Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Hondo guitars in the Sears catalogs that my grandmother used to get when I was a kid. I loved looking through those catalogs, it wasn't like I could just peruse the internet back then.
I had a couple of Hondos back in the 80s. Yeah, not the best things but God Bless you for bringing that thing back to life! Always breaks my heart to see old guitars rotting away not getting any love. Great Job Dude!
Thanks for making this video. This is the guitar I practiced on in the late 80s. Same colors and everything. I had put a Floyd Rose on it. It wasn't a bad guitar! Good job bringing it back to life.
Hello Dane and my fellow guitarist. This particular model Hondo is called The Blade II. Over 20 yrs ago I bought a mint condition Blade , 1 pup, 1 vol control, teal with red pinstripes, for $250 a favor price from my bro in law, for my son 13 at the time. I had it appraised immediately= $450 then. Held onto it for 10 yrs before I gave it to him so it wouldn't get destroyed. It's still minty, he only uses it for specific gigs. Dave Tucson 🌵
Wow such a nice job on this. It’s sad to think something like this may have ended up in a dumpster but you revived it. I was thinking I would touch up the paint dings but on second thought they kind of “fit” there. Nice job again.
I have a soft spot for these old Hondo guitars. The second guitar I ever got was a Hondo Formula 1, it was reversed though, so the short wing was on top, it had a Kahler on it and HSS pickup configuration and a bunch of switches. I wish I still had it, because it was a really cool guitar.
PS you could shine those fret markers up with some steel wool, don't be afraid to take a razor blade, to clean a fretboard up,held at a 90 degree angle you can scrap between each fret to remove grime and make the fretboard look brand new,I scrap until I start seeing the rosewood coming up under the the grime, right up between each fret, then I take the corner of the blade and scrap against each fret,to remove the junk that builds up along each fret,the blade can level out high inlays and peel away the layer of grime too.
I have a Gibson style Hondo V which I partially restored with the help of a friend. We got stuck when we couldn't find string saddles to fit the existing bridge. Any we tried didn't line up with the pickups. The bridge seemed stock, but maybe Hondo had smaller than standard saddles?. Still searching for the right fit. It also had no nut like this one.
My very first electric guitar when I was a little boy back in 1976 was a brand new white Hondo Les Paul Custom copy. It was a HORRIBLE thing! Unplayable, blessing the loving kid (frets were unfinished and badly cutting my little fingers), action was epic and using my Boss OD for some fun was just having the pickups screech in pain. Almost 50 years later it still gives me goosebumps of a nightmare when seeing the one old photo I have playing it :D BUT: There was a positive side. I really played a lot and was mistreating my moms master luthier classical guitar since I was 5 - so seeing how BAD this Hondo actually was she decided in 1978 to offer me a good guitar that I could choose myself (within limits of course). It was my lucky day as in the shop was a beautiful one just waiting for me - demo model so slightly used, original case missing and on sale ("old" model) ... we got that 1976 Bi-cenntennial Gibson Firebird for half of the price tag!
Great video. While older high end guitars are cool some of the cheaper guitars are slightly cooler. I don't play but, I've owned quite a few guitars. Mostly lower end but, in the mid '80s I had a Les Paul Custom and an '84 CMT V. My favorite guitar was a mid '80s (?) asymmetrical Epiphone V. I to was perplexed at the double green wires until my brain woke up. Quite funny.
I try getting cheap guitars from good will and fixing them up to donate to a few music schools in my area. For new students use and learn on so they can save up for something better once they know they will stick with it.
Pretty much only the Hondo Professional series are worth fixing up as they are Japanese made for the most part. Nearly all the others are cheaper entry level Korean made guitars. I've looked at a couple and found the sum of the partss needed to fix them was more than the shell was worth. This one came out good and sounds good with the Epi pickups.
I recently found a Hondo Explorer in same shape and fixed it up. I’ve been on the lookout for another and here you have it!Dude Iwant that is it for sale?
I personally Love the 80's Japanese guitars. Electra/Westone, Vantage , Aria Pro , Cort. A Electra was my first guitar. Sadly I don't have it anymore. Just this year I found one just like mine but different color. Plays great after I did some work on it. Brings back memories. Its how I learned guitar.
