Paul himself even says he was unaware they made a Paul Dean III, so it may have been Hondo was making the III to produce a model with wider appeal. The II at least was made in the standard red/black/leo-quan configuration for a year or two. The PD3 on the other hand, came in a variety of colors, had no anti-scratch pickguard, and therefore are a bit of the black sheep of the lot. The III's are even rarer than the Paul Dean IIs are, probably because there was no real visual connection of these guitars with Paul Dean - as when he was using these guitars (1981-1984), he was always seen with a Stock Odyssey model, or one of his home made guitars - and these were always red and black, and had a Leo Quan badass bridge on all of them. It uses a a plain ABS/PVC pickguard, and a standard, import, six-screw strat bridge. The electronics on these are pretty much standard Fender Stratocaster with one addition - a push-pull tone pot (ahead of it's time if you think about it, especially in a "budget" model) that allows for all three pickups or neck+bridge in addition to the standard five pickup combination. Thus far, I have been unable to find a variation based on the original II models, seems these had more color and fingerboard options as the oldest example I've seen had a regular Paul Dean profile neck on it with a rosewood board, and it may have had a maple top or Foto Flame finish on a different body wood than usual. The Paul Dean III differed from the II in that it had 3 single coil pickups, and a tremolo. Transparent Red (PD2-CH), and apparently Black as well Leo Quan Badass style stud Tailpiece/Bridge Combo There is a slight difference in body shape in that the body has a bit more "meat" on the bass side of the neck, probably to make the neck joint more solid.Ģ Ceramic Hondo X-10 Humbuckers measuring in at around 7.8K Ohms each, or for $60.00 upcharge, 2 DiMarzio DP102 Super II Humbuckers or a "DiMarzio Designed" equivalent they offered sometime during production
This has me theoreticizing these were likely in the same plant as the Fame series guitars (Tokai) and later were moved to Samick (Korea).Ģ piece Sen Ash (eary) or other wood Paul Dean style body routed for 2 humbucker pickups. A bit later the "Sunrise" logo was put into use, while later (late 84' or early 85') models started to use the same necks as the Hondo Deluxe Series 780 Explorer copies did (24.75" Scale 21 fret, non chambered, regular headstock, string trees). "resonance slots" parallel to the truss-rod shaft, and recessed,Įarly Models have a logo and headstock exactly like the Odyssey guitars. The need for a string guide, straight string path over nut, 2
Leo Quan Badass stud Tailpiece/Bridge Comboīlack Haircell Plastic "anti-scratch" pickguard, black knobs, black plastic, chrome hardwareģ piece maple neck with maple fingerboard, 21 "custom jumbo" frets, Sealed Gear Schaller-Style Tuning Machines, 10-degree headstock tilt to remove See the History page for more on Paul's personal guitars that he used/built in this style.ģ piece maple neck with maple fingerboard, 21 "custom jumbo" frets, Schaller Sealed Gear Tuning Machines, 10-degree headstock tilt to remove the need for a string guide, straight string path over nut, 2 "resonance slots" parallel to the truss-rod shaft, and recessed, trapezoid bolt-in neck patternĢ-piece non-bookmatched maple or northern hard ash body with custom routingĢ DiMarzio DP102 Super II Humbuckers, early Epoxy Sealed models If you see a "Hondo Paul Dean II" on tour with Loverboy, it's actually one of these guitars, as the script on the headstock is identical. At least 2 were Paul Dean's own guitars used on tour with Loverboy, a handful more were given to friends/family, and the remaining lot of them were split in half - one half going to promotions, charities, and raffles, and the other half going to local Vancouver music shops for sale. The production of these guitars was limited to 50.