| Author |
Message |
Ksapardi (Ksapardi)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 12:22 pm: | |
Recently, I found a Gibson 335 clone made by Aria Pro2 (manufacturer in Japan) and bought it. The store person says that the guitar is made in Japan in late '70s and it gots dimagio on front PU and Gibson PAF '58 reissue PU on rear. It's near mint condition and it makes great tone,too. Is anyone familiar with this Japanese manufacturer, Aria Pro2 ? If anyone who can tell how to know the model name, year made, please let me know. |
Gitfiddle1 (Gitfiddle1)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 3:06 pm: | |
Aria has been around for a while. While I have limited first hand experience with their products, the ones I have seen/played are really nice guitars. And cheap to boot. The lead singer in my band picked up a used, bolt-neck Aria LP copy about a year ago for $99! He primarily plays acoustic guitar and banjo. I keep giving him a hard time 'cause he got such a great deal. I love that guitar.
Cheers
Steve |
Harry (Harry)
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 3:47 am: | |
Ksapardi!
I owned a beautiful Aria Pro II ES 335 copy myself once. It was tobacco sunburst with a killer flame, on the front as well as on the back and sides. Okay: probably plywood with veneer, but still: it looked awsome! Gold hardware, gold humbuckers. It was all-factory. I still regret a little that I sold this guitar about 10 years ago. Aria was a Japanese brand that made fairly good instruments at a reasonable price. Starting with quite inferior guitars in the sixties Aria evolved to a higher standard in the early seventies with a line of copy guitars. I'd guess you could compare the history and the overall quality with Ibanez: at first most guitars were not too good (especially the 60's ones), the copy instruments of the 70's were much better where you might add that the top-of-the-line instruments (mainly the thinlines and the full-body jazzers) were amazingly well-built, well-sounding and with good playability. And like most Japanese guitars: great finish.
What colour does your guitar have?
Enjoy!
Harry |
Ksapardi (Ksapardi)
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 11:26 pm: | |
Thanks for your response, Harry.
Mine is tobacco sunburst,too. It looks like it's made from plywood and veneer but the finish is surprisingly beautiful as you mention. I still don't believe it's made 20+ years before.
It has gold hardware although PU is uncoverd (black). It has phase switch for rear PU and it's an additional feature not on Gibson.
It's probably the same model or the same line up of Aria guitar that you used to own. I'm really glad to hear from you. I will try to post the picture. |
Tim_Gueguen (Tim_Gueguen)
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 9:52 pm: | |
Aria electrics from the early '70s on to 1987 were made in the Matsumoku guitar plant. Production there ended when the owners sold the plant to Singer Sewing Machines. If the headstock has some text about it having an "Original Custom Body" its certainly an early 80s Matsumoku Aria. Like Ibanez the first or first two numbers of the serial number will indicate the year made. Matsumoku also made guitars for Electra, Westbury, Westone, and Vantage, and I suspect may have made some of the Quest line and at least some models of the Canadian El Degas label as well. |
Sixvsix (Sixvsix)
| | Posted on Sunday, February 02, 2003 - 7:25 am: | |
Hello Tim
I've had a few Aria guitars in the past, mainly from the late 70's.
I once owned the Les Paul shaped PE1000 that was a great guitar for the money. These were once endorsed by Andy Summers. I found it a little heavy so I passed it on.
The RS series were always my favourite. I believe that top session guitarist Tim Pierce endorsed them at one point as did Buzzy Feiten. Buzzy can be seen using an RS850 in an Olivia Newton John video from the 80’s that also features Mike Landau, Tom Scott, Pops Popwell on bass and I think Carlos Vega on drums (what a line up).
I have owned several RS850 models again from the late 70's. The top of the range RS850 had incredible active electronics that gave it a completely unique sound. To this day, no other guitar that I have tried or owned sounds anything like it.
Unfortunately the electronics were prone to breakdown and the parts required to fix them are no longer in production and virtually impossible to source. I fitted EMG SA pickups into one of my defunct RS850’s in hope that it would sound similar. Unfortunately the sound was gone and the guitar just mimicked a good Strat with EMG's. A shame really as it was a really nice guitar. I gave that to my cousin.
As a result I sold my last fully operational RS850 to a collector about a year ago. The sale included spare pickups and pots. The guy seemed very happy to have a bunch of spares with the guitar as he was well aware of the guitars electronic gremlins.
The main electronic culprit for the breakdown of these guitars was the plug-in module. These were encased in epoxy resin that subsequently made it impossible to repair. No replacement was available from the importer either.
I had a habit of removing the two 9v batteries that powered the guitar. In my opinion it was something to do with the 18v circuit that helped fry the electronics. Maybe even trying to use the guitar when the batteries were too low – who knows?
Anyway, they also produced a passive version the RS600, the RS800/12, the RS-X70 (another active guitar fitted with a boost circuit) and the RS-1512 and RS-1504 double necks (12 & 4 strings).
Anyway if you see one hanging up in a shop that works, then give it a blast. All the switches and pots should change the guitars sound slightly. If they don’t then it could be on its way to heaven. Blimey I’ve rambled on here, nothing else to do on a Sunday morning.
six |
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