I have owned one Hondo...And one Honda... neither sucked.... AIN'T IT JUST AIN'T IT 😜 lols... unique guitar...Hey you know how to catch a unique Rabbit.... Unique up on it 😜
I have a Hondo formula 1 h 873 and you might look it up under m a u r i c e g u i h e e and that is what a true formula one should look like made in Japan in a custom shop I have all the paperwork with it it's a a badass guitar I put headset pickups and it sounds killer looks like an and explorer style guitar
...as I am yelling at the screen "its the output jack!!!" 😂😂😂 I was hoping you would have used the cream pickup covers, but the black still look factory good! Great work Dane. Most of these guitars would never get a second chance at playing life. You definitely put your heart, as well as your skills into these rebuilds. That 'ol Hondo sounds delicious!
My very first guitar was a black Hondo Les Paul lefty. Bought it a pawn shop. Thought I could learn to play in two weeks and when that didn't work out it got retired to the closet. Years later I took the time to learn some chords on a Yamaha acoustic. After a couple of years I had my first band and got that Hondo going again. It did real well with a Green Rhino pedal into a Traynor tube amp. Loved the vid!
I remember these as being cheap rubbish. Vintage would imply quality. It is merely old. Sort of guitar a mum would by because she didn't know any better. Good guitar to learn how to fix up.
somebeter saddles on that bridge, I gotta a buncha sets of those Highwood style saddles from australia, really good for trems as they don't bind the strings great vintage replacements or any replacement for a 6 point bridge especially if you actually use the trem both ways, full floating.. ebay, like $11 a set, beats the $48 stewmac wants, just as good too.. why fender still hasn't fixed those saddles is beyond me? they have too sharp of a break angle and disrupt stability when using the trem.. those would be a great replacement here on this Hondo imo.. maybe recrown the frets as well? might help the playability and speed of the neck? maybe needs a leveling for some low action.. should be set up as a shredder imma thinkin.. any decent set neck is worth the effort, its not about the brand name or what its worth, its what it plays like and the tone you cfna squeeze out of it, hale if the name bothers you slap a different logo on the headstock.. I just picked up $400 worth of nut making tools so I can start carving wooly mammoth nuts and saddles, $160 just for a decent file and handle set.. jeez $120 for the scroll saw, $150 for a belt disk sander combo, couple polishing wheels.. still need a good bench, want one of those with the wheels I can roll around.. make it a nut/saddle bench.. prolly have enough woolly to fit all my strats, half my acoustics, might have to invest in some more, its around, spendy but around, got a real good deal off ebay a few years back, 4 lbs for $40.. almost all but maybe 6 ounces was large enough for saddles and nuts, even the 1/4" wide nuts... just scrap but i'll use it hale yes Wooly tusk is legal, and its totally discernable from elephant tusk, has a different grain you can see under a magnifying glass.. I've made one nut from it for a yamaha acoustic worked out real nice, all by hand it takes forever tho, no thanks why I got all the tools, the nut ended up slightly narrow maybe half mm after final sanding, with the electric coping table saw and sanding wheel and belt I can cut it long then just touch it till its the perfect width.. by hand its a bitch cuz you want to cut it as close as possible with a hand saw so there isn't as much sanding by hand which can easily screw up the accuracy.. so the right tooling was in order... next up is fret tools then pickup winding tools.. two more benches ... lol something to do tho..
welp, electrical wire for a toaster isn't really what you want for a guitar wiring its not insulkated properly, lotta bleed, a lead as long as that jack I'd use a good vintage cloth wire, wire it with braided ground or whatever those epiphone pups are using..
Looks like this the Korean made by Samick version ( 84/85). They go for about 400$ on Reverb, one guy even asking 800, same color, same fender style trem.
Not for nuthin' but this guitar sounds better than most of the other ones you do. Put that on the wall to sell. Someone would buy for $350 for sure. Hell I would. Good job!
The appraiser was an old timer and told me the Blade originally sold for $79.99 in Sears in the late 70s.
80 bucks retail to $450 value in ~20 years is a pretty solid return rate!
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Hondo guitars in the Sears catalogs that my grandmother used to get when I was a kid. I loved looking through those catalogs, it wasn't like I could just peruse the internet back then.
@@TylerJohnstonGuitar That was 23 yrs ago when I bought it, I have no idea what it's worth now.
