SD Curlee Hondo II

[W1_Pro]

I picked this up a while ago from a chap in Norfolk. Didnt pay a lot for it, about £90 iirc.  Its been languishing in my office, but I have finally gotten around to it.

Cosmetically its pretty beaten up, but the neck is straight and there doesnt seem to be anything terminal.....I hope!

So, the plan is: Strip the paint and refinish (looks like quite a nice piece of mahogany, if it is, tru-oil if not, paint).

The fingerboard is pretty worn and pitted, so that'll need sanding and a refret.

I understand that the pickups on these are Dimarzios. Anyone know for certain? @Bassassin perhaps? If it turns out to be decent I shall try and clean it up and salvage it.

The cavity is a mess, it'll need a complete rewire, new pots and knobs.

There is a hole for a micro switch,  I think this is a series/ parallel. If anyone knows for sure please let me know.

Thanks!

Stuart

 

 

[Bassassin]

These are cool - I'd've paid £90 for it, no bother. That'll be a great project so do start a thread for it!

 

Not sure that's a DiMarzio - a lot of 1980-ish Hondos had them as standard, as did US Curlees - but yours doesn't look like it has hex poles like a Model P. It might be marked/stickered on the back, & a DiMarzio will have green/red/white/black wiring. Usually I'd say imperial size hex poles are the giveaway, but not this time... Definitely should have a series/parallel microswitch though. And cream covers.

 

Not sure that's the original bridge, Curlees were from the everything more brassy than everything else era, & that one looks a bit vintage.

 

There are, or have been a few Curlee (Hondo & US) owners on BC, so hopefully some more informed contributions than mine will be forthcoming!

[W1_Pro]

Thanks for the info Bassassin. Here it is taken apart. Its such an innovative design. 'Nearly neck thru'😆

The body is indeed mahogany, might even be one piece!

I think you are right about the bridge. A cheap and nasty chrome item which does not look as deep as the brass originals.

The pickups...I don't know...no markings of any sort visible but the wiring colours seem to check out. Anyone recognise them?

 

[itu]

SD Curlee was known for neck through bridge design.

[Bassassin]

The wiring & wax potting on that don't say 'cheap Korean pickup' to me. It's not a Model P, & I don't know enough about old DiMarzios to know if this is theirs, but I'm leaning that way. If there's a signal, I think I'd clean 'em up & see what they sound like.

 

Can't help thinking this thread would get more attention in the 'Bass Guitars' folder rather than down'ere in Repairs & Tech. Someone probably knows what these are.

[Maude]

I bought a USA Curlee earlier this year which I still haven't quite decided what to do with. 

Below are some pictures of the pickups and pots. I'd guess, and it's only a guess, that if your pickups were DiMarzio then the pots would be too, as they are in the USA ones. 

 

This is the only pic of the rear of the PUs I've got but you can see they're different. 

 

 

 

And of course we need the whole bass in it's slightly battered state. 

 

 

As @Bassassinsays, if your PU work give them a go and see what they sound like. I think both pots should be 500k, coupled with the PU being so far back gives them a real aggressive, clanky tone. A bit of distortion and I think they sound fantastic. 

 

[prowla]

Those are cool basses; if I saw one for £90 I'd probably nab it.

[W1_Pro]

Hello Maude,

The US ones are awesome machines. I've got one of the two pickup ones  (the Curbeck its called I think) and that has the same pickups as your one. The woodwork on these is phenomenal. I read somewhere that they were called 'the poor mans Alembic' because the workmanship was so good. 

I'll put a meter on pickup out of the Hondo and see if its still a thing. 

Incidentally, my  Curbeck has been signed by Victor Wooten. Thats how it came to me and I don't know why or how, but its a nice thing.

[W1_Pro]

14 hours ago, Bassassin said:

The wiring & wax potting on that don't say 'cheap Korean pickup' to me. It's not a Model P, & I don't know enough about old DiMarzios to know if this is theirs, but I'm leaning that way. If there's a signal, I think I'd clean 'em up & see what they sound like.

 

Can't help thinking this thread would get more attention in the 'Bass Guitars' folder rather than down'ere in Repairs & Tech. Someone probably knows what these are.

This will be the repair thread..I doubt I'll be anywhere near as efficient (or competent) as the likes of @Andyjr1515, but I shall try....😆

 

[Bassassin]

14 hours ago, Maude said:

I'd guess, and it's only a guess, that if your pickups were DiMarzio then the pots would be too, as they are in the USA ones.

 

Makes sense in a US-made bass but doesn't follow for the Far East. OEM DiMarzios were a big deal in Korean-made Hondos & numerous MIJ brands around 1980-ish - I have a Westbury Track 2 & Westbury Standard guitar both with their original DiMarzio pickups, and neither of which have any other DiMarzio electronic components. A tenner says original pots in a Hondo Curlee would be the Korean-made Jung-Poong (JP logo) units that pretty much every MIK guitar has.

