LeftyBassist.com

I had just assumed that this was just a modded P, but apparently it was an actual model offered by Hondo. Pretty rare. I've never seen another:

https://reverb.com/item/44688810-hondo- ... s-sunburst

Very cool! I’ve never seen one of those before either…… could this be a bass Carmine doesn’t own??

Frets aren't scalloped though...

Good question!

Well...No, and Yes-

PJ's original assumption was correct- that "Billy Sheehan Update" Bass was not an actual model offered by Hondo. There's just a guy over in Sweden named Janusz Lizoń who's made a pet hobby out of modding old Hondo P basses to this configuration and selling them on Reverb and the Hondo Facebook group for large prices (Google "billy sheehan hondo precision" images and 3 or 4 will pop up, all are his). In fairness AFAIK he's never made any representation of them being anything other than what they are.

But Yes- I do own a couple vintage Hondo P Basses, most notably this lovely 1984 Fame series 830 Tiger Burst Precision which was their top line P Bass at the time. The very nice one piece maple neck w/ maple fingerboard, gold hardware including Grover machine heads, and DiMarzio PUs were all standard equipment on this model. For both tone and playability it can definitely go head to head with any other quality P bass from that era.

I get a kick out of sharing this stuff with you guys- hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Stunning Carmine!!

Awesome bass man and thanks for the clarification on the Hondo from Reverb

Always a wealth of knowledge. Thanks!

Any idea what the dual output does on the "Update" model?

If it's anything like the Yamaha Billy Sheehan signature models, the second output is for sending out the signal of the neck pickup separately. Billy's original "Wife bass" has a big Mudbucker at the neck, and his Yamaha's have either a DiMarzio Willpower or Model 1, or a custom Yamaha humbucker at the neck for adding sub. Instead of blending them with the splitcoil, he bi-amps his basses. He also likes running an overdriven and a clean amp at the same time, and even had a signature Ampeg preamp (the SVP-BSP) that has two parallel channels that go to separate outputs.



(not the real one, but a replica made by a fan)



The Yamaha Billy Sheehan Attitude 30th Anniversary