The Guitar Whisperer working his magic! Awesome job, that guitar is ready to rock again. You are right, I(prob. We) really enjoy these vids!
Thanks again!
This why this is the best channel showing all the uncommon brands people seem to for get. Hope you do more brands like westone, lotus, and arbor.
better then fonder ir gibigibsen
I had a couple of Hondos back in the 80s. Yeah, not the best things but God Bless you for bringing that thing back to life! Always breaks my heart to see old guitars rotting away not getting any love.
Great Job Dude!
Wow! What a Difference Some TLC Really Does...Awesome! Video Dane Sounds Killer! 😉👍
I've seen this at the store. Sweet looking. Stands out in a crowd of guitars. Really draws attention.
🤟😁👍
Just finished a BC Rich warlock
You do a great job man
I love bringing back old stuff to life like you said
It’s so gratifying .
Thanks for making this video. This is the guitar I practiced on in the late 80s. Same colors and everything. I had put a Floyd Rose on it. It wasn't a bad guitar! Good job bringing it back to life.
I still own my first guitar. It's an 1885 Hondo Formula 1. Explorer with a Kahler. 250 brand new 1986.
I bought a Hondo on vacation a few years ago to flip. I definitely wouldn’t mind owning another one. The one I had came stock with ‘78 Dimarzios.
Great episode man! I had one of these. I bought it in 1992. It was a great $100 buy, wish I still had it.
Great resurrection from the Dead ! Another on doesn't bite the dust, but plays On! Great Job !!!
Hello Dane and my fellow guitarist. This particular model Hondo is called The Blade II. Over 20 yrs ago I bought a mint condition Blade , 1 pup, 1 vol control, teal with red pinstripes, for $250 a favor price from my bro in law, for my son 13 at the time. I had it appraised immediately= $450 then. Held onto it for 10 yrs before I gave it to him so it wouldn't get destroyed. It's still minty, he only uses it for specific gigs. Dave Tucson 🌵
You're Son is very Lucky. I really love Hondo guitars. Great Score Dave Toostoned😂
Yours may be the Blade model. This is the Formula One Phantom
I use to carry my Hondo around on my Honda :)
Wow such a nice job on this. It’s sad to think something like this may have ended up in a dumpster but you revived it. I was thinking I would touch up the paint dings but on second thought they kind of “fit” there. Nice job again.
Thanks for watching!
I have a soft spot for these old Hondo guitars. The second guitar I ever got was a Hondo Formula 1, it was reversed though, so the short wing was on top, it had a Kahler on it and HSS pickup configuration and a bunch of switches. I wish I still had it, because it was a really cool guitar.
I was legitimately stressed you couldn’t figure out it was the out put jack😂
You know us modders could watch this kind of content all day, thanks for bringing us along with you, as you bring these relics back to life.
PS you could shine those fret markers up with some steel wool, don't be afraid to take a razor blade, to clean a fretboard up,held at a 90 degree angle you can scrap between each fret to remove grime and make the fretboard look brand new,I scrap until I start seeing the rosewood coming up under the the grime, right up between each fret, then I take the corner of the blade and scrap against each fret,to remove the junk that builds up along each fret,the blade can level out high inlays and peel away the layer of grime too.
man i love working on old beat up rigs too. make it work!! use it up!!
Yeah,I was yelling at the screen!Dane the output jack!lol!
The Bob Ross of Guitar Restoration.
I have a Gibson style Hondo V which I partially restored with the help of a friend. We got stuck when we couldn't find string saddles to fit the existing bridge. Any we tried didn't line up with the pickups. The bridge seemed stock, but maybe Hondo had smaller than standard saddles?. Still searching for the right fit. It also had no nut like this one.
gary holt played a hondo strat back in the day
hi dane thank you for this restoration video please keep them coming i love watching them that Hondo turned out awesome sounds killer
i have the bass version of this in a off white and another Hondo bass called the sting. headless and metalflake silver.
