Hondo P Bass

[bonzodog]

Does anyone have experience of Hondo P Basses. Looking for a cheapish bass to do up and there is one in a local music shop thats quite cheap and sounds quite nice

[geoffbyrne]

Some were pretty decent (diMarzio pups etc) others pure crap. If you've found a good one, take it seriously.

If it's the neck-thru, check out that there is still adjustment there. I had one and the bridge had to be rebated into the body to get a low action.

G.

Edited January 7, 2014 by geoffbyrne

[pst62]

Back in the day I had the The Hondo II Precision copy it was an early one with Black on Black and the Maple fingerboard and Fender style headstock, and truss rod at the heel of the neck, it was a good well built bass, which played fine, only problem I found was the pups were quite weak.

[Bassassin]

Some of the later ones were Japanese-made and very nice - Flat Eric on here has one, I believe. However, a lot of them - most, in fact - were Korean-made in the early/mid 70s, at a time when Korean instrument manufacture was not good at all. With these, expect a ply body, ultra-cheap hardware/electrics and potentially dodgy fret work. These often turn up for well under £100 on Ebay.

Any chance you can grab a pic of the one you're interested in? The different models are easy to ID from components & headstock design.

Jon.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1389090966' post='2329682']
If it's the neck-thru, check out that there is still adjustment there. I had one and the bridge had to be rebated into the body to get a low action.
[/quote]
Hondo made a neck-thru P Bass?

[Bassassin]

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1389095723' post='2329756']
Hondo made a neck-thru P Bass?
[/quote]
They didn't - Geoff's bass was a Satellite. I bought it off him & found the logo under what looked like an inch of black Hammerite under the headstock!

J.

[PaulWarning]

I've had several, I've still got my MIJ professional II made in 1981, it's still my backup bass used to think it was really good till I compared it to a MIA P, bit unfair I know, the later manifactured ones I had weren't very good, I soon moved them on, basically if it's a MIJ one it should be ok, if not

[allighatt0r]

I have a Hondo II Professional, it's a double cutaway type, and not really a P at all, but it's certainly a nice piece of bass.

Details of Flat Eric's Hondo are here: [url="http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/hondo-professional.html"]http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/hondo-professional.html[/url] it seems to be that gold sunset looking H logo is the one to look out for.

[Lozz196]

I borrowed one in the mid 80s for a while and it was a really nice bass.

[bonzodog]

Cheers for your help guys. Think i will pop in and try and get more info

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1389100009' post='2329847']
They didn't - Geoff's bass was a Satellite. I bought it off him & found the logo under what looked like an inch of black Hammerite under the headstock!

J.
[/quote]
Yes i know they didn't make one Jon, hence the ?.

Edited January 7, 2014 by BetaFunk

[geoffbyrne]

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1389100009' post='2329847']
They didn't - Geoff's bass was a Satellite. I bought it off him & found the logo under what looked like an inch of black Hammerite under the headstock!

J.
[/quote]

I sit corrected!!!!!

G.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1389179878' post='2330876']
I sit corrected!!!!!

G.
[/quote]
The only reason i questioned it was not that i didn't believe you but that as i'd never seen a Hondo P Bass thru-neck i thought that had something unique there G!