Hondo II bass

[ubit]

I had one. I ordered it from my mothers Littlewoods catalogue. I thought it was the  nuts. No idea what it was really like but it helped me with many gigs when we first started. 

[PaulWarning]

another recent Hondo thread here @ubit 

If anybody knows where I can get a cheap 3 point bridge I might revive mine

[74hc]

The regular Hondo II was their low end line, and not worth buying, imo.  The Hondo II Professional is their better line, and the MIJ ones were surprisingly very good.  I have one, a 1980 pbass bought new which I still use today.  It's my rainy-day, or rough gig bass. 

It is on the 2nd neck which is a 2014 MIM Fender Jazz neck.  The original one needed new frets which cost more than the new MIM Fender neck I purchased on sale.  I still have the neck and routinely think about doing the refretting myself.

Other replacement parts are:

1- hipshot tuners (obviously as the newer MIM neck uses different tuners) and string retainer.

2- Fender Original Precision Bass pickups. The Dimarzios were good, but these are better.

3- CTS pots and Switchcraft jack.

4- 4-ply WD Custom pickguard.

5- Badass Bass II bridge (done back in 1980).

Black body and pickguard with maple neck.

 

Again, I don't really care if this bass gets dinged some more.  It'll just add to the natural relic it already has.

[PaulWarning]

3 hours ago, 74hc said:

The regular Hondo II was their low end line, and not worth buying, imo.  The Hondo II Professional is their better line, and the MIJ ones were surprisingly very good.  I have one, a 1980 pbass bought new which I still use today.  It's my rainy-day, or rough gig bass. 

It is on the 2nd neck which is a 2014 MIM Fender Jazz neck.  The original one needed new frets which cost more than the new MIM Fender neck I purchased on sale.  I still have the neck and routinely think about doing the refretting myself.

Other replacement parts are:

1- hipshot tuners (obviously as the newer MIM neck uses different tuners) and string retainer.

2- Fender Original Precision Bass pickups. The Dimarzios were good, but these are better.

3- CTS pots and Switchcraft jack.

4- 4-ply WD Custom pickguard.

5- Badass Bass II bridge (done back in 1980).

Black body and pickguard with maple neck.

 

Again, I don't really care if this bass gets dinged some more.  It'll just add to the natural relic it already has.

so the only thing left of the original is the body?

[ubit]

3 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

so the only thing left of the original is the body?

Bit like Triggers broom ! 

[PaulWarning]

19 minutes ago, ubit said:

Bit like Triggers broom ! 

 yeah, that thought occurred to me as well 

[74hc]

On 15/02/2019 at 00:50, PaulWarning said:

so the only thing left of the original is the body?

About so.  After 40 years, stuff wears out.    Mine is Tokai made as the professional line was made by Tokia or Matsumoku for Hondo.  One can tell by looking at the stamping in the neck pocket.  If the stamp contains a circle, it's made by Matsumoku.  If the stamp is letters and numbers with an "=" in it, then it's Tokai.

So if you want a Tokai hard puncher like precision but don't want to pay the money those bring in, look for a Hondo II Professional.  All of the Hondo II professional basses are post-lawsuit era with the changed headstock design.  If it has a Fender headstock shape, it's a Korean-made Hondo II.

[prowla]

Holy necrothreads!

Did anybody find out what the OP's bass was?

A Hondo II Ric copy is worth maybe £300 (despite the body being plywood); one was famously played by Peter Hook of Joy Division for a while and there's just an auction of his memorabilia including a Hondo II (though not the one he actually played back in the day).

I've got a barebones one which I've used to fiddle about with.

 

[ubit]

I had no idea that they made Ric copies. That’s interesting. It does look as though it’s just not right but for £300? Why not? 

[hooky_lowdown]

17 minutes ago, ubit said:

I had no idea that they made Ric copies. That’s interesting. It does look as though it’s just not right but for £300? Why not? 

Hook famously said his Ric copy was the worst bass he ever played.

[prowla]

22 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Hook famously said his Ric copy was the worst bass he ever played.

They're probably the bottom of the hierarchy of 70s/80s Ric copies.

[Bassassin]

2 hours ago, prowla said:

They're probably the bottom of the hierarchy of 70s/80s Ric copies.

Close - but still one up from

The infamous Kay K20B, prime Taiwanese plywood through and through. Even the neck.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Bassassin

[prowla]

3 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Close - but still one up from

The infamous Kay K20B, prime Taiwanese plywood through and through. Even the neck.

Ah yes, I had momentarily mislaid the Kays from my thought processes!

[mangotango]

23 hours ago, prowla said:

Ah yes, I had momentarily mislaid the Kays from my thought processes!

I can see why you might so that!

Remembering those with a shudder....

[prowla]

3 hours ago, mangotango said:

I can see why you might so that!

Remembering those with a shudder....

There was a video of some guitar savant saying his Kay was worth $1000...

[fleabag]

I thought Kay was a catalogue company, like Freemans and others. Days of old. I remember my mum used those catalogues. They sold just about everything

[prowla]

20 minutes ago, fleabag said:

I thought Kay was a catalogue company, like Freemans and others. Days of old. I remember my mum used those catalogues. They sold just about everything

I fink dat woz a difernt Kays.

[fleabag]

Unless maybe the catalogue had their own basses built by chimps

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

I thought Kay was a catalogue company, like Freemans and others. Days of old. I remember my mum used those catalogues. They sold just about everything

Kay did make high quality upright basses and were a highly regarded brand name, much like old Epiphone, but having sold the name, they started making cheap copies through the 60s to 80s and sold in catalogues. However, any Kay bass before the company name was sold is a quality instrument and probably worth a wedge due to their rarity.

 

[fleabag]

Wow. Who wooda thought

[Bassassin]

They did up their game in the early 80s, sexy Cort-built through-neck basses & guitars, pretty close to good MIJ level.

Bit late by then, though.

[ubit]

Aah, Kay’s catalogue. A schoolboys dream to look through the lingerie section. Ooer missus 😳

[FlatEric]

I bought this, ten or 11 years ago and still play it. Hondo Pro

When I play through an average amp (don't have any boutique amps) is "sounds" like a P does on a recording. Several Fender players have had a go through their rig and have bee "quite impressed"

I've got another Hondo P, the one with the Kluson tuners (can't remember the model but I'm sure jon will enlighten us) which is in white, same sort of quality. Nice. 🙂

 

[hooky_lowdown]

Waiting now for prices of Hondo's to rocket on fleabay!

[stu_g]

here's my hondo professional,good solid bass, I took my bridge cover off and have been playing it a lot lately, its got a Seymour Duncan spb1 fitted.