Which unfortunately, the owner can’t always be there to give it’s history so of course if he is consider yourself lucky. It’s also equally important to ask for the history of the guitar to find out if anything has been replaced, since it’s so hard to find information on these guitars, you’ll need help from the owner to find out. You’ll want to check for cracks, bowing, headstock breaks….every single thing on these guitars must be checked thoroughly. So, it’s best to check the guitar out completely before purchase. Also, materials used (Note: since some of these are 30+ they’re considered vintage as well.) Even though their guitars are known for their surprising durability (Considering some of these are made of layered plywood – Not even kidding, talk about a let down) Most of these guitars you find will not only be old, but most likely not the best quality (Quality of Guitars back then wasn’t as good as today). When buying any guitar, it’s always best to use caution. In 2005, Hondo was replaced by their J.B. Musicorp was the company who ended up letting the Hondo name die unfortunately. Four Years Later, Hondo was picked up yet again by Musicorp. Immediately, Freed launched new models and moved to Stuart, Florida.Īll this? Didn’t last long. And for awhile Hondo was kinda pushed to the side until Freed started his own business, the Jerry Freed International Company, and picked up the rights to the name. The duo had found interest in a new venture. Things were going well.ġ985, things changed. In 1979, they had 485 models and sold 790,000 that year alone. With Akai on their side handling manufacturing….Hondo Guitars was bound to take off.Īnd it did, Hondo sold thousands of instruments worldwide. But Freed was an excellent salesman and Moore had gone to school for finance. this was a great partnership, since not only did they both have prior experience in the music business, (Jerry Freed sold all sorts of music equipment and Tommy worked at his dads music shop and had other music ventures as well). (Friends that started IMC, which had always been involved in the music industry). The idea was thought up by Jerry Freed and Tommy Moore. Hondo Guitars were originally made by a joint venture of the International Music Company and Akai.

Here’s everything I could find about them.

Absolutely no in-between some of these have lasted decades of abuse (seriously) and still play great. Hondo Guitars, the deceased Guitar company notorious for people loving or hating them.

Hondo guitar serial number lookup