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My friend brought a Hodson Telecaster that he'd bought on EBay the other night and I worked half the last set with it. These were £299 originally but are being sold off for £99, I'd often seen them on EBay and thought they looked good but picking it up and playing it I was amazed how good it was and superb quality. It sounded terrific and as soon as I got home I was on Ebay checking out what was available at that price, thus I have a White Hodson Jackhammer (Strat) being delivered on Tuesday. The only other option was a sunburst Precision bass, all the Teles were sold, unsurprisingly it's a joke, back in 1962 that price equates to £5-1-11d, my Vox Duotone cost £29 at that time and by comparison was dreadful.

Dave I have stated before there are some great cheap guitars out there. I believe if the guitar is half reasonable you can afford to change things. Many people purchase relatively expensive guitars and then start upgrading things.
I know you are not a telecaster person but I have been looking for something different and will look at one. I am currently looking at the Thinline tele on the auction site. Does anyone have any experience of them

Sorry it is a Wesley Thinline Telecaster. Guide between £50 - 80

Billyboygretsch wrote:Dave I have stated before there are some great cheap guitars out there. I believe if the guitar is half reasonable you can afford to change things. Many people purchase relatively expensive guitars and then start upgrading things.
I know you are not a telecaster person but I have been looking for something different and will look at one. I am currently looking at the Thinline tele on the auction site. Does anyone have any experience of them

I do have two Telecasters, a sixty two SB custom and a Squier Classic Vibe fifties jobbie. Also played one between 1968 & 1972 after I traded in my early Strat for one at Moore & Stanworth in Leicester because the Strat badly needed a re-fret and I fancied a change and Strats were out of fashion at that time. It was a '65 Blonde Tele and was £100, I gave him the Strat & £40. I missed the trem and eventually had a Strat built by John Birch on the recommendation of Karl Green out of the Hermits, as he had a left handed one built at that time. Birch was known for making guitars for Roy Wood, Slade and Black Sabbath in those days. The Tele had to be sold during one of our London weeks when my car engine needed replacing, I was staying in digs in Watford and sold the Tele on Denmark Street, bought a Jedson Les Paul copy to get the gigs done, paid for the car repair then ordered the John Birch Strat after I re-grouped back home in Sheffield - happy days !

Hi, so Dave, what is the Jackhammer like, is it any good?
regards Rover

Well the Hodson Jackhammer arrived and after a few minutes setting up the vibrato block to operate how I like it, I had a little workout with some well known Shadows tracks and was reasonably impressed with the sound and playability, though the vibrato system does let it down, as it's bottom of the range in my experience compared to others. It comes set flat to the body and is held by two springs. The arm appears to screw in tightly but there is a bit of play which I find unacceptable so the PTFE tape needs to be fitted. I could do a job with it but as a guitar it isn't as impressive as the Telecaster because of the vibrato. The fingerboard is lovely and no sharp frets, so it plays nicely, the pickups sound as they should and it looks great too - just that cheap vibrato lets it down. For less than £30 a Wilkinson vibrato would really make this a good guitar, but if I had paid £299 for it, I would be complaining. As it is at £99 plus £15 shipping, it's a good buy.
I've commented before on the Squier Classic Vibe vibrato system as some don't think that this one is very good, but I managed to make it usable with a careful set up and a little PTFE tape. The one on this Hodson is nowhere near as good and I will change it, which is a shame as with a better quality vibrato system it would be up there with the Vintage and G&L Tribute models as a value for money Strat.

I see there is a Hodson Jazzmaster style on the Guitar Auction site on the 4th

Billyboygretsch wrote:Dave I have stated before there are some great cheap guitars out there. I believe if the guitar is half reasonable you can afford to change things. Many people purchase relatively expensive guitars and then start upgrading things.
I know you are not a telecaster person but I have been looking for something different and will look at one. I am currently looking at the Thinline tele on the auction site. Does anyone have any experience of them

I agree with your comment, even some of those unheard of names guitars are made of decent pieces of wood, which is a good start. I bought the Vintage White Squier Classic Vibe '50s Tele on the basis that it played well, had an excellent fretboard action & came from that Squier series with a great reputation. OK, it has some faults, but nothing that couldn't be put right quickly. Firstly, it needs some 10's or above strings, as they all come with elastic band 9's on as new. Secondly, I personally didn't like the brittleness of the bridge pickup (supposedly a set of Toneriders), so I swapped both out for a set of Fender Custom Shop Broadcasters, which I already had. This has given a new breath of life to this Squier & it now sounds a lot fuller in tone &, although still a good twangy Tele, it is not so harsh. The necks on these are superb.
I also have had the Squier CV 'Biffy Clyro' F.Red Strat since it was first issued & that is also a top class guitar. I changed the Trem arm for a slightly shorter Gotoh one, which made more comfortable playing & fitted a solid-steel Trem block in place of the soft-metal alloy, thin one which all the Squiers seem to have. Again the fretboard action is great & it plays very well. Both these guitars only cost in the £300 range, so what better value do you want ?

Tony.

Hi, After reading this thread, I thought I would take a chance and buy a Hodson Jackhammer from ebay. It came yesterday, and I have to say that this guitar exceeds my expectations in every way, even the trem works well. I am very pleased, £89 plus postage is a real bargain. The guitar plays really well and sounds great. It just shows that you don't have to pay lots of money to get a good guitar.
regards Rover

Rover wrote:Hi, After reading this thread, I thought I would take a chance and buy a Hodson Jackhammer from ebay. It came yesterday, and I have to say that this guitar exceeds my expectations in every way, even the trem works well. I am very pleased, £89 plus postage is a real bargain. The guitar plays really well and sounds great. It just shows that you don't have to pay lots of money to get a good guitar.
regards Rover

My point exactly Rover , glad you like it.