Fun new project (70's Hondo Jazz bass) pic heavy!

[daan]

While checking out the used store by me for parts for my 6 other projects
including this other Hondo http://vintaxe.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=12976#12976
I ran across a reeealy nice Hondo II Jazz bass copy. It's all ash, with interesting humbucker sized pickups and with a really fat neck with rosewood fretboard. I like jazz basses, but could never afford one unless it was the really low end plywood ones. THis one cost me all of $80, as well. It's kind of scratched up and the circuit is funky (bridge pup doesn't work) but it's all there, and the neck is nice and fat. The finish must have started out as natural ash but has mellowed/darkened really nicely, you can see the lighter area that was under the bridge cover. (Which was also missing, but I would have taken it off anyway) Another plus is that most of the natural ash ones I've seen had maple fretboard necks, and I just can't bond with those. I just like rosewood so much better, plus the black block ones just look painted on anyway.
Oh yeah, on to the pictures:









I futzed with the circuit, it's under a white plastic plate instead of the chrome one they usually have. Apparently one of the pup wires came off the switch (missing it's tip) Usually these have 2 volume pots and a master tone, this one is set up as vol/tone/3 way switch. Also the bridge looks funky (2 barrels instead of 4, plus all the screws are rusty and mismatched, so who knows if this is the original bridge or not.) There appears to be larger holes under the pickup ring and the bridge, so I don't know if any of this is original, or somebody replaced stuff in the last 30 years. Everything rattles (3 of the tuners are really loose, both the pups move a lot and there doesn't appear to be a bridge ground because touching the bridge pup and the bridge at the same time makes weird noises). I have a Squier Jazz control plate and bridge I can put on here, I actually like the way the neck (middle? It's not real close to the neck) pup sounds so I think those are staying but the crummy tuners have to go. Overall I really like it, it plays real nice and the neck is just about perfect shaped for my odd hands (big palms, stubby fingers) so I think I got a keeper!

Anybody wanna guess the (approximate) year this thing's from? Thanks for looking!

[idtandy]

Nice find.

[daan]

New pix now that I'm working on it:

This thing is definitely ash, it's mellowed/darkened beautifully over the last 30 years. If you can look past all the scratches and dings...

all the hardware is really cheap though. I like the pickups so those are staying (well, and the guardplate since one from a real Fender doesn't come close to fitting:
The control panel is made of pickguard material instead of metal, and the controls themselves don't work so it's getting one from a Squier that was being modified.

I got the bridge from that guitar too, so I won't get my had caught on the screws anymore...

the tuning machines slip and the "elephant ear" parts rattle so those will be changed soon too.

Other than that, it's a fun bass and I LOVE the neck on it so it will look 90% similar to when I got it, it will just work better.

[aurei]

Hi! i was looking for this bass, cause i am trying to repair it's circuitry. Can you make a diagram? Cause it's badly damage this. I can tell you that the bridge is original. I have exactly the same

[daan]

How about a pic of the wiring? Mine was broken too when I got it. The bridge pup wires weren't connected to the coil inside the pickup and the 3-way switch was broken. I just replaced the whole control panel with one from a Squier since everythingon there was much higher quality than the originals.

[idtandy]

Whats the nut size?
Excellent Bass.
My Masada P-Bass has the same neck love it plays like butter.

[aurei]

I just finished repairing it using the pic you took. But you are right, the original electronics are bad. When i put the control panel, sometimes i have to quit it again because the sound doesn't work.
But it's a very good bass after all, it was from my dad when he was teen.
Greetings from Argentina

[daan]

I was curious about the nut size so I went and measured it. 44mm or just shy of 1-3/4. Big and girthy, just as I like it.
And as far as wiring mine up, every Hondo I've had has had wiring issues because of the selector switch going bad. If nothing else, swapping in a better 3-way switch (or even better, a blend pot) will make it work way better.

[idtandy]

Love the wood,it ages so well.
This is my Masada

[daan]

Wow that's nice. I love the neck-thru looking body.

