hondo body

yeah yeah i know its not a westone topic, but.....
anyone have a hondo body going spare? strat type pref with H H config and solidbody if poss
dont want to pay too much....maybe swap for my old DiMarzio (possibly)HS-1 pup?

reason being I bought a hondo guitar listed as "project"....the body is total garbage, I would guess at PINE nice maple neck (needs sanding,fretwork) and a pair of really nice DiMarzio HB's....brass pup rings and brass bridge (barrel saddles....anyone have a spare grub screw?)
the body is so soft that the neck pocket looks to have been "squashed" so the neck doesnt touch the top side of the body!
pics to (laugh at) follow

I have a plywood Strat body which you are welcome to. I also have bridge screws.

Hoax

so the plan is to replace the body for something similar, and keep this one to practise painting/clear coating etc

hoax wrote:
I have a plywood Strat body which you are welcome to. I also have bridge screws.

Hoax

Thanks for the offer Hoax, I dont want to seem picky, but is it a H H body without scratchplate?
I really want to keep this as close to the original as possible, if possible.

No - I see what you mean. It wouldn't suit you. Why don't you just repair what you have with either a shim or fibreglass resin? The original early fifties Telecasters had pine bodies and they are extremely highly regarded.

Hoax

Im with Hoax, that looks nice and the stressed areas of the wood could be stabilised. Probably has hardened a fair bit already with age.

yes, I thought about the shim and will probably go that route anyway.
the bridge needs to be moved a bit to the right also, if you notice the 6th string, its only just hitting the edge of the fretboard!
these HD hondo's were brought out in '79 as a "my first band" bargain bucket release.....
http://www.preservationsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/HondoII_firstband_1979-704x1024.jpg

it looks like a 2 piece ply from inside the cavity

thanks again for the offer Hoax, much appreciated

Still think you could shim it without moving the bridge, may need to remove a bit from the neck pocket. Just got to change the angle of the neck ?

Decided to hit this with the drill and sanding disc attatchment, pheweee! that was fun!

roughly sanded down to the wood, turns out its an OK grain.

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since these pics I have fine sanded and a little reshaping of the body contour, rounded off the edges a bit more..
now it is hanging in the shed with 3 coats of Colron Antique Oil containing tung oil and "other resins"




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I'm thinking I will put on maybe 10 coats of the oil, the Klingspor 2500 wet n dry arrived today so time to start a gentle rubbing between coats.......cant wait to see this finished!

Sgt. Vimes wrote:...the bridge needs to be moved a bit to the right also...

"A bit to the right"? Try, right off the guitar altogether!
My dislike of these horrible barrel saddle bridges is, by now, legendary. Of course the string is tracking off the fretboard, they're rubbish!
Toss it, and put a real one on there. It'll look wa-a-a-ay better too.

Refinish looking good BTW.

Barry wrote:Toss it, and put a real one on there.

find me a brass hardtail for minimum pennies in the UK and you're on!

would you like it a little bit if it was nice n shiny?

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you are right though, it is total garbage! the saddle grub screws fall on the bridge mounting screw heads!

pretty though

Sgt. Vimes wrote:...find me a brass hardtail for minimum pennies in the UK and you're on!

I got mine on US eBay. They're usually easy to find locally though, for reasonable money too if you look around. For example, here's a nice one sent to me by Hoax some time back: LINK
If you haven't already seen 'em, there are several threads here and on the Guitar Gallery site detailing my "fun" with these bridges:
Here's One
Here's another one.
Yet another one!

p.s. Love the brass mounting rings!

yep, I have seen plenty Gold hardtails around, but not many brass. the gold is a bit too....."pikey" for my liking

Ive worked out its a 25-1/2" scale, 42mm at the nut with 7.5 ish mm nut string spacing and the barrel bridge string spacing is 11mm. the 12th fret is 51mm wide and the 21st is 55mm.
now, will getting a bridge with a narrower spacing correct this 6th string tracking? i cant see it myself

I'll wager 10.5 mm would work just fine. May not be absolutely "perfect" but the gain in stabilty will more than make up for it.
As for looks, you ain't gonna find cheap brass, and true, the "gold" finish is bright alright.
You can always try and dirty it up a bit by aging (dulling) in muriatic acid vapors. It won't shine but at least it won't blind ya!

