Aria Pro II ST-1504FL Super Twin guitar/fretless bass doubleneck from 1982

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Now this is my kind of doubleneck. From 1982, it's an Aria Pro II ST-1504FL Super Twin with 6-string guitar neck and a fretless bass neck. It's Japanese-made, of course, almost certainly from the now legendary Matsumoku factory - note the trademark through-neck stylings so typical of both the period AND Matsumoku, and in this case it's a double through neck!

It ticks all the boxes for me as a bassist who prefers playing fretless and also dabbles a little in guitar. Also it has the necks the correct way around with the bass neck at the bottom and the guitar neck up top. (Correct way? I explain more about this here, and in case you haven't been following I did indeed get that custom doubleneck built).

However, with a Buy It Now price of a whopping US $4,299.00 for this Ari Pro II doubleneck, I think that I'm going to have to give it a miss.

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Aria Retro Classics 1532J - A tasty Re-issue of one of their 1960s Guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

You just have to love Aria guitars. Even if you don't love them, you have to respect them for not having many boundaries.

They are a lot like that friend you had in your early 20s who was up to do anything on any given night out. Sometimes because of them you had the best night of your life, other times you barely escaped with your freedom.

Even if you look at the diversity in the Aria guitars on this blog you see that they are up for anything.

I love the look of this Retro 1532J. It caught my eye as I thought it was a mint condition vintage guitar. But as it turns out, this is a reissue that they introduced in 2010. The shape is clearly to emulate the Jazzmaster or Jaguar, but it has a more pawnshop aesthetic.

Currently Listed on eBay with a price of $320US

Must fight the urge to click "Buy It Now" button..........

R.W. Haller






© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Budweiser collector sells his guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It seems that the "King of Beers" is no longer king with this collector who, along with some other Bud paraphernalia, is selling these 4 guitars.

As a fan of more "stouty" beverages I'd likely not be seen on stage with one of these but if I was feeling ironic I'd go all out and grab the Dean logo shape.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

a message from one of our readers (warning, graphic picture)

guitarz.blogspot.com

I received this message from Micha:

"Dear Bertram,

while looking through the internet, I found your blog post from 2010, about the ARIA Pro II Integra IG-CST. 

I bought the ARIA Pro II Integra IG-CST 1993 when my daughter was born and played this special electric guitar for many years. Though listening and playing grows from my experience with my main instrument the bass clarinet, I was lucky that this electric guitar sounds great in any context… 

In September 2012 a fire burned 8 of my guitars and amps and tools. Since then I continued playing and upgraded my amps and guitars. BUT the ARIA Pro II Integra IG-CST is a rare instrument... I am looking for one that I can buy. Please tell me if you know somebody who wants to sell his ARIA Pro II Integra IG-CST. 

 Best regards, Micha"

Hope someone can help Micha with what seems indeed to be a great guitar!

Bertram D


© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe 1980s Explorer-type Matsumoku-made guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I readily admit that I have a soft spot for 1980s Japanese-made Aria Pro II guitars - even pointy ones like this Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe. Although quite obviously based on Gibson's Explorer the designers have made this version their own with a slimmer more contoured body shape. The quality of Aria guitars from this period is down to their origination in Japan's famed Matsumoku factory. This particular guitar is a rare left-handed example and features the addition of an aftermarket Kahler tremolo. If you're left-handed and the design of this guitar appeals (which probably means that your band plays metal) then you could do a lot worse than give this guitar a whirl.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $599.99.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II Titan Artist series TA-30 semi

guitarz.blogspot.com:

...speaking of Japanese guitars, here is one that is much more affordable than the guitar in the previous post, in fact I would recommend this as my eBay Buy of the Month because I have been using one of these very same guitars as my main instrument for a while now and think that it is a superb guitar. It's one of my favourite guitars ever and I don't make that claim lightly - I was trying to work out the other day how many guitars I have owned and it must be at least 60.

Anyway, this is a 1980s-era Aria Pro II TA-30, but please do not confuse these with the later Korean-made TA-40 guitars which also had a bolt-on neck. The TA-30 is a quality Japanese guitar made in the now legendary Matsumoku factory and is far superior in construction, materials, and in playability. (It absolutely nails that Creedence Clearwater Revival sound, if that frame of reference is any use to you!) The Korean-made TA-40 is not a bad guitar but the cheaper laminates that it is made from mean that it has a tendency to sound rather boxy.

