Hondo!

[Peter Mix]

Here’s a terrific electric F5 from Hondo. History is sketchy and it may have been a NAMM show custom instrument in ‘69 or the early 70’s.

I googled Hondo once and found it quickly under the heading “What Is The Worst Mandolin You Have Played?”. That thread sure didn’t know about this 50-year-old beauty!

This Hondo is a solid-body rock’n’roll machine capable of pretty much anything. It’s quite heavy and the strap button on the scroll works best to keep its weight distributed comfortably.

It’s original except for the strap button (I didn’t put it there, but I am glad someone else thought of it) and tuners. The tailpiece is very heavy duty and cool. The pickup is very hot. I put modern tuners on it only because the original lustrous faux pearl buttons made me slightly queasy.

Here’s a snippet: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVwtFesZKk

[Jess L.]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVwtFesZKk

Cool playing! I like that sound. Lemme see if the video can be put into this page...

[John Rosett]

I've seen a few of these over the years, but they are pretty rare.

[William Smith]

I'd take one of those solid body F-5 style electrics any day over the Hondo acoustic examples I've seen! Very Nice!