LeftyBassist.com

http://www.ebay.com/itm/bass-guitar-lef ... 500wt_1178

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDO-DELUXE-SE ... 1903wt_927

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RARE-LE ... 500wt_1178

I don't advise anyone to bid on these; I just thought it was funny that there are three of them on ebay.

Hondo was terrible 30+ years ago and I doubt they have improved with age.
(I remember in the late 1970's a kid up the street shot his Hondo "Les Paul" full of BB's for more sustain. His parents didn't quite see it that way...)

My first guitar was a Hondo. Good riddance!

I had a Hondo P-bass before I moved up to a Fender. For a short time I had both of them and could compare them side by side. What a joke! To this day I think the end of the Hondo neck was hand-sawn off.

Eventually I sold the Hondo for $100. Good riddance, indeed!

My first bass was also a Hondo - terrible Van Halen paint job. good riddance is right!

In the mid-80s I played a Hondo Longhorn as my main bass. It was awesome. Sold it in 1990 when I got a Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass VI as my main bass.
Just got the Hondo back after all these years, very happy!

Like many of you my first bass was a Hondo as well, and agree really bad bass but great memories, I lent mine to a friend in High School back in 82 and never seen it again. Yes they were bad basses but they did make a lefty for those of us starting out back in the day. I got a new 80's Rick after the Hondo and I still have the Rick.

OK now, that's about all the Hondo bashing I can take!

But seriously, like a lot of stuff that came across the big pond during this era, not all Hondos were created equal; over the years various models came out of various factories with widely differentiated degrees of quality. Some absolute garbage, some reasonably decent stuff, and a few really nice things as well.

I have two 830 Fame series P basses that both fall into that "reasonably decent" category- solid easy players with good straight necks and low action, Grover tuners, pickups replaced with 80's Dimarzios...in fact the SB is for sale but TT is definitely my keeper- I don't see myself ever getting rid of it!

my first bass was a Hondo P-Bass aswell i thought it was nice for what i paid for it

The first bass I played was my dad's Kalamazoo (me and my guitarist bought it for the band), but when it was decided I'd be the full-time bassist, I went out and bought a righty 830. I had a Badass II and DiMarzios put in it, and a few months later, a, '83 lefty Fender neck (it said "RECISION BASS" on it!). Fortunately I kept all the old parts, because I found a lefty 830 in a pawn shop and they agreed to trade me straight up for my righty. I finally got a Fender, but I had that lefty Hondo for a long time, and when I put a Chandler neck on it, it was quite nice. Of course, by that time I was into Stingrays, so I sold it, and still kind of regret doing that.

The bass pictured in my avatar is a Hondo, which I still have, though it's all cut to hell now.
The headstock is covered because I wanted people to believe that it was a real Fender.
I even ran a strip of (gray!) tape up the neck to act as a skunk-stripe.

p

P, I believe you probably had a "Hondo II" p bass copy (with the unpainted Fender shaped headstock, flat neck heel end- not rounded, truss rod adjustment sticking out the heel, no skunk stripe). Those necks were pretty notorious for warping and bowing. That model preceded the later 830 redesign (matching body color Hondo shaped headstock, rounded heel and bullet truss adjustment at the head). the 830 was offered in "Deluxe" and "Fame" series, with the Fame series being the top of the line. Both my Fame series p basses have skunk stripes.

I think the case I carry my '78 Fender Precision in is a Hondo case. But it's hardshell and not shitty chip board.

BTW, there's a great "Hondo Club" thread over at Talkbass: (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/thread349988.html). Best quote: "The first rule about Hondo club is that you don't talk about Hondo club."