Today my mom brought home a Hondo II HDLP-2B, a Les Paul model. I’ve always wanted a Les Paul and am happy I finally own one now. It’s not in a usable state at the moment and as you can see from the picture it’s extremely dirty. I’ve never really seen a guitar that dirty really. Dirt can be cleaned, but dirt isn’t the biggest issue with this guitar. The pickups and screws are rusted and the electronics don’t work anymore either as well.
I do however plan to restore it. This will be a first time for me, but I’m excited about it. I have a little bit of material about replacing components on a guitar and I’ve had an education in electricity and wiring. Luckily I’ve still got my soldering iron!
First steps will be to clean the guitar and figure out what exactly needs to be replaced. I also need to do some research on guitar pickups. I don’t need a hard rock or metal guitar. My ESP LTD Viper 200-FM is suited for that. I hope to make a guitar out of this one that’s suitable for blues.
Another thing I’m excited about is that the guitar is quite old (to my standards). I believe it was build somewhere in the 1970-1980’s. It definitely shows that this guitar has been used and I’m rather curious about its life story! One can only guess…
Update: The guitar has been dated to 1977. Thanks Wietse!
Love your guitar! I’ve been looking for a black Les Paul copy from Hondo. I’d like to make an offer to purchase it if you’re willing to sell it. Does it have a bolt on neck?
Hi. It does have a bolt on neck indeed.
I wasn’t planning on selling it, as I wanted to repair the guitar myself and then start using it. But you may always do me an offer. You can find my contact details on the Contact page (http://blog.htbaa.com/about/contact-me).
Someone I know that knows a lot more about guitars than me dated the guitar to 1977. Which I think is cool to have a guitar that old :-).
just got a Hondo 2, mine just survived a fire, not burned but dirty. I want to sell it. Some one make me an offer? Will send pics and tell me where to find the date?
That’s quite amazing. You’re better off putting it on Ebay or something though.