Hondo

The Hondo HM6N Mandolin is an inexpensive mandolin and is one that is pretty hard to track down. I'm not sure where exactly the instrument was made, but I know it is either from Korea or China. The mandolin isn't acoustic/electric, so it doesn't have any pick ups or setting controls. UTILIZATION Playing the Hondo HM6N Mandolin actually isn't too bad. While it doesn't play like a top tier mandolin will, I wasn't expecting it to at all. This being said, this is more than playable as I actually find it pretty easy to play overall. The weight is quite light and the overall shape and design is pretty standard for a mandolin, although the top of the body is a bit more rounded off than most. Getting a nice sound isn't to hard, but the only thing that you have to control the sound if you don't like it is your playing! SOUNDS I found that the sound of the Hondo HM6N Mandolin is good enough for what I do with it for sure. I've actually done a good amount of recording with the instrument as well as have used it for live shows. While it hasn't been my first choice to record with, when I don't have anything else available, I find that it gets the job done for me. It doesn't have the fullest tone out there, or even the cleanest, but it definitely doesn't sound bad at all and will be fine for those of us who aren't pros with the mandolin and are somewhat beginners with the instrument. OVERALL OPINION Other than the one that I purchased, I haven't seen too many Hondo HM6N Mandolins out there. I have maybe seen one or two of them on eBay, but this isn't the type of instrument that you seek out, rather you'll run into it as I did when I found it in a local music shop. As far as cheap mandolins go, I've found this to one of the better ones out there that I have tried, as I find it easy to play and to have a good enough sound quality for what I'm doing with it. There are plenty of options out there for an entry level mandolin besides this one, so if you can't find this one as I don't think that you'll be able to, there are definitely other options out there from the likes of Fender and other brands...

The Hondo Banjo II is a basic 5 string banjo, the year of which it was made I do not know. A producer who I'm an assistant to has this banjo at his home studio where I've played around with it a bit but have yet to record anything with it. I'm not the best banjo player in the world by a long shot as I've only recently began to dabble with it a bit. I don't really know what kinds of materials this is made of, but it's not an acoustic/electric banjo so there are no pick ups or electronics. UTILIZATION The overall feel of the Hondo Banjo II is pretty good. It's not the smoothest playing banjo that I've encountered, but isn't hard to play by any stretch of the imagination. Of course half the battle with me and banjos is learning how to play it properly, but I find that learning on this one is pretty easy and not restrictive at all... SOUNDS The overall sound of the Hondo Banjo II is nice a vibrant with a sound that will definitely stick out. It might not be the most professional sounding banjo out there, but for my purposes with playing it, it sounds just fine. There's not much you can down with the timbre beyond manipulating it with your playing, as is the case with all strictly acoustic banjos. As I said earlier, I've yet to record with it so I can't say how the sound would translate for this application. OVERALL OPINION I don't think it's too easy to get your hands on a Hondo Banjo II, and while it's a pretty nice playing and sounding banjo, it's not one for the ages and it's not like you can't easily replace it with another similar banjo. I'm not sure what kind of price this would command used, but it's probably not much as Hondo isn't exactly a brand name. It's definitely a nice little banjo if you can get one on the cheap, otherwise it's probably not worth it...