Where was my Hondo guitar made?

There's a lot of confusing information on Hondo guitars out there, some of it thanks to eBay profiteers and some just plucked out of thin air. I will try and keep this brief and concise. Ready?

HONDO DO NOT MAKE GUITARS

The name Hondo was applied to guitars imported from eastern countries such as Japan, Korea and possibly even Indonesia by a company called International Music Corporation (IMC). Factories made guitars with blank headstocks and importers would apply their own logo. Companies including Antoria and Ibanez had almost identical Les Pauls to Hondo in the early 70s, for example.

What Hondo did do in the 80s was enter into a partnership with the Korean manufacturer Samick and all Hondo branded guitars were made in Korea after this time with the possible exception of a few extremely budget instruments seemingly being made in Indonesia. There are suppositions that Hondo worked with engineers from legendary Japanese manufacturer Tokai to get the Korean operation up to standard, though I have not been able to substantiate this. Tokai did make Fender copies for Hondo in the late 70s so their involvement is possible.

Please beware when reading listing on internet auction sites. They are often wrong and make assumptions about Hondo guitars because the name sounds like the Japanese motor company "Honda" and they have read somewhere that Hondo had an association with Matsumoku and Tokai (in actual fact, guitars were made in these factories for only a relatively short time).

The greatest reply I had from a seller I was interested in purchasing from was that thanks to the stigma surrounding Japanese made products following World War 2, Hondo and other companies would write Korea on their Japanese made instruments so buyers, particularly in the US, would not be put off.

NOT ALL HONDO GUITARS WERE MADE IN JAPAN

Contrary to listing on internet auction sites, a lot of later Hondo guitars were made in Korea. If the country of origin of your guitar matters to you, you best read on! Below is a rough outline of where Hondo guitars were made and when.

60s: Japan

Hondos made at this time tended to look like the model to the left: loosely based on the hugely popular Fender Stratocaster but ultimately crudely made by Fender standards. Nonetheless, these early Japanese guitars are often considered quite collectible.

Early 70s: Japan

In the early 70s, Japanese guitar manufacturing took a small step forward and Hondo wanted to underline this by rebranding as "Hondo II". Bodies were often made of plywood, necks were always bolted on rather than set like their American counterparts but they began to at least look the part.

Identical guitars can be found with names such as Antoria and Ibanez on the headstocks - other importers deciding to add their own name to these mass-produced instruments.

At this time, Hondo tried to differentiate themselves from these other importers by partnering with DiMarzio, the first company to offer off-the-shelf replacement pickups. The standard pickups on these guitars were often very poor, the humbuckers in particular being single coils housed inside a humbucker casing. Hondo became an OEM for DiMarzio in a deal not dissimilar to modern gutiars with "Duncan Designed" pickups today, and offered them as an option for many Hondo models to help improve the sound with reasonable success.

Models with DiMarzio pickups would have a modified code. For example, a HLP (Hondo Les Paul style) would become a HDLP if it had DiMarzio pickups installed.

1979-81 (approx.): Matsumoku and Tokai, Japan

In the late 1970s, Japanese guitar production took a massive step forward. This culminated in the so-called "lawsuit" era when certain Japanese instruments were said to be of such a high quality that they rivalled their American counterparts to a point where the Japanese companies were hit with cease and desist letters. (Long story but the lawsuit didn't actually happen, it basically just threatened the Japanese companies if they continued to make guitars with Fender or Gibson shaped headstocks).

The Matsumoku factory handled Gibson style models (and also an S.D. Curlee licensed model) while the Fender style copies were made by Tokai. All these Japanese guitars were part of the Hondo Professional Series, denoted on the headstock of each. The Fender copies had "Made in Japan" printed on the headstocks while the Matsumoku guitars would have a black and gold "Made in Japan" sticker somewhere on the rear either at the heel of the neck or near the tuners. Some of these guitars had DiMarzio pickups but by no means all of them.

The Professional series first appeared in around 1979 and was last advertised in the 1981/82 cataolgue when the range was expanded to include guitars based on the Danelectro Longhorn and some Musicman examples. It has been said that providing such high quality guitars nearly bankrupted IMC and made cause for a re-think.

1982 onwards: all guitars made in Korea

It is said that Hondo partnered with Samick in Korea to create all of their instruments after this time. Some guitars were aimed at beginners, while the Deluxe Series seemed to aim to build on the success of the Professional Series, presumably while lowering manufacturing costs. There is little evidence of DiMarzio pickups being used after 1982, although Grover tuners were not uncommon as stock.

Hondo also added sub-brands such as Revival, Fame, All-Star and Mastercaster. Each of these had a slightly different aesthetic. It is not unfair to say that Hondo did their absolute best to provide interesting and unusual instruments that would be different from their competitors. Lots of unique colour combinations and hardware options were always prominent throughout the Hondo ranges right through into the 90s.

The Anomaly

This looks a lot later than the majority of Hondos I've seen and certainly looks like a resurgence of the HondoII logo not used since the late 70s. I say this because this guitar looks like it was made in the 90s to me, the carefully shaped plastic truss-rod cover looking much newer than those on the 70s Hondo Strats. Who knows?!