Decent wood grain. Looking good.

As regards the grub screws sitting on the screw heads. Move the bridge back 1/2 or a hole. Obviously you'll have to fill the original holes with some hardwod dowl.

To align the neck, shim it. Looking at your first picture shim top left, bottm right. Bit of veneer wil do it.

If you reposition your bridge to affect the same thing you might miss the p/up pole pieces. The neck is obviously sitting askew.

What Damian said.
But...

...dump the bridge!

Thanks for your help guys, be sure to know your knowledge and experience is helping tinkerers like me achieve results.

After buying the oil I got a little carried away with myself and went straight into its application, totally forgetting the shim problem! I have a suitable piece of pine 2x1 I can shim/sand/oil but that will have to wait till the body oiling is finished.
I dug out some brand new chrome saddles from my bits box, they seem to fit ok and are 10.5 mm between strings, much more stable so should do ok until I can source a better brass bridge.
regarding the neck shim, with the pine body still quite soft (even after some 33 years) wouldnt forcing a shim in there further squash the pocket?, also it might be a case of drilling new screw holes and plugging the old...depending on how much the neck needs to shift i suppose.
If that is the case, would it be a matter of extending the hole and shim-plugging the opposite side?

I'm just thinking of the possible problems i guess, .....one step at a time sarge, one step at a time..

forgot to ask...I currently have 3 thin coats of oil on the body and I think its time to start the wet sanding, most of the body still feels slightly rough, and only glossy on the tighter grain areas, what should I be looking for with the wet sand? should it be a matt finish befopre I apply the next coat?

cheers

I completely forgot about this brass bridge replacement on our web site: Scroll to bottom of page
'Course, if you're a cheap bastid it may not be for you!

heh, it looks like im a "cheap bastid"

cool bridges though a little out of my budget just now!

The original bridges are still available (A Gotoh, but I forget the exact model) for less than half that price. Judging by the extremely poor quality of the knurling on the armadillo guitars knobs, they're probably way better quality as well.

midhilis, any chance of finding a link? Ive been through the last 2 Gotoh catalogues and it doesnt seem to be there.
did you mean an original Westone bridge? this particular guitar is a Hondo.......someone more internet savvy than I should start a Hondo forum.....any takers???

It's the original bridge for the Thunder I (Normal saddles, not the useless barrel ones) - can't find a link, but there was a post here a while back from someone who got a reply from Toshi Owha (One of the Westone designers, now working for Gotoh) that gave the exact model which is still produced today. If memory serves it was a GTC 101. Not sure.

I swear I'm losing what's left of my withering mind...this info is also on our web site: Gotoh bridge
Duh!

thanks for the info chaps, I'm gonna wait till the body is finished and the neck problem sorted out before I decide to change the bridge or not.
I quite like the look of the brass bridge plate with my NOS chrome saddles! could be a goer.
Ive decided this hondo is going to be my boys first guitar as I've asked him to help with its restoration, he might feel a bond with it.....or should I go with a speccy?

He'll probably find a Thunder I (ash body) ok, due to the shorter scale as opposed to a 25.5" speccy.
Also not so many switches to play with, just enough.
They also sound pretty good, with a half decent amp Just look a bit dull looking. Not in my eyes, possibly from a t'agers point of veiw.

heh, If anyone in this house is getting a thunder in ash finish, its me!

actually i think the thunder jet or a black concord 1 for the shorter scale and "death metal" possibilities

Thunder Jet, yes, nice and light.
Concord 1's are a bit one dimensional.

Sgt. Vimes wrote:...I quite like the look of the brass bridge plate with my NOS chrome saddles! could be a goer...

Oh, I do so love a good giggle! Best o' British luck, and all that!