Hondo Deluxe 757 Tele copy from the 1980s

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When I started playing guitar as a teenager in the 80s we all had the "cheap" knockoffs of the guitars we thought we really wanted. I personally knew at least 8 players with Hondo guitars. They were all Les Paul and Stratocaster copies. I knew they made other models, especially those inspired by the decade, but never before have I seen a Hondo telecaster.

This made in Japan Hondo Deluxe 757 looks to be in great shape and I really like the lemony sunburst. 

At $150 Canadian the only thing keeping me from this awesome copy is mere logistics as it's a few big provinces away from where i am.

R.W. Haller

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80s-tastic Hondo Model 781 Explorer-style guitar with bizarro graphics

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Hondo guitars seem to invoke either a love 'em or loathe 'em response from most guitarists, with some proclaiming that they were always worthless pieces of unplayable junk whilst others argue to the contrary that they were - and continue to be - excellent workhorse instruments. The above pictured is a deluxe Hondo Model 781, a 1980s guitar that wouldn't look out of place in the obligatory hair metal bands of that era, and which marries together design elements from Gibson (obviously, the Explorer body shape) and Fender (the bolt-on maple neck, Strat-style trem, and Tele-like control plate), and then finishes it all off with graphics that look to be inspired partly by Eddie Van Halen and partly by Spiderman.

Currently being offered for sale on eBay with a not unreasonable Buy It Now price of $199.95.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Hondo "The Sting" 80s pointy headless guitar endorsed by Wonder Woman

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From the early 1980s (circa '83-'84), here we see a Hondo H-795 MR "The Sting" guitar, a relative of the also super-pointy Hondo II H-1 which differs slightly in design by actually having a headstock - and a very pointy headstock at that - thereby significantly increasing the chances of someone getting impaled on stage.

Weirder still, there was even a companion guitar to "The Sting" that looked as if it had been built from an offcut from The Sting's body. I'm not sure what Hondo's marketing people were thinking here; I guess you could stick the two guitars neatly together with velco for a doubleneck that easily converts into two single guitars (but perhaps that's going off into the realms of fantasy). And if that wasn't weird enough for you, they drafted in Wonder Woman to pose with the guitar in the ad. "Random", as the kids say.

This particular Sting is currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $899.99, which is almost unheard of for a Hondo, but as the seller points out only about 50 of these were guitars were produced.

G L Wilson

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Please read our photo and content policy.

Just look at the size of the case for this guitar: pointy 1980s Hondo H-1

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Here's another 1980s offering from Hondo guitars - reviled in some quarters and loved in others. It's a Hondo II H-1 from the 1980s with body styling obviously based on the now legendary Gibson Explorer but with the pointiness factor taken to the extreme.

Hondo guitars offered a budget range of instruments made in Japan and Korea. The company was originally formed in 1969 by Jerry Freed and Tommy Moore of the International Music Corporation (IMC) of Fort Worth, Texas, working in conjunction with the Samick Company.

It's interesting to note that Hondo was one of the first overseas companies to offer American-made DiMarzio pickups on their guitars - that surely would have made the purchase of a Hondo guitar all the more attractive to the prospective buyer with a strict budget in mind.

The H-1, looking perfect for hair metal bands, is almost certainly a Korean-made Hondo coming from the latter part of the 1980s (Hondo moved guitar production to Korea in 1983). I think if I had a bandmate who played one of these, I'd keep my distance through fear of being impaled.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Can anyone identify this Hondo "Gumby" guitar?

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If one particular budget guitar brand from the 1970s and 1980s has earned more scorn and derision than any other maker, then surely it must be Hondo. Hondo guitars were for the most part produced in Korea (you could even say that they were the original Made in Korea guitars), although a few of the high-end models were made in Japan. (See The Story of Hondo Guitars).

I personally couldn't comment on why they have such a bad reputation today, but have heard stories from many former owners and others about what dreadful instruments they were. Of course, there are those who still have their old Hondos and love them dearly, but such people seem to be in the minority. I have to wonder if much of the scorn comes from people who didn't actually ever own a Hondo, but are just repeating negative comments from someone else. They were cheap guitars - everyone knew that - and I guess they were one of the few options available to the budding guitarist on a tight budget, and possibly the butt of not entirely fairly-earned resentment.

