new/old Hondo II lots of pics

[daan]

So my first "real" guitar was a Hondo Les Paul copy, I got it for $165 in 1984 after saving up my allowance/lawn mowing/babysitting $ for the better part of the year. When I bought mine, the store had a used doublecut, set-neck one like this, except in all black or the one I ended up with (bass boat sparkle red, bolt-on neck, covered pickups) with a big scratch right on the top. I let my dad talk me into the flashy red guitar "hey, this old one costs the same as this BRAND NEW one, get this one instead." Anyway I hadn't seen another Hondo like this since the early/mid 80s.
Anyway, I mostly wanted to know if any of you knew anything about these, like is it real wood (maple? the grain pattern seems to go thru both sides) as opposed to plywood like my other one, is there any way to date these guitars, there's no serial on it that I can see. Are the pickups the Dimarzio pickups I heard went on the "nice" Hondos?Not that it matters because this one doesn't play thru my amp at all, so there's definitely something wrong with the electronics. Maybe because whoever had it before me just put that blue painter's tape over the control cavity because the plastic plate is missing.
Anyway I just wanted to share my $100 "music pawn shop" score with you all, and say that I love this forum. Thank you!
http://s427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/dannew2008/h2/
(full album link)

[VintAxe]

Hi daan.

I don't have a guitar like yours illustrated in any of my Hondo literature but we can probably triangulate to a likely date of production. First, its a Hondo II which was produced between 1974-82. The headstock with the divot out of the center is not pictured in the 1977 catalog but does show up in the 1980-81 literature. However, the logo on the 1980 guitars is set on a diagonal rather than straight horizontal like yours. The straight horizontal placement was used on the 1977 instruments.

So, without solid visual evidence to back me up, I'd say your guitar was produced in either 1978 or 79. Unfortunately, I have no Hondo literature from these two years. According to Michael Wright, 1979 was Hondo's largest production year building 790,000 instruments.

You guitar has a couple of unusual features for a Hondo. First, it is fully bound which I've only seen on single cut LP models, all the double cut models in my literature are unbound. Second, it has block inlays, all the double cuts in my literature have dots.

I would be shocked if the body were solid maple. My hunch is the reason your guitar is bound is because that is a maple cap on top and they are using the binding to hide the joint where the cap is glued to the body. Look in your control cavity to see if the body is solid or plywood.

As far as the pickups, DiMarzios were offered as an option during the late 1970's period. Several models were offered in H (standard pups) and HD (DiMarzio) versions. I can't tell what you have by looking, maybe one of our sharp Forum visitors can help you out here.

Anyway, it looks to me like you have one of the fancier Korean built guitars Hondo produced. Figure out the wiring issues and let see what she sounds like

[Spud1950]

From your Photobucket pictures of the walls of the control cavity,I don't see any indication of ply layers.Looks solid to me. As to what kind of wood,if it were solid maple,the guitar would be extremely heavy.Maple is dense,heavy wood, and rarely used for a solid body except as a cap. Also, the pickups don't look like the DiMarzios I've seen in Hondo's or other guitars of that period. They have the idividually adjustable set screw pole pieces, like this.

[daan]

Ah, it sounds like a mystery. Or more likely, something that got made when the boss was off for a couple days, maybe with extra parts they had lying around. No matter, I like it the way it is. Or will be as soon as I clean it up... I messed with the wiring, spraying that contact cleaner on it and just gently moving the wiring to see if something got un-soldered, but nothing obvious is wrong. I was thinking of trying this out http://store.guitarfetish.com/colespaupelc.html to get it working again, especially if none of the components in this thing are A working or B important to keep original.
Thank you for schooling me, and so quickly, too. you guys are an incredible source of knowledge in an area of guitar history that noone else seems to think needs remembering. Thank you again.

[Spud1950]

Word of caution if you decide to replace the pots. I can tell you that the pots from GFS will not fit.The pots in your guitar are the mini size,about the size of a dime.The GFS pots are full size,much larger,about the size of a quarter.I can see that at least two of your mini pot bodies are right up against the control cavity wall, so there's no way the larger full size pots would fit without having to hack away some wood.You need pots like on this page,part #R-VAM500KA.

[wietse]

[Spud1950]

[VintAxe]

[daan]

[Spud1950]

[wietse]

in the most cases is the toggleswitch the problem when you get no sound.
a easy way to check if the pickups are not working when you don't have a meter is to solder them direct on the output.

a trussodcover you can easely make yourself.



no pickguard on these hondo's, you won't find any holes on it where one was mounted.

[Bassassin]

This isn't our first one of these - this is from back in November:

http://vintaxe.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1408

About halfway down you'll find some pics of my very closely related LP copy - identical construction, materials & finish, and my contender for Slowest Restoration In The World!

Anyway - Daan's Photobucket pics clearly show the model number of this one - HD-775:

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp36 ... /H2015.jpg

So from what Vintaxe says those pups will be DiMarzios. I'd recommend a complete stripdown for this one - take the pickups our & test them (multimeters are dirt-cheap & an essential purchase if you're going to do up old guitars!) you'll then be able to check the backs, and the interior of the routes to verify the body construction method.

Be very careful removing the stickers - if it's anything like mine the finish is very thin and peeling stickers off is likely to take a load of lacquer with it. I recommend warming them with a hairdryer to soften the glue & peeling very, very carefully.

You'll be lucky to find an exact-fit control cavity cover - buy a bit of b/w/b pickguard material & cut one out - you can easily make a paper template from the cavity itself, then make a trc from the leftovers!

Jon.

[daan]

Wow thanks, the knowledge on here is just incredible. Especially since there are at least 3 others on here with similar guitars now...
Anyone wanna guess what kind of wood that is? A freind has a "real" Gibson, and it feels like it weighs 2X what this thing weighs. My Hondo is thinner than the LP, but the 1/4" of mahogany can't weigh that much, right? Maybe the TRC/control cavity covers were lead, ha ha
I started peeling stickers the other night, 90% of the sticker, and all the adhesive is still on the finish from the peel job. The finish on this is super thin, there are scratches on the neck and the finish looks "decal thin" if that makes sense. Way thinner than the 1/4" thick polyurethane finishes I'm used to on my cheap guitars. The point here being that I don't think I could match the color on a refinish, and I like it so I'm being careful.

[Bassassin]

[daan]

I spent some quality time getting all the sticker/residue off of it this weekend, I tried some "Goo Gone", which didn't even touch the residue. I ended up using straight rubbing alcohol and an old sock, and now the guitar is nice and clean looking. I might even just get out the 00000 steel wool to see if I can make it even shinier. The finish didn't come off at all, just all the stickers. I got out the "Naptha" and that didn't leave a mark so the finish is definitely not nitrocelluose lacquer, not that I was really expecting it to be. Gotta love that polyurethane, 20+ years of dumb teenage boys can knock the snot out of a guitar, and an hour or so of polishing and it's good as new. Now I just need to fix the cracked nut and figure out why it doesn't play thru the amp, and we're all good.