Calling Hondo Professional H1015 owners

[Paul S]

Every time I see one of these fellas on the internet:

I go kind of gooey.  I believe they are quite nice quality (Matsumoku then Samick?), medium scale, often with issues around the 3 point bridge.  But does the weight vary?  I've seen people say they weigh 10lbs and I've seen one ad saying under 8lbs?  There was one on eBay recently but the guy reckoned it was 10lbs ish.

If anyone has one could they please weigh it?  Or if you had one and noted the weight?

Gracias!

[2elliot]

That was the first bass guitar I owned back in the early eighties ....  I don't remember a lot about it which must say something. 

[Paul S]

Memory loss, dementia or just a stinky poo bass?

@Bassassin is this by any chance one you have some info on, por favor?

[PaulWarning]

I've still got one I payed £40 for, thought it was good till I got a  Fender precision, our drummer's got it at the moment on extended loan, it's a bit battered converted to a lefty as well so not worth selling tbh, I remember it was quite heavy and I think it's a ply body, so 10lbs sounds about right, it's got good stock pickups on it, I think they're Seymour Duncans.

Made in Japan but not a Matsumoku, according to the the Jap expert on here, sorry cant remember his name.

Just found it NoelK27

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by PaulWarning

[Jono Bolton]

Someone on my street was selling one of these for £75 last week; I was sorely tempted to go and get it.

[PaulWarning]

36 minutes ago, Jono Bolton said:

Someone on my street was selling one of these for £75 last week; I was sorely tempted to go and get it.

tbh, that's probably all it's worth, IMO they're not a patch on even Squire Affinity basses, as I said earlier, I loved mine until I got a Fender Precision, I've now got a Vintage V4 (about £120 new) which knocks the spots of it, which is why our drummers now got it

[Bassassin]

6 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

I've still got one I payed £40 for, thought it was good till I got a  Fender precision, our drummer's got it at the moment on extended loan, it's a bit battered converted to a lefty as well so not worth selling tbh, I remember it was quite heavy and I think it's a ply body, so 10lbs sounds about right, it's got good stock pickups on it, I think they're Seymour Duncans.

Made in Japan but not a Matsumoku, according to the the Jap expert on here, sorry cant remember his name.

Just found it NoelK27

 

I'd usually concede to NoelK27, but having seen several of these with Matsumoku-stamped neckplates, some at least definitely were. Replying to @Paul S - not sure any of them were MIK, as I understand it Hondo was trying to position itself as a higher quality brand and Samick, who made all the 70s copies, didn't have the best reputation at the time.

Never owned one of these but they look pretty decent & follow what's a fairly typical format for MIJ originals at the time: symmetrical doublecut, single P, (usually OEM DiMarzio)  3-point Gibbo bridge, 2-a-side tuners.

[PaulWarning]

2 hours ago, Bassassin said:

I'd usually concede to NoelK27, but having seen several of these with Matsumoku-stamped neckplates, some at least definitely were. Replying to @Paul S - not sure any of them were MIK, as I understand it Hondo was trying to position itself as a higher quality brand and Samick, who made all the 70s copies, didn't have the best reputation at the time.

Never owned one of these but they look pretty decent & follow what's a fairly typical format for MIJ originals at the time: symmetrical doublecut, single P, (usually OEM DiMarzio)  3-point Gibbo bridge, 2-a-side tuners.

I've found the page where were having this very conversation

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/7473-japcrap-spotting/?page=123

you did indeed think it might be a Matsumoku, the fact it doesn't have steel adjustable on the plate seems to cast doubt in some eyes, I think I had PM conversation NoelK27 about it, but I think they all got lost in the move to the new site, anyway it really isn't that good a bass.

[Paul S]

Thanks for your input, chaps.  Maybe if one comes along for next to nothing I'll take a punt.  If only to use as a template for having a lightweight body built for the neck, perhaps - an idea to file alongside all the other mad mod ideas I get from time to time  .

[Bassassin]

23 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

I've found the page where were having this very conversation

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/7473-japcrap-spotting/?page=123

you did indeed think it might be a Matsumoku, the fact it doesn't have steel adjustable on the plate seems to cast doubt in some eyes, I think I had PM conversation NoelK27 about it, but I think they all got lost in the move to the new site, anyway it really isn't that good a bass.

Interesting to re-read that, & unfortunately the detective work (mostly from heroically committed uber-geeks on the MIJ FB groups) hasn't progressed much in the intervening 5 years! Other than to throw doubt on previously-held assumptions about Matsumoku serials...

