Very Cool, Thankyou. Nice Guitar. I have an early 1980's Hondo Fame (with Fender 'F' lol) Series 760 strat copy. Sat in storage for far too long, but when I got it out restrung it plays amazing and I am in love with the one piece Maple Neck/Fingerboard. Awesome Guitar, The Pickups and Knobs have yellowed nicely and look cool against the pure white pickguard. Such a fun Instrument to play. Cheers
Them old Hondo guitars are great, then you also have Greco, awesome guitars. I had an early 70's Univox LP that was also a great guitar, I likened it to the old Ibanez Gibson model copies, I also had a 76 series Ibanez flying V and a Explorer which I really regret selling :( little did I know. As for today ESP brand Edwards are phenomenal guitars, not cheap, but half the price of most Gibson's, Tokai Love rock LP's is another alternative. They are made in China but the new Epiphones made at that plant are very good. Made Indonesia guitars I stay clear of, most are absolute shite/rubish!
Cheers Dan, I really do believe some old Hondos are great, plenty of folks love theiers! I am in two minds over mine, though its OK, this was built in Taiwan from what little info I can find. There are better examples out there thats for sure and thats what I hoped came through in my vid. You are right on the other brands metioned, ESP and Tokai are superb, though so far I have only played a Tokai which was exceptional. Many Chinese built guitars are superb definitley in latter years, Epiphones and Squier range, plus no doubt many others included. Appreciate the comments , trying to get folk like you to throw in their experiences here, to discuss and help others researching, Thanks so much for commenting.
Just bought an early 80’s Hondo 737 lefty in tobacco sunburst. It isn’t a Les Paul. It’s veneered maple over a laminated-plywood- body. The tune-o-matic is a palm bleeder, if you play metal and mute a lot. Some of them have single coil pickups, made to look like covered humbuckers. Some are humbuckers modeled after early dimarzios. Hell. Some even have dimarzios… The one i got cost me 300.00 on reverb, and is in pretty nice shape. The body looks very good. Very few dings, and mostly damage free. Tuners are like a 12-1, because tuning is a bitch when you’re used to 18-1 tuners! Needed a neck adjustment badly. However, got it dead straight. Polished the frets, new strings, intonation, and it plays nicely! Magnets in the pickups are weaker, so in a medium gain setting, they are quite unique and sound great. In high gain, they are quite buzzy- like maybe not well potted. But for the money, and due to the fact the Hondo deluxe was my first electric, i am having a lot of fun playing it! I think the key is to research what years are good, and what years are garbage
Thanks for the comment! Yep some of these Hondos are like black & white quality and build wise. Some are going for some serious money but there are still good ones to be had. I think as with many of the 80s and earlier makes and models a bit of time and care on getting them sorted and set up can pay off and makes them quite fun to own and play.
@@stevegroves for myself, it’s all about the sentimental value. I’m also looking for an 83 ½ Fullerton era strat, which are horrible guitars, but it was the first one i bought on my own, and i lost it through desperate means. They had good pickups, but the two knob design and drop in trem were big misses. They only made them for a year and a half. Then they moved manufacturing to Japan and went back to the old school designs. Dan Smith tried to save costs, but his design wasn’t well received. Mine was a black and white with maple neck and fretboard. I’ll find one some day for a decent price.
I get that, I stupidly sold a couple of guitars a while back and really regret it. One was an Encore my first electric guitar I got new in 94. It had a solid ash body and a great neck. Pick ups were not too bad either. If I kept it may have fitted some decent hotter pups in it. Have not found an Encore since that had the Ash body but I keep looking! @@allendean9807
I have the same model Honda to guitar the pickups are single coils disguises humbuckers they sound cool and like a strat it's almost like a p90 anyway I ripped it out and put one of my flying view pick ups in the bridge position and it rips in the bridge was a little funky to get the correct intonation after I rewired it new pickups it's a ripping
Very Cool, Thankyou. Nice Guitar. I have an early 1980's Hondo Fame (with Fender 'F' lol) Series 760 strat copy. Sat in storage for far too long, but when I got it out restrung it plays amazing and I am in love with the one piece Maple Neck/Fingerboard. Awesome Guitar, The Pickups and Knobs have yellowed nicely and look cool against the pure white pickguard. Such a fun Instrument to play. Cheers
Thank you! Some of these Hondo models are superb and sought after! Especially the early rare ones.