My very first electric guitar when I was a little boy back in 1976 was a brand new white Hondo Les Paul Custom copy. It was a HORRIBLE thing! Unplayable, blessing the loving kid (frets were unfinished and badly cutting my little fingers), action was epic and using my Boss OD for some fun was just having the pickups screech in pain. Almost 50 years later it still gives me goosebumps of a nightmare when seeing the one old photo I have playing it :D
BUT: There was a positive side. I really played a lot and was mistreating my moms master luthier classical guitar since I was 5 - so seeing how BAD this Hondo actually was she decided in 1978 to offer me a good guitar that I could choose myself (within limits of course). It was my lucky day as in the shop was a beautiful one just waiting for me - demo model so slightly used, original case missing and on sale ("old" model) ... we got that 1976 Bi-cenntennial Gibson Firebird for half of the price tag!
Hey Dane! Relatively new viewer! Just wanted to say I love these types of videos! Thanks for everything!
It's best to glue the nut to the fingerboard rather than the neck, it's much easier to remove that way. You only need a very tiny amount of glue.
Frankenstein hondo,sweet job dane
I keep thinking I remember seeing KK Downing of Judas Preist playing one like this in the old days? Looks very familiar?
Nice Rebuild
Great video. While older high end guitars are cool some of the cheaper guitars are slightly cooler. I don't play but, I've owned quite a few guitars. Mostly lower end but, in the mid '80s I had a Les Paul Custom and an '84 CMT V. My favorite guitar was a mid '80s (?) asymmetrical Epiphone V. I to was perplexed at the double green wires until my brain woke up. Quite funny.
Nice work.
early '80s Cort Arrow.
Head stock repair but for $150 ? My Mercyful Fate and UFO axe.
nice job someone will love it.
thats cool bro.
WOW, SO COOOOL❤❤❤
I try getting cheap guitars from good will and fixing them up to donate to a few music schools in my area. For new students use and learn on so they can save up for something better once they know they will stick with it.
Should have changed the hot wire to the jack to avoid confusion for the future owner.
This was my first guitar
Wow what an awesome guitar😃👍🔥⚡️🎶🎸
It sure is!
A randy Rhoades Jackson copy it might just be a good one.
Pretty much only the Hondo Professional series are worth fixing up as they are Japanese made for the most part. Nearly all the others are cheaper entry level Korean made guitars. I've looked at a couple and found the sum of the partss needed to fix them was more than the shell was worth. This one came out good and sounds good with the Epi pickups.
Never played any of the top grade Hondo's.
The lower grade ones I remember being total crap.
🎉
I recently found a Hondo Explorer in same shape and fixed it up. I’ve been on the lookout for another and here you have it!Dude Iwant that is it for sale?
Used pots. I suggest testing them with a meter first.
I personally Love the 80's Japanese guitars. Electra/Westone, Vantage , Aria Pro , Cort. A Electra was my first guitar. Sadly I don't have it anymore. Just this year I found one just like mine but different color. Plays great after I did some work on it. Brings back memories. Its how I learned guitar.
Awesome.
Thank you! Cheers!
kinda like thed b ione we did
1:36 tendon ?😅
I have owned one Hondo...And one Honda... neither sucked.... AIN'T IT JUST AIN'T IT 😜 lols... unique guitar...Hey you know how to catch a unique Rabbit....
Unique up on it 😜
nice
I have a Hondo formula 1 h 873 and you might look it up under m a u r i c e g u i h e e and that is what a true formula one should look like made in Japan in a custom shop I have all the paperwork with it it's a a badass guitar I put headset pickups and it sounds killer looks like an and explorer style guitar
Not a waste of time,,so,,,,, shaddap..
Sounds like a Hondo
And its not a bolt on neck. Nice😢
This guitar has SOLD
...as I am yelling at the screen "its the output jack!!!" 😂😂😂
I was hoping you would have used the cream pickup covers, but the black still look factory good!
Great work Dane. Most of these guitars would never get a second chance at playing life. You definitely put your heart, as well as your skills into these rebuilds.
That 'ol Hondo sounds delicious!
Lol! Me too!
And so was I: it goes to the output!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have to agree the cream covers would have been my choice as well.
Great vids! Pump that whammy a couple times. Really like when you play on a finished resurrection.
Hondo guitars were pretty damn good, used to play on a friends Fender style Hondo and it played great and pickups rocked.
I yelling it's the output jack!! I guess you did not here me on the from the Eastcoast.
I love me a good sleeper guitar.
