Hondo Professional II headless conversion/refurbishment

[Ian2k]

Hi All,

I purchased a Hondo Professional II from a certain well known online auction site for a project.



It has obviously had a hard life:

- parts of the bridge are missing
- the original (Dimarzio I believe) pickup has been removed and replaced with, I guess, a cheap pickup
- parts of one of the machine heads are missing
- the neck has been poorly defretted
- roundwound strings have been used on the defretted neck, marking it further
- the neck has been partly sanded
- and the usual knocks of a bass this age.

As might be expected with this type of symmetrical design, it is somewhat neck heavy, despite the body being [b]heavy[/b].

The plan is to bring it back to life as a balanced headless:

- refinish and repaint
- refret
- install a decent pickup (if anyone has a hex pole p bass style pickup, working or not, that they want to find a good home, please PM me)
- make headless, that is strings secured at headstock end in a reduced headstock, and use Steinberger type bridge tuner.

So turning my attention to the neck whilst gathering other parts.



The fret slots look like they have been filled with tile grout. I've done a test slot, and with a bit of care and time I can clear the grout out of the slots. So far so good. However, I'm not sure about what to do about the sanding that has been done. I assume that the fretboard is maple judging by the colour. The varnish/lacquer that is normally present on maple necks has been partly sanded off. The gloss and thickness has gone, and is down to the bare wood in a few places. Over most of it though is what seems to be a thin almost plastic layer, which I assume is the remains of the original finish. So the question is whether to leave it as it is, or to sand it down back to bare wood. I don't know if the original fretboard radius has been preserved (I suspect not given the state of the defret job), so my inclination is to take it back to the bare wood.

What do you think?

Edited April 11, 2012 by Ian2k

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Jesus! I thought I'd taken on a lot of work with my Washburn Status refinish.......you obviously relish a challenge! Keep posting the updates, should be good.

Oh, and when you've done with the neck, my bathroom tiles could do with the grout removing when you've honed the skills.

Edited April 14, 2012 by Rowley Birkin QC

[Ian2k]

[quote name='Rowley Birkin QC' timestamp='1334387078' post='1615419']
Jesus! I thought I'd taken on a lot of work with my Washburn Status refinish.......you obviously relish a challenge! Keep posting the updates, should be good.

Oh, and when you've done with the neck, my bathroom tiles could do with the grout removing when you've honed the skills.
[/quote]

Cheers! Your Washburn Status is looking good, that grain has come out beautifully. I've a Washburn Status too, bought as a project. I did all of the electrics, but didn't go for the refinish that it needed as wasn't brave enough for my first attempt. Mine's black and there's no way of knowing what the grain will be like on it though. It's my main playing bass, but I must say, after seeing yours I'm inspired to sand it off to see what it's like ... maybe when the Hondo's finished. Yes, a bit of a challenge!

Bathroom tiles - or you could just tile over them ... tiling equivalent of sweeping under the carpet!

[Ian2k]

Work in progress removing the grout from the frets.



It seems the tiny chips are unavoidable, but sanding down should make them less prominent, and



with the frets in place they shouldn't show anyway. I did read a luthier's blog somewhere where he said he put a drop of super glue onto where the fret touches the fretboard, after fret installation, and the capilliary action drew it under, and he wiped off the excess with a cloth. That might be something to consider if the chips prevent stable seating.

[PaulWarning]

hey I've got one of these, was my first bass, got me started, bought it for £40 of a mate, still use it as a back up for my MIA P, it don't sound half bad either, good luck with the restoration, don't expect to make any money though, one of the reasons I've still got mine is it sounds far better than what's it worth, if that makes sense.

[Ian2k]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1334427353' post='1616158']
hey I've got one of these, was my first bass, got me started, bought it for £40 of a mate, still use it as a back up for my MIA P, it don't sound half bad either, good luck with the restoration, don't expect to make any money though, one of the reasons I've still got mine is it sounds far better than what's it worth, if that makes sense.
[/quote]

Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't expecting to make any money out of it. Good to hear that yours is still getting use and sounding good. I did think that these "puched above their weight" as it were, so thanks for the confirmation of that. Three reasons really for the project:

- practise at a refubishment/restoration, including refretting and refinishing. I've done electrical stuff before and am quite comfortable with it, but this will be the first time for me for this more "woodworky" stuff.
- I really like the symmetrical look, but hate neck dive, and like my existing headlesses (Washburn Status and Hohner Jack), so beheading is the way to go for me.
- I wanted to try a short scale.

Cheers,

Ian

[mike 110]

Hi Ian ,
Ive got one of these . I took it apart a while ago and sanded down the body and headstock , ready for a re-spray . My intention now is to fit a Rosewood P or J type neck instead ,if I can find one that fits .

I'm not sure about the bridge yet . Are the bridges similar to the Gibson 3 point bridges ? If so , then maybe a Hipshot Supertone might be an idea ?

All this could take me a while as this my first attempt at this sort of thing !

Good luck !