Hondo H430S Classical

Top appears to be solid cedar, sides and back solid Indian rosewood. The finish is a thick gloss. Mahogany neck with a fingerboard that appears to be ebony, though the tan color of the worn spots that have developed suggest it is another wood stained black. For the price I paid, it's almost impossible to find a guitar made with solid, high-quality woods.

The sound is fairly mellow, not very loud. The basses tend to overwhelm the trebles a bit, even though I've taken to using nails on the trebles and not on the basses to compensate. I use medium-tension strings because the high E sounds a bit tinny and shrill when I use high-tension strings. I like the sound pretty well, however. I find it fairly rich, and I don't generally like a very bright tone.

When I got the guitar, the bridge had been removed. This made it easy to play, but hard to tune. When I put the bridge in, I found that the string clearance was about twice what it should have been. Now that I have filed down the bridge, the action is decent. A couple of the tuning keys have become stripped. However, considering that this is a 25-year-old student guitar that has probably never been repaired or tuned up, it's surprisingly flawless.

It's apparently quite durable. The finish has some scratches and dents, some wear spots are evident in the commonly-played notes of first position on the fingerboard, and there are nail scratches on the soundboard, but aside from the stripped keys I mentioned before, it has held up well.

I bought the guitar used, and it was already 12 years old by then, so I get no customer service (Hondo doesn't even seem to have a web site right now!). I bought it from someone I knew in college, on the condition that I give the next owner as good a deal as I got.

I've been playing for 15 years, off and on, and playing classical guitar for 13 years (off and on). I also have a Martin Backpacker and a Yamaha electic guitar at my parents' house. I play the Hondo and the Martin frequently, and each has its charms. The Hondo is comparable to most other student guitars I've heard, and obviously not comparable to a good concert guitar. However, I really like my Hondo, and I will have to be a much better player before I'll feel like I've earned an upgrade. If it were lost or stolen, it would be hard to find another like it in decent condition, and I would probably buy something better.

This guitar was made in 1981. It has a solid cedar top. Solid rosewood bookmatched back and sides. I can tell the back is solid as the grain is perfectly matched side to side and the back has a center reinforcing strip down middle.

Very nice tone. Good resonation.

Finish is very nice. No noticeable flaws anywhere. Action is pretty good. No buzzing at any fret.

Seems to be built very well as the interior bracing is very well fit with no gaps at the joints.

This guitar sounds great. I bought it on e-bay for $110.00 and was very surprised at the quality of this guitar.