But like I said, some Hondo H-1015s do turn up with Matsumoku-stamped plates, those, at least I'd be confident about the origin. Might be the case that ones with no ID on the plates were collaborative builds involving more than one factory - neck from one place, body from another, assembled at a 3rd.

[PaulWarning]

as a matter of interest, where did H-10105 model number come from? there's no such number on mine, that I can find anyway

 

[Paul S]

I believe it is the model number as used in the Hondo catalogue.  It is printed on that picture I embedded in the first post.

[SurroundedByManatees]

I owned one of these. It played and sounded pretty good. The awful 3 point bridge was bowed and had cracks, which is not unusual with these type of bridges. 

It was not a light bass, I think it weighed near 5 kilos. 

Edited February 9, 2019 by SurroundedByManatees

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

I owned one of these. It played and sounded pretty good. The awful 3 point bridge was bowed and had cracks, which is not unusual with these type of bridges. 

It was not a light bass, I think it weighed near 5 kilos. 

yeah my 3 point bridge was bowed, I filed out the saddle slots to compensate, which, I suppose could account for it not sounding very good, I thought about buying another bridge, but decided it wasn't worth it 

[SurroundedByManatees]

I think I found a used epiphone bridge as a replacement for about 10 euros back then. Probably the saddles had been swapped for the right radius. 

Edited February 9, 2019 by SurroundedByManatees

[Bassassin]

2 hours ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

The awful 3 point bridge was bowed and had cracks, which is not unusual with these type of bridges.

That's another thing that points to Matsumoku, IMO - my Westbury when I got it!

[Paul S]

Must be why they call it a bridge!

[Paul S]

So, moving on, what are the necks like?

[PaulWarning]

24 minutes ago, Paul S said:

So, moving on, what are the necks like?

the neck on mine is very good, best part of the bass, slim Jazz type, I prefer it to my Precision

[ubit]

I take it these are a more professional model compared to the Hondo II P bass that I bought way back in the mists of time? 

[PaulWarning]

9 minutes ago, ubit said:

I take it these are a more professional model compared to the Hondo II P bass that I bought way back in the mists of time? 

yes, they went down market when they moved production to Korea, I've owned a few Korean Hondo's (mainly because they were lefty's) but they soon got off loaded, still got my Japanese one though, partly because it's not worth a lot but certainly better than the non Japanese models

[Bassassin]

Dunno about "more professional", but as I understand it, it was an attempt to make the Hondo range more upmarket, and competitive with (at the time) upward-moving MIJ brands like Ibanez & Aria Pro II.

A lot of people get this ar$e-about-face and assume that the early Hondos were Japanese (as most copy-era stuff was) and later manufacture was Korean. The truth is that Hondo was a budget Korean brand in the 70s, and had a broadly deserved reputation for being a bit cheap & nasty. There were some nice-quality MIK Hondos but most were plywood & shoddy.

Towards the late 70s, when the copy bubble burst, Hondo moved a lot of its manufacture to Japan & started producing mostly original designs - like the bass in question - under the Hondo Professional brand. So yeah - probably a bit more "pro" than your old P copy!

Edited February 14, 2019 by Bassassin
Will not have my profanities filtered!

[PaulWarning]

4 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

Dunno about "more professional", but as I understand it, it was an attempt to make the Hondo range more upmarket, and competitive with (at the time) upward-moving MIJ brands like Ibanez & Aria Pro II.

A lot of people get this derrière-about-face and assume that the early Hondos were Japanese (as most copy-era stuff was) and later manufacture was Korean. The truth is that Hondo was a budget Korean brand in the 70s, and had a broadly deserved reputation for being a bit cheap & nasty. There were some nice-quality MIK Hondos but most were plywood & shoddy.

Towards the late 70s, when the copy bubble burst, Hondo moved a lot of its manufacture to Japan & started producing mostly original designs - like the bass in question - under the Hondo Professional brand. So yeah - probably a bit more "pro" than your old P copy!

I stand corrected then, I assumed, wrongly, that they started production in Japan, not the case, having said that my MIJ Hondo is still plywood, I think.

Edit, I really must get it back off our drummer, anybody know where I can get a cheap 3 point bridge?

Edited February 14, 2019 by PaulWarning

[Bassassin]

1 minute ago, PaulWarning said:

I stand corrected then, I assumed, wrongly, that they started production in Japan, not the case, having said that my MIJ Hondo is still plywood, I think.

Simultaneous reply there - didn't see yours until I posted mine. But yes, Hondo started out being made in Korea, in the 60s, I think, as a joint venture between an importer in Texas (hence the name) and Samick in Korea.

[PaulWarning]

to confuse matters further mine hasn't got the Hondo name on the headstock, just an 'H' logo