Hondo Howard Roberts Fusion

by **diland** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:25 pm

Hi- I'm researching my newly aquired Hondo Howard Roberts Fusion. The serial # is 091447. Can anyone help me read this number. Any info that anyone would like to share about this guitar would be greatly appreciated. Thanks-Diland

by **VintAxe** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:38 am

Hi Diland,

Just wanted to let you know I've been looking around for information on your Howard Roberts Fusion but I haven't found anything on the Hondo model yet. It looks like in the late 70's there were several Japanese companies copying this model including Ibanez and Electra. Given that I have a reasonable collection of 80's Hondo literature in which the HR does not appear, I'm inclined to believe that your guitar was probably produced in the late 70's as well. Does the guitar look 70's or is it something more recent? I'll post if I turn up more definitive information. sb

by **thepsmith** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:49 am

Hi,
From what research I have done on this guitar (as I have one)...
Gibson did not introduce the Howard Roberts Fusion until late 1979
So that would imply that Hondo and the Seville brand that has an HR Fusion copy as well, (both brands parent company is rumored to be Ibanez) most likely did not produce their clones until the early eighties.

Most of the Hondo's of this copy I have seen have all been in the Cherry finish. The one Seville SEVHR1 I have seen was a bizzarre (ugly) cherry like burst. (jc's guitars)

Please let me know if you find more definitive info on the actual model and mfg dates.

regards,

Patrick

by **VintAxe** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:09 pm

Ooops, you're right. I was thinking Howard Roberts Custom for some reason. The Custom debuted in 1974, the Artist in 76 and the Fusion in 79.

Thanks for the correction,

sb

by **diland** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:51 am

Hi- Thanks for the reply guys. Its good to hear from someone who also has a Hondo HR. Didn't check the forum for awhile. Been a
little busy lately. My HR Fusion is a cherry red color with the stop tailpiece.
I was wondering whether or not my pickups were original. Would appreciate any pic that you would like to share and your impressions of the guitar. I'll try to get my pics up to share as well.

by **thepsmith** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:04 pm

I just took mine into a local repair place for a minor fret dressing and a new Ivorite brand nut.
should make it pretty darn nice.

As far as I can tell the chrome PAF style pickups are stock on these. I did not see any brand or model listed when I removed the screws and lifted them out. I read that some models of the formula series had dimarzio's.

Mine sound great for the stock "who knows" pickups that were installed....

I did notice that the tone pot located closer to the tailpiece seemed to sit lower to the top than all the other pots. Upon further investigation, I realized the underside of the top must not have had enough material removed in that area when the pots were initally installed.

Other than that I think its a pretty good guitar as things go.

by **diland** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:43 pm

Hi Patrick-Here's some pics of my Hondo HR. I also have a Hondo Deluxe 748
Les Paul that has a Tokai made neck joint. According to the Tokai forum,Tokai and Hondo had a business relationship from about 1979 to 1983.
I'm wondering if these Howard Roberts models could be Tokai made? Have you heard anything about this?-Dewey

by **diland** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:49 pm

Hi SB-Thanks for looking . Do you ever run across any info on the Hondo Deluxe 748? Can't seemto find much on this also.-Dewey

by **VintAxe** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:40 pm

Hey Dewey,

A 748TT is pictured in the 1985 Hondo catalog I have uploaded in the Catalog Section of this site. TT is a finish designation but I'm not sure what it stands for (2 tone?). It appears to be a decent copy with Grover tuners and a set neck. sb

by **diland** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:04 pm

Hey Patrick-I went and took out the tone pots and the bridge from my HR Fusion last night and discovered that the pots were all 500k. The tone pots also had Sam HWA (Korean) capacitors. Under the bridge was stamped "Gotoh Japan" Do you know if your HR has any of these markings? Anyway,just some info for you in case you're interested.-Dewey

by **park** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:52 pm

Hello,

I just picked up a Hondo HR Fusion on ebay. It came by UPS yesterday. Wow, what a great guitar. Way better than I expected. Heavy for an archtop. It was pretty dirty, but cleaned up nicely. There's no serial number or other marks on mine. Did anyone find any other info on these?

Here's mine:

by **park** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:50 pm

I've updated my Hondo HR Fusion. I wanted to try a Stetsbar on it and while I was at it I changed all the electronics. The "original" pickups were very microphonic and the pots and selector switch were scratchy. Here's another shot:

I was hoping to find some kind of markings to help identify a manufacturer, but there were none except this on the selector:

Does this style switch look familiar to anyone? Japanese? Korean?

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