The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi-Newbie here-Can anyone help me identify the origins of my guitar?It's a Hondo Deluxe 748 Mark II Les Paul. The serial number is on the sales reciept,not the guitar It's NSN. It has the PCB control board and the pickups have the letters KSSC on the backplate.Did any other company besides Matsumoku and Tokai use the PCB board in their guitars?Appreciate any help
to identify my guitar.Thanks.-Dewey

Is there any date on the receipt?

Sorry-It's not really a sales receipt. It's a shelf tag or guitar tag with the inv.
(invoice?) #259,serial # listed as NSN,and the retail price($459.00),and the model # H-748 TT,and model name which is Hondo Deluxe 748 Mark II.All this is typed on the "shelf tag".Hope this helps in some way.

I've had several 700 series Hondos, and two are here right now. All are Korean. These were all copies of popular american designs (Rich Bich, LP, two Explorers).

Some of the older DC models came with MMK pickups but I have never seen an Uncle Matt with KSSC pickups in it.

If it is a bolt neck is there anything stamped on the neckplate? Is the body ply? Are there any markings on the underside of the bridge or tailpiece? These might help.

This one is really nice with bookmatched striped maple top,set neck,fret edge
binding,grover tuners,the squarish Gibralter type bridge.I'm not sure if the top is veneered or not. It's a pancke body 70's construction and Lawsuit Headstock.

I forgot to say that there is an exact photo of this guitar on the "My Rare Guitars" website in the 70's guitar section. I also saw it in the 1985 Hondo catalog on the Vintaxe site.[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/diland_2006/th_DSCF1208.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/diland_2006/th_DSCF1209.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/diland_2006/th_LP5273pieceback.jpg[/img]

Hi Crusty-Do any of your Hondos have the pcb board in the cavity?Th pot in mine are marked A500K,the letters"JP" in the middle,and 3L on the bottom.
Do you know what these mean?-Thanks.-Dewey

None of mine had the PCB.

Hondo was contracted to a number of manufacturers. Some Japanese and most Korean, and nearly all if not all later to Korean.

It looks to be as nice if not nicer than the Explorer I couldn't get rid of.

Thanks Crusty-Have you run across any Korean guitars with the pcb board?
The only ones I know of is Matsumoku and Tokai. A friend who is quite knowledgeable about tokai told me at least the neck joint was Tokai. He went on to say that sometimes the rest of the guitar was finished at another factory.However,some of the guys over at the Tokai forum disagreed. Do you think those KSSC pickups are original to the guitar? What brands have you found those KSSC pups in? Do you know when Matsumoku STOPPED using the pcb method.

None of the Koreans I have seen had the PCB. I've only run across a few Uncle Matts that had the PCB compared to the many that did not. IIRC my PE150 has a PCB, either that or the Aria setneck SG. Memory fails me now but I could have sword there were other labels NOT made by Tokai that did have the PCB.

I've not run across any of these KSSC pickups yet. From what you describe though they sound interesting.