Check out this bad boy [NGD]

[Sonic Mountain]

Ooooh, me likey - though I'm not totally sold on that particular headstock shape. Love the rest though

Yeah me either to be perfectly honest re the head stock. But that pointy look was very 'in' at the time I suppose.

[Simon Barden]

Looks like you need a new battery connector clip as well. That one looks rusted beyond recovery.

Being of a certain age and seeing them in shop windows, I know Hondo weren't known for being expensive guitars, even their top-lone models, so having DiMarzios and Grovers (both all-US made brands) at that time seems unlikely to me, especially for a Japanese made guitar. Gotoh, being Japanese, sounds more realistic. Some of their better models may have had DiMarzios, but that doesn't mean that all the models had them.

Standard DM Super Distortions certainly had an ID stamp on the back plate. On the other hand, these have the distinctive hole pattern on the top of the bobbins that the early Super Distortions had. But then SDs had a braided single wire connection lead, so they aren't SDs. They may possibly be Dual Sounds, which were 3-wire versions of the SD (the two coils were linked at the pickup end, with a tap wire running out for single coil operation, rather than taking leads from both coils out as happens in a 4-wire pickup) but they always had black leads. Also, I've just noticed the extra blue lead coming out in addition to the grey lead, which seems very strange to modern eyes. So I'm erring towards these being Japanese Dual Sound style copies.

[DrNomis_44]

That guitar definitely looks like a bad boy for sure, in a good way that is, very 80's metal.


Dave Mustaine from Megadeth used a BC Rich manufactured version at the start of his career, then he went over to the Jackson King V.

[Sonic Mountain]

Looks like you need a new battery connector clip as well. That one looks rusted beyond recovery.

Being of a certain age and seeing them in shop windows, I know Hondo weren't known for being expensive guitars, even their top-lone models, so having DiMarzios and Grovers (both all-US made brands) at that time seems unlikely to me, especially for a Japanese made guitar. Gotoh, being Japanese, sounds more realistic. Some of their better models may have had DiMarzios, but that doesn't mean that all the models had them.

Standard DM Super Distortions certainly had an ID stamp on the back plate. On the other hand, these have the distinctive hole pattern on the top of the bobbins that the early Super Distortions had. But then SDs had a braided single wire connection lead, so they aren't SDs. They may possibly be Dual Sounds, which were 3-wire versions of the SD (the two coils were linked at the pickup end, with a tap wire running out for single coil operation, rather than taking leads from both coils out as happens in a 4-wire pickup) but they always had black leads. Also, I've just noticed the extra blue lead coming out in addition to the grey lead, which seems very strange to modern eyes. So I'm erring towards these being Japanese Dual Sound style copies.

A bit of wd40, steel wool and elbow grease and the battery plug works fine. I do have another one to go on but it isn't broke so I'll leave it for now. While a lot of them were made in Japan this is almost definitely a Korean one going by the various sources I've read.

I am pretty sure they are just generic pickups. It's clearly been fiddled with over its lifetime so I'm still not sure what is original and what isn't. The black tuners and everything else chrome or cream coloured is a bit odd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hondo_(guitar_company)

http://samick.wikia.com/wiki/Deluxe_Series

http://samick.wikia.com/wiki/Hondo

This most likely incorrect blurb is where I saw mention of Grovers - seemed possible if they had a deal with Dimarzio, but the ones on mine are clearly Gotohs and they do make more sense.

https://reverb.com/au/item/805692-vi...1983-black-mij

[tommycarlos]

Hah. Nice. My first “real” guitar was a BC Rich “Son of a Rich” in bright yellow.

Needless to say, I was a fan of the spandex at the time (1984)!

Looked like this:

[Sonic Mountain]

Yeah, you can totally see this is a copy of that design.

[JohnH]

Hah. Nice. My first “real” guitar was a BC Rich “Son of a Rich” in bright yellow.

Needless to say, I was a fan of the spandex at the time (1984)!

Looked like this:

I'm so into that!

[wazkelly]

If not genuine Di Marzio Super Distortions they sure look like a damn good copy. Thin sound may be due to shape of guitar and lack of timber in all the right places.

I had an Ibanez Flying V with a Di Marzio SD in the bridge position and whilst you could dial in some good sounds the whole thing sounded a bit thin and shrill. Dropped the PUP into a Strat Richie Sambora style and wow, huge sound and made a massive difference. Need to remember that a lot of DM's of that era were mostly mid range boosters and sounded awesome, mostly in LP shapes.

Tend to think body shape may be contributing.