The HONDO thread.

[Disturber]

The LP thread, which mentions a lot of Hondo, got me thinking. How many of you owned a Hondo? You still have it? Or pics of it?

My first was a double cut wine red Hondo with two dog ear P90s. The neck was impossible to get straight enough, the tuners were shite and it feedbacked lite a mutha. I did my first pickup swap on that guitar, probably the first time I used a soldering iron too. I think I had to widen the pickup cavity, (probably did it with a butcher knife, lolz).
I installed a Mighty Might SuperDistortion copy in that one, the "Van Halen pickup". Might even have been wound by Mr Seymour Duncan, who did jobs for Mighty Might back in the day.
I don't think it made the guitar sound much better. But I played it in my first band (called Power Load), through a Roland solid state amp. Those were the times!

I don't have pics of the guitar. But it looked something like this:

 

[tomteriffic]

Sold a ton of them.  Owned one that was the basis for my Frankenstrat.  The store I worked for bought out their entire NAMM stock and that one was the pick of the litter  There was not one piece of that guitar that wasn't replaced or modified.

I recently spent some quality time with a Longhorn Bass copy.  By the time it got to me it had better tuners, a DiMarzio pickup with a preamp and a 2-TeK bridge.  And it weighed a ton.  Great bass, I was sorry to see that one go.

But mostly they were decent platforms for modding.

 

[mathman]

First guitar I ever bought.  Have a photo somewhere.

 

[Frogburger]

Oh, yeah, Hondo! It sure brings back memories. My first  "playable" guitar was a Hondo flat top acoustic I bought in 1976. I learned the rudiments of Travis picking on it before promptly exchanging it for a case of lousy French beer, because I had then found a cheap-but-great maple-bodied Suzuki. I miss that one. The Hondo? Not so much...

 

[Jeff R]

A friend sent his Hondo "Formula Series" black w/red binding (Washburn "look" copy of the era) rear-loaded superstrat to college with me for a semester because he had no use for it. It became a cheap way to pass my time in the dorm - aka, tinkering, noodling and subsequently learning stuff. That guitar was my introduction to guitar wiring circuits. I know I must have tried a dozen different pickups, pot values, caps, push-pulls, etc., over a few months just because it was there and I was bored AND poor. I remember at one point I was trying to put it back together after an experiment and I ran the output jack to the tone knob hole because I didn't have enough wire left to get it back to its intended hole.

 

[DaveL]

My first guitar was a $10 electric guitar, my first "good" guitar was a Hondo II les paul,  black

with dimarzio's...   $120 used  paid for by money helping my electrician father.   Looked just

like Glenn Tipton's on the back cover of Hell Bent For Leather.        then Daddy's Junky Music

had an auction, brought a bunch of cash, and bought bunch of effects for $5 like an electro

harmonix octave multiplexer,  70's fender jazz bass neck for $10, Univox head for $10,

and the addiction was born.  

 

[serial]

My first guitar was a Hondo II Strat copy that was $139.00 at The Drum Pad.  I really wanted a vintage blonde Fender Mustang that they had in the shop for $169, but my father didn't want to get a 'used' guitar.  

The Hondo Strat was complete garbage. Heavy with crappy pickups and lousy frets, I made it work and like everyone else here it seems, I learned wiring and guitar mods on that thing.  I ended up smashing it at a party we played at in college (it was along as a prop-I was gigging my Tokai Strat).  I thought a Pete Townshend move would impress the ladies.  It did not (the ones I saw looked fearful) and that damned guitar WOULD NOT break, even with the neck screws loosened.  The shock up my arms was painful too. That POS did not want to die!

 

[MCChris]

Here's me in action with my Hondo II, circa 1981:

I recall it being kinda cool in terms of a decent finish and having a mini switch for coil tapping (I added the poker chip) but I'm sure it was a POS like the rest of them.

 

[sonic1974]

My first guitar was a Hondo II Strat copy that was $139.00 at The Drum Pad.  I really wanted a vintage blonde Fender Mustang that they had in the shop for $169, but my father didn't want to get a 'used' guitar.  