The Japanese and Korean TAs do look very similar but there are various little details that help you tell them apart. For example, the Japanese TAs have a much slimmer body if viewed sideways-on - it's about a centimetre difference. Also, the f-holes are much more slender and ornate, whereas the Korean examples have more of a "cookie cutter" outline. The Japanese examples are often fitted with those tulip-shaped machine heads too.

Contrary to popular belief and numerous eBay listings for these guitars, both Japanese and Korean, the TA-30 and TA-40 are not "335-style". For starters the shape is slimmer and nowhere near as rounded as the Gibson guitar, but more tellingly they have fully hollow bodies and not a solid centre section as on the 335 (that's what makes it a 335).

Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £150. That is an absolute bargain for a Matsumoku-made guitar of this quality. If I was in need of a back-up for my main guitar I'd certainly bid but right now I have other priorities.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!

1982 Japanese Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II Urchin Junior model

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at a 1980s-era Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II Urchin before, but I hadn't reaslised that they also made this 3/4-scale "Junior" version of the Urchin which the seller tells us was manufactured in 1982. (I could have done with a short-scale guitar like this recently for a piece that required playing in an A-a tuning).

This guitar is currently listed on eBay Uk with a Buy It Now price of £315.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Aria Pro II SH-800 through-neck thinline semi

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I realise that we're at risk of becoming the Matsumoku Fan Blog with a third post in a row about a Japanese Matsumoku-made guitar, but I make absolutely no apology for this. These guitars are still out there, are fabulous players, brilliantly engineered, and should be snapped whenever possible by discerning guitarists rather than buying the latest Chinese-made Fender Reissueocaster.

This Aria Pro II SH-800 is not a model that I remember, but is from circa 1979/1980 back when the logo on the headstock gave the name as "THE Aria Pro II". Although it appears to be a semi-hollowbody it's not part of the Titan Artist series; in fact it's of a completely different construction and is more of a Thinline - effectively a hollowed-out solidbody! The SH-800 and the more upmarket SH-1000 model can be seen here in this Japanese-language Aria catalogue from 1979.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria Pro II Titan Artist semi-hollowbody in crackleburst finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As far as I am concerned, one of the best kept secrets in the guitar world is the Aria Pro II Titan Artist series from the 1980s and 1990s. They are absolutely superb guitars, and are my own guitar of choice. I have two, a 1990s Korean-made TA-40 with Welsh Dragon graphic, and an earlier 1980s Japanese Matsumoko-made TA-30 which is actually my main electric guitar. The Korean-made examples are very good guitars, but the Japanese Matsumoku-made Titan Artists definitely have the edge over them; the differences are subtle, but I feel, important to the overall quality of the guitar. Anyway, this is the subject for a future blog post, one that I will return to later.

This particular Aria Pro II TA guitar (I'm not quite sure of the exact designation - the binding and gold hardware would imply that it isn't the basic bolt-on neck TA-40 model; it's possibly a TA-60) is finished in a very dated 1980s "crackleburst". I'd quite forgotten about finishes like this. Didn't Washburn produce a similar "magma" finish? Whatever, it really is quite awful and doesn't do the guitar any favours.

This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently at £51. I'd expect a guitar like this to sell for up to £200. I personally wouldn't want to spend more for a Korean-made TA, but a Japanese example would be worth forking out more for.

G L Wilson

EDIT: Sold for £186.89 which seems fair enough but is in the region of the upper limits of what you'd want to spend on a Korean-made Aria TA.

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria Pro 2 615-SPL Tele-inspired guitar from the mid 1990s

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an Aria Pro 2 615-SPL from the 1990s, very probably Korean-made, and although this is from after their famed Japanese Matsumoko-made period they were still producing some nicely made instruments at this point. (Some modern Arias I've seen I have not been too impressed by).

The design is obviously derived from the Telecaster but in its own way makes for quite an attractive guitar. I like the swirled outline of the pickguard. The eBay seller says it's a "very rare model" and whilst it's not a guitar that has come across my radar before I doubt it has any great rarity value. It is what it is: a mid-90s Korean-made Telecaster-derived guitar and is in all probability a very nice little instrument and may well be worth a bid or two if you're in the market for such a guitar.

I'm also reminded of Saint Blues, who took the Telecaster but remodelled it with their own smaller distinctive body.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria acoustic bass with "slight" damage

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is an ARIA AMB SERIES ACOUSTIC BASS RRP £239, so the eBay listing shouts at us in capital letters.

It goes on to say:

The only issue with this Bass is that the neck has broken off!!!!!