Awesome
poka dot
My very first guitar was a black Hondo Les Paul lefty. Bought it a pawn shop. Thought I could learn to play in two weeks and when that didn't work out it got retired to the closet. Years later I took the time to learn some chords on a Yamaha acoustic. After a couple of years I had my first band and got that Hondo going again. It did real well with a Green Rhino pedal into a Traynor tube amp. Loved the vid!
Well worth the work bro! Nice guitar
Everytime your doorbell sounds I have to check my door camera as I have the same chime, I turned the damn thing off, let them knock LOL
Not my style of guitar but… you brought that axe back to life wonderfully!
I imagine it sold pretty quick!
Great stuff as usual, Dane!
😎👊🎸
Hondo is hit or miss on the quality. I had a Hondo bass and it was excellent. I wish I still had it.
I remember these as being cheap rubbish. Vintage would imply quality. It is merely old. Sort of guitar a mum would by because she didn't know any better. Good guitar to learn how to fix up.
somebeter saddles on that bridge, I gotta a buncha sets of those Highwood style saddles from australia, really good for trems as they don't bind the strings great vintage replacements or any replacement for a 6 point bridge especially if you actually use the trem both ways, full floating.. ebay, like $11 a set, beats the $48 stewmac wants, just as good too.. why fender still hasn't fixed those saddles is beyond me? they have too sharp of a break angle and disrupt stability when using the trem.. those would be a great replacement here on this Hondo imo..
maybe recrown the frets as well? might help the playability and speed of the neck? maybe needs a leveling for some low action.. should be set up as a shredder imma thinkin.. any decent set neck is worth the effort, its not about the brand name or what its worth, its what it plays like and the tone you cfna squeeze out of it, hale if the name bothers you slap a different logo on the headstock..
I just picked up $400 worth of nut making tools so I can start carving wooly mammoth nuts and saddles, $160 just for a decent file and handle set.. jeez $120 for the scroll saw, $150 for a belt disk sander combo, couple polishing wheels.. still need a good bench, want one of those with the wheels I can roll around.. make it a nut/saddle bench.. prolly have enough woolly to fit all my strats, half my acoustics, might have to invest in some more, its around, spendy but around, got a real good deal off ebay a few years back, 4 lbs for $40.. almost all but maybe 6 ounces was large enough for saddles and nuts, even the 1/4" wide nuts... just scrap but i'll use it hale yes
Wooly tusk is legal, and its totally discernable from elephant tusk, has a different grain you can see under a magnifying glass.. I've made one nut from it for a yamaha acoustic worked out real nice, all by hand it takes forever tho, no thanks why I got all the tools, the nut ended up slightly narrow maybe half mm after final sanding, with the electric coping table saw and sanding wheel and belt I can cut it long then just touch it till its the perfect width.. by hand its a bitch cuz you want to cut it as close as possible with a hand saw so there isn't as much sanding by hand which can easily screw up the accuracy.. so the right tooling was in order... next up is fret tools then pickup winding tools.. two more benches ... lol something to do tho..
Hey buddy, some of us can only afford a couple hundred dollar guitar. This thing is gonna be somebody’s dream guitar.
I bought 1 of those Hondo formula 1 guitars new in 1983. I put a original Floyd rose trems on it.
Lolol on the jack wires..haha.. funny
welp, electrical wire for a toaster isn't really what you want for a guitar wiring its not insulkated properly, lotta bleed, a lead as long as that jack I'd use a good vintage cloth wire, wire it with braided ground or whatever those epiphone pups are using..
As an owner of several Hondo guitars is was saying the jack so many times the wife thought i was singing AC/DC.
Nice job , I really enjoy these guitar resurrection videos
I had a Honda Les Paul one time gave it to my nephew and he traded it for a skateboard .
Dude you make that guitar look tiny
300/400$ now days.
GREAT JOB ZIMM !!!!!!
That is the best cheep yes!
Excellent job🎉
Looks like this the Korean made by Samick version ( 84/85). They go for about 400$ on Reverb, one guy even asking 800, same color, same fender style trem.
She libes on! And she purrs like a kitten now. Cool vid, Dane! Cool little axe from another time.
The Formula Guitar took to the Epiphone pickups really good. Great guitar!
Not for nuthin' but this guitar sounds better than most of the other ones you do. Put that on the wall to sell. Someone would buy for $350 for sure. Hell I would. Good job!
Great job 🤘🏻🤘🏻