A Basic Guide to Hondo Pickups

It is very important to remember that DiMarzio pickups were only an option on certain Hondo guitars. Not every Hondo guitar had DiMarzio pickups in it. For the short period they did, the humbuckers were copies of the Super Distortion model and so were uncovered humbuckers with no adjustable pole screws. If the humbuckers have pole screws they are not DiMarzios. If the humbuckers have metal pickup covers they are not DiMarzios. If you unscrew the surrounds and look at the bottoms of the pickups themselves they will have the words "DiMarzio Pickups Made in U.S.A" written on them. Single coils are a little harder to identify but the humbuckers are easy.

Don't believe everything you read

The internet has taught me that if someone writes something once and someone else reads it, it can very quickly become "the truth", even if there is no evidence to prove it. This is the case with the supposed country of origin of Hondo guitars and particularly their pickups. Sellers across the internet will post a Hondo guitar and will automatically write "Made in Japan" and "original DiMarzio pickups" on their listing with little to no idea if that description is accurate or not. In some quarters, this is called deceit, extortion, immoral and many other things but for now we'll go with... I suppose naivety and laziness if we give some of these people the benefit of the doubt.

You may wish to read up on the history of Hondo guitars before you delve into the exciting world of pickup nuances, but essentially Hondo guitars started out with very poorly manufactured Japanese instruments in the 60s, became very slightly better in the early to mid 70s, were souped up with optional replacement hardware in the mid to late 70s and then from the very end of the 70s through the 80s were significantly better, though some poorer budget models still made it to market.

It seems all Hondo electric guitars from the late 60s through the mid to late 70s were made in Japan. Contrary to what people will tell you about all Japanese guitars being excellent quality and very desirable for players, these were either very primitive looking original designs (extremely loosely based on Fender Stratocasters) or, slightly later on, cheap Les Paul and Fender copies. Some people still find them collectible, most likely due to the low prices, but it was not until the latter half of the 1970s that Japanese electric guitar production really staked it's claim for the "lawsuit" reputation it now holds.

60s Hondo EG202

70s Hondo Les Paul copy

While these early 70s copies looked reasonable upon first glance, their bodies were often made of plywood, their tuners were extremely cheap and any pickups that looked like humbuckers on the outside were often single coils disguised in a metal humbucker style case.

In an effort to shift customers' perceptions of the Hondo brand, they enlisted the help of pickup maker DiMarzio who revolutionised the guitar world in 1972 by producing the first after-market replacement pickup that could be fitted to any guitar with a humbucker route to improve it's output and overall sound - the now legendary (thanks in no small part to one Kurt Cobain some 15 years later) Super Distortion.

The Les Pauls that Hondo imported from Japan to it's markets in the US and Europe were made in the same factory for all sorts of brands (Antoria, Seville, Salvarez and several others are extremely similar instruments). Hondo saw this replacement pickup as the perfect way to easily distinguish their guitars from the identical competition and advertised their OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) DiMarzio pickups as an optional upgrade to all Hondo guitars in a deal that I suppose is not dissimilar to modern day guitars that have "Duncan Designed" pickups.

Hondo ad from 1978

Another late 70s ad

The DiMarzio humbuckers used were very similar to the K-10 - what is now called the Super 2 - but with the adjustable hex poles "filled in". The DC reading generally seems to have been between 8.5k and 9k but the output is reportedly as strong as a standard Super Distortion, albeit with less compression and more articulation. There were also single coil and bass models to fit Hondo's other guitars.

If a Hondo guitar had DiMarzio pickups fitted, it's normal model name would have a "D" added. For example, if a HLP-2B was fitted with DiMarzios, it would become a HDLP-2B. This was clearly displayed on a sticker to the rear of the guitar and assisted by a "DiMarzio Powered" sticker proudly applied to the pickguard.

DiMarzio Powered sticker

Hondo's association with DiMarzio appears to have ended in the early 80s when Hondo stopped importing guitars from Japan and had their guitars manufactured solely in Korea.


HONDO OEM DIMARZIO OPEN COIL HUMBUCKER

Usually black finish with no adjustable pole screws, slightly lumpy looking slugs and no pickup cover. Pickup base stamped "DiMarzio Pickups Made in U.S.A". Mostly fitted to earlier Les Paul Custom style copies. Reports of the DC reading are generally between 8.5k - 9k
Other guitars that appear to be fitted with DiMarzios include the Chiquita,







HONDO KOREAN OPEN COIL HUMBUCKER

Usually black finish with adjustable pole screws in more traditional PAF style. Adjustment screw on bridge pickup surround has been changed. No markings to the rear of neck pickup, bridge pickup will be investigated during next major string change. Likely made in Korea along with the guitar.
These photos are taken from my own Hondo Deluxe Series H935. Although the seller believed these to be original DiMarzios, unscrewing them and looking at the bottom proved otherwise. However, according to their own website, DiMarzio state that high output pickups are difficult to control on hollow and semi hollow guitars and so are unsuitable for this application anyway.



HONDO MADE IN JAPAN COVERED "HUMBUCKER"
Another Hondo aficionado on the internet refers to these as "unbuckers" given that they are simply a single-coil pickup in a humbucker case. The picture clearly shows the other half of the chrome case is filled with foam rather than the other half of a humbucker pickup! The "fakebucker" guy says he actually rather likes the tone of these pickups as it is quite unique, though they don't sound at all like a humbucker as their casing suggests.