Ah, that's alright then. I'm glad it's nothing too serious.
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
I know this listing is by Aria Factory Seconds, but it still made me laugh.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria UK flag thinlines

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Since the mid 1990s, Aria have been producing these thinline semi-acoustic guitars with finishes based on the various flags of the United Kingdom. I believe these have been limited editions. Although the examples of Aria TA-50 thinlines bearing the St George's Cross (English) flag and the Saltire/St Andrew's Cross (Scottish) flag have been appearing recently on eBay and have been described as "New", these finishes are not listed as options for the TA-50 on the Aria website.

The Union Flag guitar (it should never be called the "Union Jack" unless the flag is being flown from a ship) and the Welsh Dragon guitar (seen below) are both Aria Pro II TA-40 thinlines. Whereas the TA-50 is more Gibson 335-like with a set neck and a solid block through the centre of the body, the TA-40 has a bolt-on neck and a completely hollow body. The body is also smaller than the TA-50, perhaps about 7/8ths of the size.

I am told that these were only produced from 1994-96 and that the Welsh Dragon is the rarer model of the two. Think about it, this would have been at around the time of the "Brit Pop" craze, when Noel Gallagher of Oasis was to be seen playing his signature Epiphone Supernova with Union Flag emblazoned on the top. It's easy to see that the cheaper Aria guitar was inspired by this. As to the Welsh Dragon, it's possible it was a special order, maybe by Cranes Music of Cardiff. I certainly recall seeing one in there back in the day.

The Welsh Dragon TA-40 seen here is actually my own guitar. For such a relative cheapy (you can pick up 2nd hand TA-40s on eBay for prices between £100-£200) it is a really lovely player. This dragon certainly has fire in its belly when you need it, and can snarl and scream along with the best of them. For someone brought up on Strats, the smaller body is to my own tastes. I think the width of a 335-like body might just feel too big. The hollow body also provides enough acoustic volume for unplugged practice although with a somewhat boxy tone, which is only to be expected given the laminated maple construction.

If anyone out there has any more info on any of these guitars, I'd like to hear from you.

G LWilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Aria Sparkly guitar. It's Christmas!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Can't let this go by. In the wake of Gavin's Aria fiesta, here's a real beaut. If you've ever lusted after a Hagstrom or DeArmond sparkly guitar but couldn't justify the readies, here's a real bargain. Aria Pro (so the quality is gonna be there) plus enough glitter to coat the missus head to toe for the annual Xmas frolic. As I write it's still at £51.00! and with less than 24 hours to go, I'd hazzard a guess it won't go into outlandish territory. Snap up a bargain and get this festive bauble under your tree. Yo Ho Ho Ho Ho!

David in Sunny Barcelona (Snow? What snow?)

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Electric 12ers #4: Aria Diamond semi-hollowbody electric XII

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The 4th of our electric 12-string guitars as chosen by The Ones That Got Away's Jaimie Muehlhausen is this rather attractive Aria Diamond semi. It's most likely inspired by the Gibson 335, but features double Florentine cutaways rather than the Venetian cutaways of the 335 design. It's also a bolt-on neck design as is common with most Japanese guitars from the 1960s.

Jaimie comments that:

...weird how the control knobs are on either side of the F-hole...

I suppose if you have two volumes and two tones they've got to go somewhere.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1978 Aria PE-1500

guitarz.blogspot.com

The Aria PE-1500 is Aria's first original model, issued in 1976. This is the kind of guitars that put Japan amongst the great guitar nations, with the US, UK, Germany and Italy... It had powerful DiMarzio pickups and put Aria on the first line of the Metal guitar market that would explode in the 80s. 

I already posted about Aria, how it was an important brand when I started to get into guitars, and that I still use Aria power supplies for my pedals that work perfectly 20 years later. I'm glad to see its coming back - the company never stopped but quite went out of fashion, but since its older models became vintage, Aria becomes attractive again...

I added a close up on the Super Matic Bridge and the elegant wood topped knobs, but didn't show the heel-less neck...

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Aria SB-800 bass with 6-bolt neck

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Tyler Beard writes:

This is a rare variant of the famous Aria SB-1000. From the front it is an SB-1000, but turn it over and you'll see a brass neck plate. Indeed, it is a bolt-on. The neck plate is relatively large because there are 2 hidden screws under it. Why exactly this hidden screw design was chosen, I can't say. Otherwise, this bass is every bit the SB-1000, and equal in its quality and sound. It runs on an 18-volt active circuit. It shares the SB-1000's B.B. Circuit and is a tone monster. Brass bridge, nut, and back plates, aluminun knobs. Has sealed tuners that are very high quality. The body is, in the style of Matsumoku, a neck-through look-alike. It's a laminate of Oak, Maple, and Walnut. Also has the Matsumoku trademark 5-piece maple neck.

