The OFFICIAL (kinda) HONDO THREAD!!

[superchicken_VI]

Thanks for the thoughts on my dad. We had an odd relationship, and I went years without seeing him after he had left my mother and me at a young age and went off to start a new family. He moved far away and then eventually returned home when I was an adult, and brought me into one of his bands. We had a much better relationship that way than as father/son. Everything important in my life with him was either involving music or golf. He died suddenly at 59, 8 years ago.

As for the bass, I stripped the paint with Formby's, masked the nut, and did nothing to match the clear--it was perfect when the last of the color came off. It was as though they had cleared them all before adding the color.

Funny enough, that bass has had several necks over the years, and since I took that picture and posted it I've swapped necks again back to a cheap SX fretless. I play every Sunday in a contemporary Christian band at church, and so much of the genre is played on fretless that it makes more sense to have that set up that way than another fretted bass. It's a better fretted P-bass with the original neck, but it's the only body I dare mule a different neck with.

Good luck with your re-fin--in some ways I look back wishing I hadn't done it, but it really does look better in my eyes.

 

[Muddslide]

Well folks, I may be leaving the cult. I have to find a de-programmer first (nyuk nyuk.)

I LOVE my Lotus/Hondo, but I'm about to wind up with three basses. I don't really need three basses. If I have to choose one to go, it may well be the Lotus. Only because it is so $!@#ing heavy. It's the heaviest bass I've ever played.

I haven't decided yet. My other two basses need work so I'll hang onto the Lotus until I have at least one other working bass. I'm pretty torn about it. I dig the 70's vibe and mojo of the Lotus, and am addicted to the neck on it.

I may at least have to keep the neck, but then I think: I won't be able to sell the loaded body for enough to make it worth the bother.

I also like the fact that after playing on the Lotus, other basses feel so light and easy to play, so it might be good to keep the Lotus for a practice bass.

Decisions...

 

[CrUiSeR]

Keep it.
Rip the frets out.
Sit down.
Enjoy.

 

[bonz - darrell]

Well folks, I may be leaving the cult. I have to find a de-programmer first (nyuk nyuk.)

I LOVE my Lotus/Hondo, but I'm about to wind up with three basses. I don't really need three basses. If I have to choose one to go, it may well be the Lotus. Only because it is so $!@#ing heavy. It's the heaviest bass I've ever played.

I haven't decided yet. My other two basses need work so I'll hang onto the Lotus until I have at least one other working bass. I'm pretty torn about it. I dig the 70's vibe and mojo of the Lotus, and am addicted to the neck on it.

I may at least have to keep the neck, but then I think: I won't be able to sell the loaded body for enough to make it worth the bother.

I also like the fact that after playing on the Lotus, other basses feel so light and easy to play, so it might be good to keep the Lotus for a practice bass.

Decisions...

Keep it. I regret selling my Alien, so truly I'm currently a "fallen" cult member. Now I have to find a new one so I can regain my lofty status (!)...

 

[superchicken_VI]

It's not like a bass takes up a lot of room or that you can get enough money to fill the emptiness in your soul left by getting rid of an instrument!

 

[bonz - darrell]

It's not like a bass takes up a lot of room or that you can get enough money to fill the emptiness in your soul left by getting rid of an instrument!

True, it's not usually a "money" issue, it's a "honey" issue.

As in: "Honey, you have a lot of instruments. How many do you need, and how many can you play at one time?"

As many times as I've tried, there's no way to win that conversation.

Edit: my stable usually comprises of 7 or 8 basses. It got crowded in my home office, so I keep one at my office office as well.

darrell

 

[superchicken_VI]

Answer: Shoes, purses. If you have more basses than she has handbags, you're screwed.

 

[bonz - darrell]

The basses I can 'minimze' by putting into cases and tucking away. Then I just rotate the basses in and out of the cases, and move them to different racks/hangers so that they all look 'familiar'...

The four bass cabs sitting in the corner of my office are harder to explain away...

I'm screwed.

 

[superchicken_VI]

Thankfully my wife and I met in college in an advanced music theory class, so she knew what she was getting into.

 

[CrUiSeR]

It's not like a bass takes up a lot of room

You should see some of the apartments in NYC

 

[Muddslide]

Keep it. I regret selling my Alien, so truly I'm currently a "fallen" cult member. Now I have to find a new one so I can regain my lofty status (!)...

Yeah, I have about resigned to keep it. I just like it so much. The neck is so nice I could just keep it, but then I probably couldn't get enough for a 40-pound loaded Hondo/Lotus ply body to make it worth trying to sell.

It's not like a bass takes up a lot of room or that you can get enough money to fill the emptiness in your soul left by getting rid of an instrument!

Well, I've been playing since 1978. I've gotten rid of more basses than I can even remember. You'd likely cry if I told you about some of the things I've parted with (and the prices I got for them at the time compared to what I could have gotten if I'd hung onto them 10 more years before selling them. Let's just say I've owned way more than my share of pre-CBS Fenders, among other things...)

True, it's not usually a "money" issue, it's a "honey" issue.

As in: "Honey, you have a lot of instruments. How many do you need, and how many can you play at one time?"

As many times as I've tried, there's no way to win that conversation.