The Hondo Strat was complete garbage. Heavy with crappy pickups and lousy frets, I made it work and like everyone else here it seems, I learned wiring and guitar mods on that thing.  I ended up smashing it at a party we played at in college (it was along as a prop-I was gigging my Tokai Strat).  I thought a Pete Townshend move would impress the ladies.  It did not (the ones I saw looked fearful) and that damned guitar WOULD NOT break, even with the neck screws loosened.  The shock up my arms was painful too. That POS did not want to die!

I did a similar thing, except it was an El- Degas strat copy. It was actually a fairly decent guitar. Nice sounds and playbility, but I had a hard time keeping it in tune. But that was probably user error! 

In a moment of teenage angst, after a fight with my dad, I tried to smash it up. I hit it on the street, right into the pavement. I thought it would be cathartic, like Pete Townsend smashing stuff into an amp. 

But no! Hurt my hands, and the fucking thing stayed together, just a big dent and that was that, even after hitting it a few times. Talk about a letdown. 

Do the guys who break things on stage have it purposely weakened before hand? Like part of the act before? haha. 

These days my guitar breaking days are over. I learned my lesson. 

Oh shit, I just remember a few years later, same guitar, I tried to light it on fire, which was harder to do than it looked on tv. The volume/tone knobs melted, blackened pickguard and that was that. 

Next time, more lighter fluid. 

 

[hanspanzer]

My first guitar was a Hondo Fame 757 Telecaster. I`ve seen Tokais with the excact same headstock so I`ve always assumed it was japanese and that Hondo (as well as many other brands) had guitars in a wide price range. This tele was way ahead of the korean plywood strat with black, pointy headstock my friend had. 

Edit: Not mine but exacly like it (minus the pickups)

 

[Biz Prof]

Wondering if we should initiate a similar thread based on HFCers ownership of Rondo products...

Just kidding.

There are some interesting entries in this thread. My first real guitar (a liberal use of the term "real") was Cort-manufactured mini-V with a single humbucker. I wish I had a picture of it, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. It looked just like this one, albeit royal blue in finish.

 

 

[diablo175]

This is similar to the one I owned. Minus the p'up upgrade/swap.  I think mine were chrome covered...

I lent it to my middle school buddy who played in a punk rock band called Little Gentlemen. In exchange, I got his white Vox Phantom(?)  I was enamored with it having a whammy bar  and the Strat style 3 single p'ups and a 6 -in-line head stock. Paved the way for the later acquisition of a '76 Strat.  He likely got more use out of mine in that situation than I did with his across my thigh in the bedroom... Yeah, about that seated position and the Vox body shape...

 

[mathman]

This is a bad print from a slide photo.  I need a slide scanner but don't have one.

Neal ( my longtime band mate) and I both wanted to learn the guitar so he went first and bought a Hondo II Les Paul copy, and a week or so later I went and bought one also.  Keep it about a year before trading it for an Ibanez that ended up being traded for the Usa Fender Bullit bass I still have to this day.

1980 is when this picture was taken if I remember correctly.

 

[BTMN]

Played a ton of them over the years in many a pawn shop and mom and pop guitar shop. Several "Explorer " based ones almost left with me but I never bought one. mostly because I have preferred set necks first and foremost since the guitar bug bit me. Great entry level guitars for a budget. Can't recall if they are or were Matsumoto built. 

 

[Lockbody]

I was always more of a Lotus guy myself, but in the spirit of things...

Hondo!

 

[The Shark]

I was an Electra man in my formative days. 

 

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

My first guitar was a Harmony Flying V from a pawn shop. My 2nd guitar was a Sebring strat copy from the same pawn shop.  The experiences with those 6-screw trems very nearly scarred me for life, when it comes to trems.  I still won't buy a 6-screw trem other than PRS, which is why I've never once tried a Daytona.

 

[LefThanDed]

A. What is the difference between Hondo & Hondo II?

2. I remember a kid in my neighborhood shooting his Hondo Les Paul full of BB's for "more sustain".   (Parents' reaction was even uglier than the "customized guitar")

 

[Willie G. Moseley]

Had a copper-colored Hondo II Longhorn bass for a while w/ an original DiMarzio pickup (P-Bass style). Sturdy with a decent sound  but its ergonomics took some gettin' used to.