Playability aside, Hondo certainly produced some interesting looking instruments. For example, this very pointy Hondo guitar - currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $0.99 - is very reminiscent of the Matsumoku-made Mako Exotec XP-4 we looked at back in November, and surely must come from the same designer. Here's what the eBay seller has to say about it:

Kind of a wacky Gumby looking body w/ 24 fret 6 bolt neck. This is a very interesting and nice playing & sounding old Hondo (not Hondo II). Hard to find much good info on this but it my understanding that the Hondo II Logo starts around 1973 so I am calling this a c. '72. Any inaccuracies are not intentional and if you have info,I'd love to know more about this strangely appealing old thing. !! Anyhow,very good condition,well preserved and ready to go. (Well it could use some fresh strings) Has a straight neck, good frets and everything works. Nice overall cosmetic condition. [...] just a great looking guitar that doesn't even have a lot of pick wear or other scratches. Features mahogany body, maple neck,and rosewood fingerboard with 24 frets. Both pick ups work great & sound clear and there is a 3 way select.

OK, first off I'd say forgot all that Hondo vs Hondo II rubbish. That is a total red herring. There is no way that this guitar is from the 1970s, let alone as early as 1972. I've already drawn the comparison with the Mako Exotec XP-4 which was available from 1984 to 1989. I'd expect this Hondo to be contemporary to the Mako. Furthermore the styling is NOT 1970s, and is very much consistent with the 1980s, the era of hair metal and very very pointy guitars. Note also in the link I've just given, the photos of the Hondo H-1 produced around the same time and almost certainly a sibling instrument to our Hondo Gumby here. Alas, I can find no database of Hondo guitars so as to make an identity. The closest I came to was this, which alas, has too many blanks to be filled in.

I also clearly remember that logo (pictured above) being used on Hondo guitars in the 1980s. I suspect that the Hondo II brand actually reverted back to being simply "Hondo" in the 1980s.

If anyone can fill in the blanks anywhere in the story here, then please comment below. They may not have been the most salubrious instruments in the history of the guitar, but Hondo guitars are a very relevant part of the bigger picture.

G L Wilson

EDIT: MartinF tells us that it's a Hondo H-2 "Metal Master" (see comments below). I note now that the auction has been taken down. Did someone tell the seller what the guitar was? Maybe he'll re-list it.

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Hondo II Iceman rough copy

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Despite the glowing write-ups in certain eBay listings that I've seen, Hondo guitars have a dreadful reputation, and I've heard many an ex-owner complain that they were cheap and nasty - and often unplayable - copies. Judging by this Hondo copy of an Ibanez Iceman, they weren't very accurate copies either. Look at the shape of that thing - that curvy lower is slightly reminiscent of a Musicvox Spaceranger. I'm also aware of the irony of an Ibanez Iceman copy, when before the Iceman, Ibanez were copyists themselves.

So, any Hondo owners or ex-owners out there? Were they really all that bad?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Hondo All-Star H-702

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Once again we have an eBay seller claiming a guitar is much older than it is. So, he thinks this Japanese Hondo All-Star H-702 is from the 1970s (or even the 60s judging by the listing title)?

Well seeing as it is very obviously a copy of the Fender Bullet MkII series from the early 1980s, I don't see how this is possible. Unless those crafty Japanese had access to a time machine.

"Let's nip into the future and steal a design from Fender's budget-guitar series."

I mean, if I had a time machine I think I'd do something better with it than that.

So, it's an eBay seller not doing his homework. Even the logo is copied from the Fender Bullet! Jeez! Some people!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Hondo Flash headless bass designed by Harry Fleishman

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Hondo guitars don't have the best of reputations. Those that remember their poorly executed copies of Gibson and Fender designs recall them with a shudder and rarely have a good word to say about them. In the early 1980s Hondo brought in luthier Harry Fleishman as a design consultant, and together they came up with this, the Hondo Flash Bass.

It has the appearance of being all neck. Indeed, the fretboard sports 30 frets (unless I miscounted) and I think you can safely say that access to the upper frets is unhindered. The volume and tone controls are mounted on the upper edge (reminiscent of the LaBaye 2x4) and the Hondo/Fleishman team have come up with quite an elegant solution to the problem of where to locate the tuners. The bass has a single J-style pickup and allegedly a piezo pickup system too.

The seller keeps referring to it as a "travel guitar", but you'll see in the photo of it next to a Jazz-esque Bass that it's about the same length. The length subtracted from the head has simply been added behind the bridge. However, if you're talking body mass, then yes, it's a lot smaller but it's still going to have to fit inside a lengthy case or gig bag.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!