While these early 70s copies looked reasonable upon first glance, their bodies were often made of plywood, their tuners were extremely cheap and any pickups that looked like humbuckers on the outside were often single coils disguised in a metal humbucker style case.
Some people still find them collectible, most likely due to the low prices, but it was not until the latter half of the 1970s that Japanese electric guitar production really staked it's claim for the "lawsuit" reputation it now holds. Contrary to what people will tell you about all Japanese guitars being excellent quality and very desirable for players, these were either very primitive looking original designs (extremely loosely based on Fender Stratocasters) or, slightly later on, cheap Les Paul and Fender copies. It seems all Hondo electric guitars from the late 60s through the mid to late 70s were made in Japan. You may wish to read up on the history of Hondo guitars before you delve into the exciting world of pickup nuances, but essentially Hondo guitars started out with very poorly manufactured Japanese instruments in the 60s, became very slightly better in the early to mid 70s, were souped up with optional replacement hardware in the mid to late 70s and then from the very end of the 70s through the 80s were significantly better, though some poorer budget models still made it to market. I suppose naivety and laziness if we give some of these people the benefit of the doubt. In some quarters, this is called deceit, extortion, immoral and many other things but for now we'll go with. Sellers across the internet will post a Hondo guitar and will automatically write "Made in Japan" and "original DiMarzio pickups" on their listing with little to no idea if that description is accurate or not.
This is the case with the supposed country of origin of Hondo guitars and particularly their pickups. The internet has taught me that if someone writes something once and someone else reads it, it can very quickly become "the truth", even if there is no evidence to prove it.
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