Them old Hondo guitars are great, then you also have Greco, awesome guitars. I had an early 70's Univox LP that was also a great guitar, I likened it to the old Ibanez Gibson model copies, I also had a 76 series Ibanez flying V and a Explorer which I really regret selling :( little did I know.
As for today ESP brand Edwards are phenomenal guitars, not cheap, but half the price of most Gibson's, Tokai Love rock LP's is another alternative.
They are made in China but the new Epiphones made at that plant are very good. Made Indonesia guitars I stay clear of, most are absolute shite/rubish!
Cheers Dan, I really do believe some old Hondos are great, plenty of folks love theiers! I am in two minds over mine, though its OK, this was built in Taiwan from what little info I can find. There are better examples out there thats for sure and thats what I hoped came through in my vid. You are right on the other brands metioned, ESP and Tokai are superb, though so far I have only played a Tokai which was exceptional. Many Chinese built guitars are superb definitley in latter years, Epiphones and Squier range, plus no doubt many others included. Appreciate the comments , trying to get folk like you to throw in their experiences here, to discuss and help others researching, Thanks so much for commenting.
Had a Hondo in 1978. Just like a Les Paul.
Just bought an early 80’s Hondo 737 lefty in tobacco sunburst. It isn’t a Les Paul. It’s veneered maple over a laminated-plywood- body. The tune-o-matic is a palm bleeder, if you play metal and mute a lot. Some of them have single coil pickups, made to look like covered humbuckers. Some are humbuckers modeled after early dimarzios. Hell. Some even have dimarzios…
The one i got cost me 300.00 on reverb, and is in pretty nice shape. The body looks very good. Very few dings, and mostly damage free. Tuners are like a 12-1, because tuning is a bitch when you’re used to 18-1 tuners! Needed a neck adjustment badly. However, got it dead straight. Polished the frets, new strings, intonation, and it plays nicely! Magnets in the pickups are weaker, so in a medium gain setting, they are quite unique and sound great. In high gain, they are quite buzzy- like maybe not well potted. But for the money, and due to the fact the Hondo deluxe was my first electric, i am having a lot of fun playing it! I think the key is to research what years are good, and what years are garbage
Thanks for the comment! Yep some of these Hondos are like black & white quality and build wise. Some are going for some serious money but there are still good ones to be had. I think as with many of the 80s and earlier makes and models a bit of time and care on getting them sorted and set up can pay off and makes them quite fun to own and play.
@@stevegroves for myself, it’s all about the sentimental value. I’m also looking for an 83 ½ Fullerton era strat, which are horrible guitars, but it was the first one i bought on my own, and i lost it through desperate means. They had good pickups, but the two knob design and drop in trem were big misses. They only made them for a year and a half. Then they moved manufacturing to Japan and went back to the old school designs. Dan Smith tried to save costs, but his design wasn’t well received. Mine was a black and white with maple neck and fretboard. I’ll find one some day for a decent price.
I get that, I stupidly sold a couple of guitars a while back and really regret it. One was an Encore my first electric guitar I got new in 94. It had a solid ash body and a great neck. Pick ups were not too bad either. If I kept it may have fitted some decent hotter pups in it. Have not found an Encore since that had the Ash body but I keep looking! @@allendean9807
I have the same model Honda to guitar the pickups are single coils disguises humbuckers they sound cool and like a strat it's almost like a p90 anyway I ripped it out and put one of my flying view pick ups in the bridge position and it rips in the bridge was a little funky to get the correct intonation after I rewired it new pickups it's a ripping
Cool! Sounds like a great mod to the guitar! Thanks for comment, its great hearing about peoples experiences with their gear. :)