Hondo Guitar Serial Number Lookup

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The guitar legacy of Matsumoku Industrial Co. Ltd.

The number would be the last two digits of the year the guitar was made, such as 1964 and 1956 in this example. If the date stamped is before 1975, it is most likely an American-made guitar. If it is after 1975, it is an Asian guitar. Look at the shape of the guitar. Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models. Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn't have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a 'lawsuit' guitar, even today.

Westone guitars and basses were made by Matsumoku (or 'Uncle Mats' as we affectionately refer to it) in Japan and subsequently in Korea for St. Louis Music during a period of 10 years from 1981 to 1991. Here, you will find information, history, pictures and specifications of these amazing instruments.

We are also gathering information on the range of Westone Prestige guitars designed by renowned British luthier Sid Poole and built by Status-Graphite in England in the late 1990's.

Korean

While you may find a few early post-Mats Korean made instruments listed here, we do not feature them, concentrating primarily on the Japanese made Matsumoku's.

German

For a brief period, roughly late 2010 to early 2012, the Westone brand was revived by a German company, Musik-Meyer, which is still in business but no longer selling Westone guitars. The products in no way resemble the MIJ or MIK post-Mats models, but were copies of traditional guitar configurations.

Our Best guess is that they were likely made in China but under relatively good quality control.

Chinese

Chinese made 'Westones' are also seen occasionally but are mostly copies of traditional American styles. They are considered to be inferior instruments and are definitely not covered here. Our advice is to avoid them!

Indian

We're also aware of the Westone brand that was featured on a now defunct Indian site selling guitars of dubious quality. These were cheap and somewhat gaudy looking acoustics and bear absolutely no resemblance to a Mats made instrument whatsoever.

This site also sold similar poor merchandise under bastardized versions of well known brands such as Givson and Fendar. That should tell you all you need to know.
Avoid!

'Weston' brand (no 'e')

We have seen instruments stamped with the Westone ‘bird' logo accompanied by the word Weston. We speculate that this was to avoid any potential copyright infringement at the time. These tend to be Super Strat type copies rather than original designs and as near as we can determine the majority of better made guitars and basses were Korean made. Dates and manufacturer are unknown but some may have been made by Samick.

Korean instruments are identified by checking the neck for a scarf joint. They also tend to have position markers beyond the 12th fret located an the edge of the fretboard instead of the centre.

The Weston brand also appears on some poorly made Chinese copies which appear to be post-Korean era builds. Quality is dubious and it is best to avoid these instruments.

Westone Guitar Forum

If you're an active collector, player or enthusiast be sure to visit the Westone Guitar Forum the definitive authority on the current state of all things Westone.

There, you can discuss your instruments, recommend places to buy them, and learn how to look after them. Whether you have a missing trem arm, or need to completely rebuild your guitar, the Westone Guitar Forum is the place to go!

If you love Westone, become a member today!

How old is my guitar?

This is one of the two most frequently asked questions on the Forum.
Most Matsumoku Westones can be dated by the serial number, usually found on the back of the headstock, but some early 80's models have the serial number on the neck plate.

7-digit serials are the most common:

The first digit = the year it was made

For example: a serial number beginning with 2 indicates a guitar made in 1982
It is possible that the second and third digits give the month.

6-digit serial numbers:

Several Westone forum members have recently presented guitars with 6 digit numbers. Although not as common they do exist.
Looking at dating information compiled by our friends at the Matsumoku Forum we note that 6 digits was in use until mid to late 1981.

We presume that the interpretation for those instruments is the same for early Westones, until the 7 digit scheme was applied:

The first digit (0 or 1) = the year
The next 2 digits = the month

5-digit serials appear on some models:

The first two digits = the year
The last two = the month

It is important to note that these are not really serial numbers, just production dates, and are not unique…84009 is extremely common!

8 digit serial numbers:

These appear from late 1987, in the format NN NN NNNN (eg 87 10 0001).
We think that:

the first two digits = the year
the second two = the month

Any guitar with this sort of number was probably made in Korea.
Later models (1987 onwards) have no obvious serial number and may have originally been on a sticker on the guitar.
These are also Korean made.

Letters in the serial number

Many early 80's models are also seen with a letter prefixing the number.
These represent the production month and are interpreted as:

So, a serial number like D810040 would indicate that the guitar was manufactured in April 1981.