Edit: my stable usually comprises of 7 or 8 basses. It got crowded in my home office, so I keep one at my office office as well.

Answer: Shoes, purses. If you have more basses than she has handbags, you're screwed.

Well, I only have one working bass at the moment. I have another in layaway and one in pieces awaiting resurrection.

I've owned 9-10 basses at one time before (and when I did, I also had a bunch of guitars, amps, effects pedals, analog synths, recording gear and tons of other assorted stuff) but I have zero interest in owning more than 3-4 basses now, max.

Thankfully my wife and I met in college in an advanced music theory class, so she knew what she was getting into.

Yeah, my wife is a musician too, bless her. She is very encouraging and supportive. In fact SHE is the one who is usually pushing me to buy gear. If I'm thinking "I don't know, babe...we might need to get some work done to the car..." or whatever, she's the one who says "Pfft. BUY IT ALREADY. You only live once."

I honestly don't think she'd care if I had 137 instruments as long as it made me happy and I kept food on the table for her and the kids. For myself, I am just more minimalist these days.

But I do think I'd regret selling this Hondo/Lotus. For one thing, it's the only instrument I have that's got any age to it anymore. I kind of like that. My others were made in 2000 and 2005.

 

[superchicken_VI]

I have a lot of instruments. My degree was on trumpet, and I have a half dozen of those (3 Bb, 1 C, 1 Eb/D, 1 Bb/A pic), plus a lot of guitars and a lot of basses. Plus amps. And a trombone, a flute, a few clarinets, a marching french horn, and a friend at church just gave us an accordion. Plus we have a couple of ukuleles. And a few drums. And my wife's piano and a keyboard. And an old organ.....

So we have a lot of music gear.

A friend recently bought a Wal. My wife applauded him saving up and buying the perfect bass for him. Then she realized he still had 2 or 3 other basses, plus I told her how much they sold for. She then thought he was nearly crazy.

 

[Ol'Bass'ead]

My advice is to keep it. If youre not going play it, turn it into wall art. That way, someday when your other basses take a dump you can pull it off the wall and use it until your other bass is ready.

 

[whizzkidd4]

just got this Hondo pbass from cl its an h83 model, nice feel to it nice neck nice sound has this bullet truss at head stock also nice color its a yellowed white pearl like color that's really nice..any info about this bass would be nice too..

 

[Muddslide]

Have definitely decided to keep my Lotus/Hondo. It just feels so good. Might be heavy as a cannonball, but everytime I play it, it feels great and is fun.

I have another (old SX P bass) project I was going to get back up and running, but have decided to fix up the Lotus. The stock pickup is nice and thumpy, but microphonic, and the pots and jack are very scratchy. I mean, I don't believe anything has been done to that bass since it was made around 1977-78.

So I am going to install an all-new high grade wiring harness and jack and slap in a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickup. It'll be my Bass Of Doom.

I've considered refinishing it, but I doubt I'll mess with it. I might strip the finish off the headstock though. I don't much care for matching headstocks with maple fingerboards (think they look sharp with rosewood most of the time) and this one looks even more odd to me since it's sunburst.

I may strip the headstock and make up some kind of "Hondo/Lotus" decal logo for it.

 

[eldoryder]

I have a new stablemate for my Hondo II double-cut coming from a TB member........

A HONDO LONGHORN!!!! I'm very excited. I've always admired the Longhorn body style, but was never much impressed with the lipstick pickups that usually were put on them (Danelectro, etc.). This one has a replacement set of Dimarzio "Area P" pickups installed, but it's also coming with the original cream Demarzios in addition to a brand-new set of cream-colored covers. I'm sure I'll get a beefier tone out of this than any lipstick pup!

Can anyone shed any light as to the purpose of the dipswitch? Also, is there a FAQ somewhere that has a chart showing serial numbers/years? The serial number on this one is 1070393. I'm not sure how many years Hondo made the longhorn. This one also is coming with a VERY worn original case. I'm guessing these are hard to get ahold of. If someone was making a new case for these, I might spring for one.

Anyways, this "Hondo Disease" seems to be spreading. I can't wait to experience my next "symptom"!

 

[iriegnome]

It is a phase switch for the DiMarzzio pickup

 

[iriegnome]

Oh. Hondo made the model 1181 Longhorn form 1981-1983. No other cases that I know of. Yours seems to be missing the cream pickup cover. I also have a 1981. I am the original owner. Awesome bass

 

[eldoryder]

Thanks for the dating information, iriegnome! One of the nice things about this deal was that I got a NEW set of cream pickup covers to put on this bass. It will then look more original. I'll have to compare the OEM cream pups to the "Area P" Dimarzios that are on it now to see which tone I prefer. I'm not sure I'll be getting much use out of the phase switch.

 

[pudge]

I had a HONDO II jazz bass.Multi lam. plywood body ,trans maroon finish, blocked "rosewood" board, black 'guard,with 2 mini "humbucker" sized 8 polepiece single coil p.u's.I ended up putting a bart in the neck position and after that it wasn't half bad.It looked the part and with the used bart in it it sounded decent.Nowhere near the quality of starter basses you can get now,but not the worst thing ever.I also hada Hondo strat with enough treble to slice yur head off.