 

Anyway - done a bit of digging, & the fact the Hondo Curlee guitars had DiMarzios makes me 99.9% sure the bass does too:

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Looks splendid, @W1_Pro  

You'll do absolutely fine.  Just shout if you're not sure about anything but this type of project is perfect for starting to understand and tinker with the things that matter vs the things that you can take great liberties with

 

[W1_Pro]

Thanks Andy, Much appreciated. I may well contact you in a blind panic at some point in the next few months...😅

[W1_Pro]

10 hours ago, Bassassin said:

 

Makes sense in a US-made bass but doesn't follow for the Far East. OEM DiMarzios were a big deal in Korean-made Hondos & numerous MIJ brands around 1980-ish - I have a Westbury Track 2 & Westbury Standard guitar both with their original DiMarzio pickups, and neither of which have any other DiMarzio electronic components. A tenner says original pots in a Hondo Curlee would be the Korean-made Jung-Poong (JP logo) units that pretty much every MIK guitar has.

 

Anyway - done a bit of digging, & the fact the Hondo Curlee guitars had DiMarzios makes me 99.9% sure the bass does too:

 

 

 

Amazing! Thanks @Bassassin. 

[Chienmortbb]

On 14/09/2024 at 21:48, Maude said:

I bought a USA Curlee earlier this year which I still haven't quite decided what to do with. 

Below are some pictures of the pickups and pots. I'd guess, and it's only a guess, that if your pickups were DiMarzio then the pots would be too, as they are in the USA ones. 

 

This is the only pic of the rear of the PUs I've got but you can see they're different. 

 

 

 

And of course we need the whole bass in it's slightly battered state. 

 

 

As @Bassassinsays, if your PU work give them a go and see what they sound like. I think both pots should be 500k, coupled with the PU being so far back gives them a real aggressive, clanky tone. A bit of distortion and I think they sound fantastic. 

 

Those are DiMarzio pups and the addition of the DiMarzio pots seems to confirm that. I love those cream pickups.

[Chienmortbb]

Just for reference, DiMarzio suggest slightly different pot values and laws. See pdf attached or go to https://www.dimarzio.com/wiring-diagrams/p-bass-style  for more options.  I had a long exchange via email with their tech section when I fitted their pups to my bass. The suggest Log or their own "special" pots but I can say that the tone control works better than the standard suggested wiring diagrams. The volume pot is 500K log and the tone is 250K log. Use 470K or 220K if you cannot get 500/250.

Model P Wiring 8_23.pdf

[bloke_zero]

What an amazing find. The Curlee basses always looked very cool to me with the deep neck placement and Hondo are one of those budget brands that sometimes really shine - this is no question on of those times - good luck with the repairs! I'd try hard to salvage the pickup

[Maude]

@W1_Pro, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner but I recently bought a Hondo II Precision as a bit of a project. I think I just got distracted by comparing yours to my SD Curlee.

 

Anyway I bought this old Hondo bass which the seller claimed had a DiMarzio PU (he was lenient with the truth in other aspects so I wasn't sure). The cover had been pretty crudely glued back on so I've just picked it apart to solve my, and hopefully your, query. 

The basses are roughly the same era and the pickup looks just like yours (you can see where the glue would've been at the other end) so I'd assume it's the same pickup. 

 

 

 

 

[W1_Pro]

Hello Maude,

Thats absolute genius.  I did exactly what you did, took the pickups apart, and lo and behold, Dimarzio's!

Many thanks for the help and for taking the trouble. The pickup seems to be OK too, so thats going back in.

Best

Stuart

[tauzero]

I wondered if the DiMarzios started out as tailors. Can't think of anyone else that would put the labels on the inside!

[Chienmortbb]

Good call, you will have to pay a lot to better those pickups. 

[Bassassin]

19 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

Hello Maude,

Thats absolute genius.  I did exactly what you did, took the pickups apart, and lo and behold, Dimarzio's!

Many thanks for the help and for taking the trouble. The pickup seems to be OK too, so thats going back in.

Best

Stuart

 Excellent! I had no luck finding decent pics of Hondo OEM DiMarzios, but this is great to see & confirms what I thought/hoped.

 

And now you know those covers come off easily - think how much more awesome it'd look with cream ones!

[W1_Pro]

So I have defretted the neck and started the process of sanding the fingerboard back - the laquer is worn through in several spots so it'll all have to come off. I'm also going to take a little bit of weight out of the back of the neck with my trusty cabinet scraper. A process I find massively relaxing...Here's a pic of the defretted neck, and the dogs leg...

[Marc S]

Oh, that first brave step! Best of luck with this project. I'm looking forward to seeing it progress. What a cracking find. Great news re the pickups too  

[Maude]

Wow! In at the deep end. 

 

Are you going fretless or are you refretting it? Either way, best of luck. 

I'll look forward to seeing the progress. 

[W1_Pro]

10 minutes ago, Maude said:

Wow! In at the deep end. 

 

Are you going fretless or are you refretting it? Either way, best of luck. 

I'll look forward to seeing the progress. 

I'm going to refret it. I've done it before with a Westone guitar after a false start (having levelled the fretboard I neglected to deepen the fret channels and then wondered why I couldnt get some of them in..(cough) Ahem...In the end it came out OK but it did take two sets of frets....