Re: Hondo Deluxe 775
Man, I lusted after one of these when I was looking for my first guitar. It was between one just like this, and a "Lotus" branded Explorer copy. (I ended up with an LP copy though) I played the one my local store had pretty much every day after school, until the guy got tired of us bugging him all the time...
Another vote for the GFS tremolo. THat era Hondo will always have cheap hardware. I started out on a HOndo when they were new guitars, it was cheap and crummy then, and being 30 years old won't help this any. Also, you probably won't be able to just put different saddles on this trem, because all of the Hondo bridges I've seen just LOOKED like what they were copying, but all the dimensions were off compared to "real" stuff. I've put the GFS bridges on all my parts-O-casters and they actually do improve the sound over the thin, crummy zinc blocks these came with. (Unless you're really unlucky and yours just has the C-shaped bent metal "block" like my Hondo strat did)
It looks like yours was wet at some point, it would be a good idea to replace all the metal stuff while you're in there, or at least give them a good soaking in WD40/machine oil. Oh and make sure the truss rod still works and isn't rusted together... ask me how I know this (I snapped off the adjustment nut trying to turn a rusted truss rod once)
But judging by how well your other guitar turned out, you'll do just fine on this one, too.
