Hondo question….

[JackBootedThug]

So I picked up a 70’s hondo custom awhile back in a trade. I was pretty surprised by how good it is. I replaced the tuners with identical ones but metal instead of plastic. Installed side dots as well. The only thing killing it is the tiny frets. If this had a fret job it would be the perfect gigging machine. Pickups sound great, electronics are great…. Really nice guitar. Did I get a good one or are these just overlooked? And how hard is it to do frets? I honestly think I could do it but I don’t have the tools though. Should I give it a whirl anyway?

 

[JackBootedThug]

Anyone know what pups are in these? And are they mik or mij?

 

[JackBootedThug]

Nobody knows nutttin? Respect the venerable hondo…yo…

 

[phillybhatesme]

Post pics. I see cool-shaped Hondos all the time and wanna scoop one eventually. Idk anything about the electronics though.

 

[rsm]

So I picked up a 70’s hondo custom awhile back in a trade. I was pretty surprised by how good it is. I replaced the tuners with identical ones but metal instead of plastic. Installed side dots as well. The only thing killing it is the tiny frets. If this had a fret job it would be the perfect gigging machine. Pickups sound great, electronics are great…. Really nice guitar. Did I get a good one or are these just overlooked? And how hard is it to do frets? I honestly think I could do it but I don’t have the tools though. Should I give it a whirl anyway?

 

[JackBootedThug]

Cool I bet it has the dimarzio’s….

 

[IHateRap]

I had one but it didn’t have any of that stuff. Accord LX was the model.

 

[JackBootedThug]

I was very surprised when I got it. When I first plugged it in I was like no way… has to have had pups swapped out. No noise and sounds good. You know how you plug in a guitar with garbage pups and they just sound…. Fucked up… for lack of a better expression… this was the exact opposite. Plugged in and was like damn… sounds great…

 

[CoreyW]

My first 2 guitars were Hondos, the first was Hondo Death Dagger, I would love to get that guitar back.

The second was very similar to a PRS CE22 shape, it was better that what was available in the new beginner level guitars but I dont remember too much else about it.

As for the refret though.. I spent about 2 years gathering tools and would shop the sales, some were Stew Mac, and saved a lot of money vs buying them all at once.
You can get a fret press mandril and use it in a drill press. For a leveling beam, if you have a granite supplier picking up a 18"-24" long 2"x1" piece of cut off, that will work great.
I found radius blocks on Etsy and picked up a 5 piece set for what Stew Mac would charge for 1 of the 9" blocks, and I got them in the most common sizes.
I had the crown Z files from an earlier purchase when I first decided I was going to get started with it.
You can buy pre radiused / pre cut frets for cheaper than you can buy 2 foot sticks of fret wire, atleast that was the case when I bought the wire. Also this keeps you from needing to buy or make a wire radius tool.

I tried getting a Amazon fret beveling tool and file, and this is probably my biggest recommendation to actually just spend the money and buy the Stew Mac diamond file. The amazon beveling tool block /. holder thing worked fine, the file did not.
The Stew Mac crowning tools would be the next that I would recommend. Their fret end file is really great too.

Get decent tools for cleaning out the fret slots too.

I watched hours of videos on this and I think I may have scared myself and damn near talked myself out of doing it, but once I got started it really wasnt as difficult as I thought it would be. If you have a decent place to work with really good lighting and lots of patience you really should give it a shot, its pretty cool sense of accomplishment when you finally get it finished.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

My first 2 guitars were Hondos, the first was Hondo Death Dagger, I would love to get that guitar back.

The second was very similar to a PRS CE22 shape, it was better that what was available in the new beginner level guitars but I dont remember too much else about it.

As for the refret though.. I spent about 2 years gathering tools and would shop the sales, some were Stew Mac, and saved a lot of money vs buying them all at once.
You can get a fret press mandril and use it in a drill press. For a leveling beam, if you have a granite supplier picking up a 18"-24" long 2"x1" piece of cut off, that will work great.
I found radius blocks on Etsy and picked up a 5 piece set for what Stew Mac would charge for 1 of the 9" blocks, and I got them in the most common sizes.
I had the crown Z files from an earlier purchase when I first decided I was going to get started with it.
You can buy pre radiused / pre cut frets for cheaper than you can buy 2 foot sticks of fret wire, atleast that was the case when I bought the wire. Also this keeps you from needing to buy or make a wire radius tool.

I tried getting a Amazon fret beveling tool and file, and this is probably my biggest recommendation to actually just spend the money and buy the Stew Mac diamond file. The amazon beveling tool block /. holder thing worked fine, the file did not.
The Stew Mac crowning tools would be the next that I would recommend. Their fret end file is really great too.

Get decent tools for cleaning out the fret slots too.

I watched hours of videos on this and I think I may have scared myself and damn near talked myself out of doing it, but once I got started it really wasnt as difficult as I thought it would be. If you have a decent place to work with really good lighting and lots of patience you really should give it a shot, its pretty cool sense of accomplishment when you finally get it finished.

Yep, get the refretting videos and tools you need from StewMac, brother. Their stuff is top quality. Their tools last for years if not forever.
It's often suggested (and I agree) to do your first refret on a cheapo guitar, so if you make mistakes you don't mess up a better guitar.