The neck also has some features that are atypical of your average. It has almost no taper, so it's consistent and if you feel the need to shred like Cliff Burton (I often do), no problem. Also, the neck is sculpted at the neck joint so that your hand slides onto a smooth curve and not a sudden block where the neck and body join. And the instead of using a scarf joint, the angled headstock is given added strength through leaving excess wood where it goes to the neck. I also feel this bass puts the neck joint=sustain argument to rest. This can easily hold a note long as any set neck or neck through.

Curiously, mine has 2 serial numbers. One on the neck plate, and one on the back of the headsotck. The bass can only date to 1978 (the neck plate agrees), as it was only produced for that year. The headstock says it would be a 1981. I find it unlikely this is a replaced neck, though. It's possible parts were overproduced. The headstock design (the "bat-ear") also dates to the late 70s models as opposed to those in the 80s, and no SB had a neck like this with 6-bolts and the heel so it could not be a transplant off of another model.

~Tyler Beard

Thanks for showing us this bass, Tyler. I couldn't possibly comment as to its rarity value, but it's certainly true that the through-neck style is much better known when it comes to this design of Matsumoku-produced Aria basses. If anyone else has any more information, please leave a comment below, in the usual time-honoured fashion here at Guitarz.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Aria Pro II Integra IG-CST

guitarz.blogspot.com

This is an Aria Pro II Integra, quite special for a superstrat (I think that this is still a superstrat, however far it is from a stratocaster), with its prominent upper horn. The construction looks really serious, and the design is well balanced - neither fancy nor boring.

You might be surprised but I have a few friends who play jazz on this kind of guitars - not the kind of blues-based old school jazz you play on a semi-hollow with a beard and a smoking pipe between your teeth though - since they are excellent instruments, reactive and as fast as a virtuoso can expect. They usually use plenty of pedals and digital modeling amps, and save money to buy a Parker Fly - and think that my Breadwinner looks like a metal guitar...

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

ARIA GR-2010 Goal Rush 2010 / FIFA World Cup Limited soccer guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Now, I'm not the biggest fan of football (no one calls it "soccer" here in the UK, or even Europe as far as I know), but even I must admit that this official licensed World Cup 2010 guitar from Aria is a clever piece of design, espeically when you consider that it could so easily have ended up looking like a banjo! The middle pentagonal-shape is in fact a speaker, for this little guitar has a built-in amp. I like the headstock that looks like a football boot - complete with tuners as studs!

Thanks to Scott for bringing this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Conrad Bison baritone guitar (allegedly - I'm not convinced)

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's another vintaqe Japanese-made oddity for your. It's a Conrad Bison, and according to the seller it is a baritone model having a longer scale (although it's not too obvious in the photos - I'm not 100% convinced about this).

If it IS indeed a longer scale guitar, possibly it should more accurately be labelled a Bass-VI. As many of you will know, Fender, Danelectro and various other companies jumping on the bandwaggon produced these six-string basses in the 1960s. They were basically 6-string guitars with longer scale-lengths and tuned like a guitar, E to e, but down an octave. String spacing was as a guitar and they were often equipped with tremolo arms.

In more recent years people have taken to calling these "baritone guitars" so as to distinguish them from the more modern vision of the 6-string bass with low B-string and high C-string. But this, for me at least, causes another problem because it then confuses the Bass-VI with the modern baritone guitar which uses a tuning somewhere between a guitar and a bass (tunings vary), whereas the original Bass-VI guitars went down as low as a 4-string bass but added two higher strings.

Sure, some players took the Bass-VI and tuned it in ways more akin to our modern baritone guitar, but that is not how these instruments were envisioned.

Anyway, don't you think the shape of this Conrad with its offset pointed horns reminds you of the "Unknown" 12-string we looked at recently? (Which was, we decided, most likely an Arai/Aria Diamond or similar). From what I can find out, Conrad was indeed a related brandname for these same instruments, probably used by a certain store as its in-house brand.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

ARIA Pro II NXG Custom Shop

guitarz.blogspot.com

This nylon stringed Aria pro II is serious stuff. Its slim wide telecaster shape has its sound hole on the upper horn, something that Ovation and its followers made quite common now, but the hole is big as required to properly amplify the nylon strings and has a quite elegant shape. 

I like how Japanese instrument makers have no complex about innovation also in classical music instruments, where tradition absolutely rules in the West!

bertram

 Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!