Hondo II

A friend of mine gave me this guitar almost 20 years ago. He told me it's a Hondo II and he started to paint it but gave up. I've had it hanging in my garage all these years and decided yesterday to apply some Jaco paint remover to it and a belt sander and this is what I found:







It's a really cool guitar and a great project but I can't find a picture of this guitar anywhere on the net. Does anyone know anything about Hondo II?

Nevermind the guitar, your garage makes me jealous!

lol! My garage is a mess. But it's my home away from home!

Its got potential to be a VERY beautiful guitar. get some gold hardware. oooh. I'd leave it the natural colour. its awesome.

Yeah. So far it looks like it's neck-through construction! I havent been able to sand down the sides yet to see how the wood is layered together yet but I hope it's solid or maybe solid on the bottom with a different top. If all goes well the plan is for a natural finish yes! I dont know what all the holes are for either. Maybe two vol and two tones and the three little holes for out of phase swithcing? I don't know but yeah I wish I would have looked at this before! I'm very excited!

Well i found a whole bunch of Hondo guitars online, none with that shape though, I'll keep looking. they sure had some wacky designs. I found out that they were built between 1974 and 1987. So that is vintage stuff right there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hondo_%28guitar_company%29

EDIT: I found a couple pictures of that model, but no info anywhere

Where did you find the pics? I can't even find that yet!

It's a BC Rich Eagle copy made by Hondo II in 1981. I'm still looking for more info on it!

That's it! The one I found has a different head with tuners on one side and it's made by Crestline. Could you post the link to this one?

http://www.guitariste.com/forums/profil,materiel,264631.html

Thanks man! This is as close as I've ever come to finding anything about this guitar! I'm going to try to restore it to look more like the BC Rich though. It give's me a better idea about the hardware I'll need too! Fortunately, I still have the brass nut.

You gotta post a pic when you're done with it.

no prob

Should I make it fretless? I dodnt think I've ever played a fretless electric. Thoughts?

+1

I went to a local guitar store/repair shop looking for a brass nut for my BC and the guy looked at me like I was crazy. He said he never heard of a guitar using a brass nut. I need to show him this pic.

I actually have a brass nut on my old Warlock. It makes a difference with open chords an sustain and will last forever. Besides that it just looks cool!

I have no experience with fretless guitars. but in my honest opinion i would be a bit leery experimenting on a neck-thru. if it was just a bolt on then you could just replace the neck if you messed up or didnt like it. on a neck through you would pretty much be stuck with it. unless you can refret guitars, i have no idea.

Yeah, I was considering fretless cause I never refretted a guitar before. I're read about it and it looks pretty easy believe it or not. I think all you do is buy fretwire that comes in long pieces that you glue and press in then trim. I'm sure it's more than that but I think it's the last part of the project. It maybe cheaper and more efficient to pay a luthier to do it.

Forgot to include the actual quote and can't edit.

Yeah I'll definetely post pics. I'll post pics of the progress too so I can look at what I'm doing!

I went to Stewmac.com, Warmoth, and even to Guitar Center today to look at hardware and electronics. It could cost me more to a restore than it would to buy a new decent guitar! I'm gonna do it anyways.

Here it is. A 1980 Hondo II BC Rich copy.

I don't think you should make it a fretless for the reason that BBT already stated. Don't really think it's worth the risk and even if it all went smoothly after the rewiring it still wouldn't be the same.
My suggestion is, since you already have all that space for the hardware it had before but aren't really sure what electronics to install, why not put in the most typical parts of hardware and add a built-in effect like overdrive, distortion, fuzz, tremolo, phaser or something like that.

@Mici,

No. I'm not gonna do that. I'm either going to refret it myself or take it to my guitar guy who will do it for about 100 bucks.

Did some more sanding this weekend. I'm all the way down to the bare wood and there's no nicks or anything.

It's not a neck through like I thought but a set neck. It hase a rose wood fingerboard with a maple neck and center (two pieces glued together)two pieces of walnut, I think, and magogany wings.

Has to be said, that is a beautiful looking guitar - if it were mine, I wouldn't be trying to restore it to the original spec at all, I'd just seal the wood and then lacquer straight over the top. I think natural-look guitars are something rather sexy, and what's more that shape is kinda unusual, so it stands out more anyway.
And yeah, definitely refret the neck, for the reason already stated.

Afro

@ macandkanga
Can you post a side view of the neck please? I'm trying to decide whether it's like a Gibson 50's rounded or a Fender 'C' shape. Lovely looking guitar btw!

That guitar would look really great as a natural finish, plus I personally don't care for the Black/wood look of the original. Good luck on the build!

@Afro, deefa, guitarguy,

Thanks! Yeah, I'm definetly going to keep the finish natural. I will probably rub it down with an oil/laquer combo(several coats) and then rub the fretboard down with tru-oil. I don't understand why it wasnt finished naturally to begin with. They painted the mahogany pieces dark! Sanded down, in the pics it looks like the three pieces are the same color but the sides are mahogany and a little darker. It should contrast well when finished. I'll take some more pics soon and also some side view of the neck.

I just found out the electronics is set up as volume, pickup selector, volume, tone. The three minis are: out of phase, series parallel, series parallel. This guy will pre-wire a loom for me for $100 bucks or I might try it myself. I dont know.

I really like the natural wood look.

I sanded the black finish on the headstock but it's made in two pieces so there is a line that goes accross the front. What should I do about that? I don't think it'll look right with a clear finish. Or will it?

I see what your saying.

I would consider a decal or your own logo/crest that you make up.
Something that goes all the way across.

?

That's a good idea tinyskateboard! I'll see what I can do.

I'm learning so much about guitars on this project! I've been working with this luthier at OC Guitar works. I told him I would like a comfortable neck for chords but I also like to play fast down low for solos and bends. The perfect neck for this is called a combination or compound radiused neck. The neck near the headstock is has a smaller radius like 10" and graduates towards the body to like a 16" radius. The smaller the radius the more comfortable for your hand for chords. The higher radius is faster and better for bends.

Vintage Strat: 7"
Modern Strat: 9"
Gibson LP and Ibanez: 12"
Jacksons have a 16" or a compound 12" to "16 (I like this one!)
Most others are somwhere from 10" to 12"

Do you know what radius your guitar neck is? For some of you that have problems with your hand could be that your radius is too flat.

Hy! I'm Hungarian. I just bought one of theese guitars. It's all original. I've got just one picture, because the seller posted me the gutar today.
Here is it:
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/view/110203/git_r2011_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg

One knob was lost, and changed to another type.
Sombody turned the neck pickup. (I don't know why)

I will post mor pictures, when the guitar arrived.

Sorry for my bad english!

Hondo H-1040