[idtandy]

Thank you.The "law suit era" guitars that came out of Japan in the 70's.are some of the finest.
Ours probley came out of the same factory.
http://www.vintaxe.com/boards/viewtopic ... ght=masada

[daan]

Well I figured out why the pups didn't work- they were basically falling apart. As soon as I removed the bridge one, all the "guts" fell out of the case. None of the wires were connected to the winding inside, and everything was all corroded.

The white plastic thingy has the wire (uncoated plain wire) wrapped around it, the comb-shaped thing went thru it (I guess instead of having pole pieces sticking thru the cover?) and the magnets were on the sides of the cover, where the fake screws are on top. I couldn't find the ends of the winding so I sent the pups out to be rewound ( http://www.porterpickups.com/ ) They also got wax potted to try to cut down on the microphonics. Now I gotta figure out how to wire everything together, I have 3-wire pups and a control plate from a Squier Jbass, so they don't go together obviously but figuring it out is half the fun. A friend has a "real" Jbass with the "blend pot" wiring instead of 2-vol 1-master tone and it sounds really good so that's what I'm eventually going for. I have most of the dents and scrapes filled (super glue works perfect, it's totally clear and builds up easily) and most of the guitar is sanded to 1500 so it's kind of matte. The neck feels sooo much better than with all the dents in it, plus it's not "sticky" like when it was glossy.

[daan]

I've been working on this again, I really can't wait to get it back together (especially since I had to sell all my other basses, )
I have the body and the neck sanded up to 1500 (I left the front alone because I just love the caramel color it's faded to) but I just couldn't deal with the 543225624355 dents, scrapes and scratches. The bass was actually kind of rough when I played it. The neck alone had a half-dozen dents that needed to be filled. It's all good now, and smooth.

I started filling the holes from the original bridge, to put the new one on.

I measured it 43 times and somehow managed to put it in the wrong location! (Don't work on your guitar at 130AM after a 12-hour shift, it's not a good idea, even if you need to finish soon)

So, dowel another set of holes and start over.

I did manage to copper foil the cavities. Between that and the pickup potting, I'm hoping to quiet this down a bit. I liked the way it sounded, it just sounded like I was playing under 3 dozen beer signs or something.

After lots more measuring (and comparing to a "real" Jazz bass I borrowed) I think I have it in the right place now.

THe challenge is to integrate the Squier control plate with the Hondo pickups, but the S. had 2-wire pickups and the Hondo's pups were 3 wire. And the obvious connections didn't produce any sound. OOps.
I was going to have a new 3-ply pickguard (the original is thin 2-ply) and a slightly larger pickup surround cut for me by "Pickguardian" (the pup surround is small enough that you can see into the pickup route) but I kind of ran out of money. Maybe in a couple years (read: when my kids are in school and I'm not shelling out $$$ for day care) I can have that done. The new control panel doesn't match up exactly witht the guard plate, but as long as this plays OK I don't mind all that much. I kind of want to strip it all down again and paint it one of the cool custom colors and get a pearl guard plate, or do a 3-color sun burst and a tortoise guard but I know if I rip it all apart again it won't be done until I retire or something.

[daan]

Well I'm still plugging away at this. I had the original pups repaired and potted, but when they came back, the wiring wasn't right (no actual metal WIRE inside the plastic sheild, how do I wire that up? I found some different but similar age pups at a store I checked out on vacation, so I now have working pups. (THese came out of a violin-shaped thing that folded in half. They tested them for me so I know they work. Plus they were $7. Can't go wrong there!)

THe new control plate doesn't match up to the old guard plate, which I knew would happen. THe old plate was made of pickguard material and smaller than the actual metal plate I have now (plus the components seem nicer) It just doesn't wanna talk to the pups so I have to chase more wires. I want to send what I have to www.pickguardian.com to have a new pickguard/pup surround made out of decent material (the original was just white and black laminate, instead of w/b/w) I wasted an entire sheet of pickguard material trying to cut control covers for my other hondo project, so I'd rather get a pro to do it right instead of my wobbly cuts... but that will cost more than I paid for the whole bass.