What is it worth?

This is the most frequently asked question on the Forum, and one we wish people would stop asking, for two reasons:

1. We're Westone enthusiasts and players; we're not merchants.
2. Fundamentally, there's no real answer to the question.

If you are selling:
Try selling it. When someone buys it, you'll know how much it is worth!

Hondo Guitar Serial Number Lookup Numbers

If you are buying:
Brutal doom difficulty levels. How much are you prepared to pay?

There are too many variables to be able to give an accurate figure. The value depends on the desirability of the model, how many are available, the condition of the guitar, whether or not it has been modified or has parts missing, what country the seller is in, etc.

A rough idea can be obtained by searching completed listings on Ebay. These prices are what people actually paid. Even then, that will only give you a very rough idea. The best you can hope for is a range of prices.

There is really no way to predict a price for any model (So please don't ask!)

Spaghetti Westerns. Justice by Clint. The Duke as Hondo. Cattle drives, horses, chaps, revolvers, rustlers, Rangers and the Red River Valley. It's the image of Texas that runs through our blood like a celluloid river. But even though this Hondo II Longhorn hails from Texas, like Eastwood's films directed by Italians and filmed in Spain, there's a lot more behind the story! Here's the beef.

1978 Hondo II Longhorn Electric Guitar

Calling this guitar a Longhorn is obvious because the cutaway horns are, well, long. Duh. But in fact, associating the Longhorn guitar with cattle (though perhaps not cowboys) has a basis in ancient history. Technically speaking, this two-horned body is the shape of a lyre. Lyres were in use in Mesopotamia—a region we know today as Iraq—at least by 2500 BC and probably earlier. Since some of the harps (a related instrument) that have survived from that time were outfitted with elaborately decorated bull's heads, it is entirely possible that the lyre's shape was also meant to bring steer horns to mind!

Hondo Guitar Serial Number Lookup Reverse

The lyre continued to be popular at least through the flowering of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations and may have survived in one form or another into the early Middle Ages. The shape was actually rediscovered in the late 18th and early 19th as Europeans became interested in unearthing ancient cultures. By the mid-1800s guitars with lyre arms began to appear. Indeed, they may have been responsible for the invention of harp guitars, but that's just a guess. Lyre guitars continued to show up in the hands of cute babes on postcards up until World War I after which they slipped from memory, until Nate Daniel brought them back in the late 1960s.

Most of us probably know this longhorned guitar shape from the legendary Danelectro Guitarlin. Indeed, this Hondo guitar was intended to be a tribute to that ‘60s beauty. Danelectro bit the dust in 1969, yielding to the beginnings of international guitarmaking. Ironically, it was in that same year that the Hondo brand was born, soon to become the first significant guitars coming from Korea. Hondo was owned by International Music Corporation (IMC) of Fort Worth, Texas, which was run by Tommy Moore and Jerry Freed. In 1969 IMC had a relationship with Tokai in Japan and in '69 traveled to Korea and entered into an agreement with a relatively new company called Samick. IMC upgraded the Samick operation with technology from Tokai and began to import Hondos.

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Hondo Guitar Serial Number Lookup Yellow Pages

To be honest, the Korean Hondos weren't all that great, but Hondo kept working with Tokai, and some of its deluxe models continued to be made in Japan. Which brings us to this Hondo II Longhorn, which was introduced in 1978. This is actually a swell guitar with a mahogany body and 31-fret fingerboard. It was probably made by Tokai. The active 12-hex-pole pickups were powered by an onboard preamp that let you kick this puppy into overdrive at the flick of a switch. Giddyup!

Hondo Guitar Serial Number Lookup By Name

It's not clear how long this model was offered by Hondo, but probably only a year or so. By the time this beast was history, so pretty much was the classic celluloid image of Texas, replaced by the post-modern cynicism actually introduced by those Spaghetti productions. Indeed, the Hondo II Longhorn itself was the beginning of a post-modern heritage of tributes that includes the early ‘90s hybrids assembled by Tony Mark and the excellent reproductions still made by Nashville's Jerry Jones. Nevertheless, when you pick up one of these kick-ass, steer-inspired Hondo Longhorns and throw that pre-amp switch, you're deep in the heart of Texas!