The fourth guitar I'll be working on is a Hondo II Stratocaster copy that I found in a pawn shop in the Dallas area. Even though the pawn shop guy was pretty eager to get rid of this guitar, I'm not too worried yet. Right now, it's unplayable. The body has several dings, dents, and scratches that I plan to repair. The neck is quite thin and fairly wide. I plan to compound and flatten it. One of the most obvious problems about this guitar is that the truss rod nut exits the headstock high. I've seen other guitars like that, and my first thought has always been that they were "cheap." Fretboard is rosewood; the neck is maple with skunk stripe. The bridge is an inexpensive six-screw vintage type with thin tone block; pickups are low-powered single coil.

Today I'll dissemble the guitar and remove the old frets.