II Professional Review

Features:	10
Sound:	10
Action:	8
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	6.7
Comments:	10

Turns out Hondo had some good years and some bad ones. The early '80s were really great years.

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: BassDude2737, on may 18, 2005

Features: // 10

Sound: I love the sound I get from this guitar! Originaly, it was not wired right, I found a Telecaster circut diagram online and re-wired it now it sounds just like a real Telecaster! With both pickps on, it has I nice, even, warm sound. With the selector in the front, rhythm position, is has an even warmer sound (thru the champ, I can get a pretty good SRV sound), but the best part is swithching it into the rear or lead setting, this gives you a nice, bright sound but it is not to harsh. The rear pickup is set in a metal plate on the bridge (like a Tele) I think this gives it that bright tone. I think this guitar suits a whole range of music. I play mostly classic rock, it's perfect for that, you can get a nice clean sound an then with a little bit of Drive get the nice cream-esc sound. It also gets a pretty good Hendrix sound (with a fuzz-face). The guitar also by nature, is great for country music in that treble position. I play all of my stuff thru eather my Fender champ, or a Fender Hot-rod Deluxe. I use only the amps overdrive, a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive, and a moded fuzz-face that I built from scratch called the "peach fuzz." One other thing I don't like is, it is quite noisey (60 cycle hum) when I'm eather in the lead or rythem position. Overall the sound is great, you can get a wide range from very melow and dark to bright crisp tone and everything in-between. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action when I got it was not bad, but not very good. The neck was right on the money, just a slight curve at the 9th fret. The pickups where straight, I raised the high end of the front pickup to give a uniform volume up the strings. I just re-adjusted the action, now it plays wonderfuly. I also set the intonation, it's perfect. The finish was flawless (I have since put a few nicks and dings in it). The former ownerdid not play it alot most of the time it sat in it's case (the worst thing for a guitar). // 8

Reliability & Durability: // 10

Impression: As I said before, I play mostly classic rock, some newer stuff, and some folk. As I said before, I have a Vintage Fender Champ, a 2001, Fender Hot-rod Deluxe, and some other random pedals. I also have an Epiphone acoustic that's falling apart. If I ever lost my Hondo, or it got stolen, I would have to have another one, I don't know where I would find one, I can't find another one on the internet (or anywhere else for that mater). I compared it to a Squire Strat but I got this one (very glade I did! A Squire is no compairison to my Hondo). I chose this guitar over something else because I just like the sound, and feel of it. I think that it's always better to buy an older guitar in my opinion they used to make better guitars. And with an old guitar the wood has hade a chance to settle down (less chance of warping). I have had this guitar for about two and a half years, I love it! I play for at least two hours a day (I'm home-schooling). I have had several people look at it, some say it's a very good guitar, some say it's a good starter but get somthing else soon, and some say quote "it is the fisher-price of guitars." I think that to get a guitar of equal quality, you would have to spend at least $700 to $800. // 10

Comments

[jobi-wan-kanobi]

Great guitar! Can anyone tell me anything about it? I can't find any info on mine either.

[thunderinblack]

my school has a hondo semi and even though i usally dont useally like semis i love it

[-Element-]

they suck ballz man

[thegrim]

they do not suck...i have an old hondo les paul copy that sounds pretty good...the dimarzio pick ups make it the way it is....even though i just use it for visitors... (it keeps their paws off of my les paul custom)... anywayz i still play it once in awhile

[telemetal89]

i own two hondos myself and i love them, one is a gibson explorer copy that i bought for 50 bucks, though it was taken apart i bought new electronics and slapped two esp humbuckers i had lying around and it is better than a gibson, my other is part of their fame series which have the same paint job as evh and a mirror pickgaurd with a s-s-h pu configuration wonderful guitars i bought it at a pawn for 80 bucks so im happy

[kipton88]

I Have a Hondo II professional P-bass and it is an amazing sounding bass but I wanna know more about it and cant find any info or even another one of these basses. can someone help me out???

[rurouni_aoshi]

Haha, Honda makes cars, Hondo makes guitars

[The_Mullet]

I own 3 Hondo's from the late 70's, Gibson Les Paul copies, all in the same ebony finish.

One of them is mint, plays very well and has a very good crunchy rock'n'roll tone, has a faster neck than the Gibson standards (slim taper),

The other two I bought very cheap because they're faulty, I'm going to get them fixed up when I have the cash and experiment on them (extra nobs, new humbuckers etc)

If you can find a good one they're well worth it and among the best copies you can find.

[amcrambler]

im begining to love hondo my self... just the other day a friend of mine gave me his 197? hondo acustic and after a few hours of tinkering and experimenting, its twice the guitar my $30 harmony acustic will ever be, i know that not saying alot but for a free guitar you cant beat it.

[amacmillan]

I've got a 70's Hondo professional II strat copy. It sat unused for a number of years before I dragged it out and had it professionally set up at a local music store. The body was stripped down to the natural wood by a friend of mine. It's a really nice looking guitar-no plywood here! After I had the guitar set up it played absolutely like a dream. The neck is solid maple-no rosewood fretboard, just polished maple. The guy who set it up for me told me the factory that made this guitar eventually churned out Charvels. Since I can't find any information online about the guitar and its provenance, I can't verify this. Recently I put a set of emg (David Gilmour signature) pickups in it. It sounds and plays better than my USA strat.