fret ends on a fairly regular basis.

[hondo76]

Originally Posted by JasonRobert

what year is that double cut? does it play nice?

not sure what year it is but i LOVE it the frets good the neck shape is GREAT it came with dimarzios she is my #1

[bendecaster]

I used ti dis the hell out of them, but lately I've got a new warm and fuzzy feeling from less than brand-name axes. I retract any previous statements that made me sound like a snobbish A-Hole! I see some very fine specimens here on this thread!

[alvis]

Im over all the big name ,big money guitars .I have been for a couple of decades.Sure, I have some but im equally ,if not more excited about the off brand copies and the like.
I had a Hondo LP Custom copy with a set neck that came stock with DiMarzios.In fact I remember Hondo ads from GP in 79-80 where they specifically announced that they were in bed with DiMarzio.
A lotta folks dismiss these guitars as P'sOS.But was your guitar set up to play ? Did you know how to set it up?
A few simple parts upgrades and a good tuning and you could have a pretty decent guitar
I have a Hondo P-bass I got for 75 bucks .It came with some cheap (useless)mini hum.
sized pickup.I changed the bridge ,pickguard, Allparts neck & some DiMarzio 80s P-pickups.It's a killa bass
I also have a Hondo made Chiquita.

[hopdybob]

have a hondo fame 7600.
plywood body with highohm pickups that i think could be humbuckers
some new frets an custom body treatment and this is what i got

[insombob]

recently been playing my mom-in-law's hondo acoustic/martin copy. one of the best sounding acoustics i've heard, actually. might borrow it for recording.

[architele]

actually just got an H935 (es335 knockoff - 1981 vintage) last Friday for $280. I used it at band practice this week and am just amazed with the thing. I've heard that the pups from that year are probably dimarzios, and whatever they are they sound amazing. Stays in tune and the action is great.

I bought this to test the idea of using a 335 without spending 2 grand, but now question what the diff would really be beyond cosmetics (which I don't really care about anyway) and the name on the headstock.

[hondo76]

come on keep the hondo love mojo coming!

[hondo76]

one more pic

[hondo76]

deleted

[rextasy]

My second electric was a Hondo II LP Goldtop copy.

[Dave_O]

About '85 I had a Hondo Strat copy; A zillion-piece body with about a 9 piece skunk-stripe lamination down the middle, POS tuners and real rude sounding pups. But it was fun!! I had it for around 3 months, and traded it for a Jazz Bass pup for my mongrel Precision.