Marketplace Find Guitar Rescue (Part 2) | Hondo II Project

In this episode we keep pushing this old Marketplace find a little further down the road. What started as a simple “clean it up and make it playable” project turned into tuner conversions, wiring chaos, questionable quick-connect electronics, improvised tools, and one stubborn wraparound bridge that absolutely refused to cooperate. Along the way: • We convert the tuner holes from 8mm to 10mm • Install the old Gretsch tuners from the tuning instability experiment • Wrestle with alignment and pilot holes • Dive headfirst into LP-style wiring • Fight a backwards wiring harness for way too long • Learn (again) that “quick connect” doesn’t always mean “quick” • Get the Hondo making noise again • Discover the bridge situation is… not ideal Big thanks to my brother John over at Smoke Eater Guitars for helping me troubleshoot the electronics mess along the way. This old Hondo is slowly coming back to life, but before we can truly finish this guitar rescue, we’ve got to solve the intonation problem in Part 3. If you’ve ever brought an old guitar back from the dead, fought wiring gremlins, or spent two hours solving a five-minute problem… you’re among friends here. Thanks for hanging out and spending a little time talking guitars and life. Tapered Reamer https://amzn.to/4u0OtS4 Wiring Harness Kit https://amzn.to/49sC565 Complete Guitar Wiring Book (Gerry Hayes) https://amzn.to/4uDudao Epiphone Les Paul Special: Rail Hammer Pickup Upgrades https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx2GGBOso-0&t=1660s CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome Back to the Hondo Project 0:40 Reusing the Gretsch Tuners 1:04 Reaming the Headstock Holes 2:20 Tuner Install & Alignment 6:20 Electronics Time 7:32 Pickup Choices 8:27 Quick Connect Problems Begin 10:40 Wiring Troubleshooting 11:16 Calling Smoke Eater Guitars 15:10 First Electronics Test 17:07 Switching Pickup Leads 22:28 Hondo Reassembled 23:36 The Intonation Problem 26:03 Ordering New Bridge Parts 27:11 Waiting for Part 3 ____ Shoutouts: @Jayde-guitar (Jayde) @StringsnPucks (Jeremy) @SmokeEaterGuitars (Jon) Buy Me a Coffee (or a diet coke and a soft pretzel - smile) https://buymeacoffee.com/tedtalksguitars Checkout our playlist page for more series and journeys https://www.youtube.com/@TedTalksGuitars/playlists Special Thanks to our channel members "The Jacks" Want to support the channel? Feel free to explore Channel membership options: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBr6kaWeOvldTHvntB3tnMg/join Ted Talks Guitars & Life Merch Store: https://tedtalksguitars-shop.fourthwall.com/ Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3W3PZox *If you click on this link to shop at Amazon the channel will receive a modest financial commission from your purchases. Disclaimer: This video is not sponsored. Some links are affiliate links. If you buy something I may make a small commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Guyker Referral Link: https://www.guyker.com/?ref=tedtalksguitars If you use the link you will save 15% at Guyker Use the coupon code: TEDSMITH #GuitarRepair #GuitarRescue #HondoII #MarketplaceFind #DIYGuitar #GuitarProject #BudgetGuitar #GuitarRestoration #ElectricGuitar #GuitarTech #GuitarMods #GuitarLife #VintageGuitar #HondoGuitar #GuitarWiring