I bought a Hondo HL5FBB semi acoustic guitar new in the UK in 1986, when they had just come out here, (so yours might not be as old as "81") the BB stands for "big bodied" Hondo also called them "Fat Boy" guitars in their promo advertising,I think the humbuckers pick ups are actual Dimarzios as they sound superb and the over all volume control is fantastic for controling feedback,I still have my guitar, it is going strong as ever and I wouldn’t part with it, this model was part of an attempt by Hondo to produce more up market models, which this certainly is, my guitar wasn’t cheap at £250 new in 86 but apparantly the value for money was so great that these new line of guitars, helped practicly bankrupt Hondo, Congradulations you have yourself a real joy of a guitar

: I can’t say I know much about it’s history but if it’s anything like the one I bought a couple of years ago it’s a really nice guitar. All I know is that the time that these were made was a good time for Hondo Guitars and they were good quality, but you already knew that.