Aria Guitar Identification How To Spot The

Mine is Japanese. Theres nothing, I repeat NOTHING that couldnt be easily upgraded that wouldnt put this guitar on a par with Gibsons, never mind Epiphones.

Made me wonder just how good these things are Are we talking epiphone quality or higher Also whats the difference between Aria, Aria Pro II etc.

Early ones from 70s-mid80s were made in Japan at Masumoku (I always spell that wrong) factory and are considered high quality.

Some real good finds out there as while many people know about them, theyre still mostly not highly collected so you can grab them for a bargain.

Back in the 80s you could steal these 70s guitars for 100 bc there was no want for them and no Internet to spread the word of the quality.

Condition will be only as good as it was cared for over those 30 years.

Im a fan - my 3rd guitar back in 1990 was an Urchin.

Was my 1 for over a decade.

You can read and learn about the history of the company here.

That site covers the made in Japan era at the matsumoku factory up until the mid 80s I think.

Its a little hard to find much information about the modern company.

They still make some of the very high end models in Japan but those run into the 2000 dollar range.

The old PE model came in price ranges all up and down the spectrum and the new ones seem to be similar.

Aria Guitar Identification How To Spot The

So its best to do your homework and learn how to spot the differences between old and new and also low and high end.

The electronics crapped out after about two years, and the frets were showing serious wear after just over a year.

The guitar had nice features (a coil splitter switch for the bridge HB), the finish looked good, and the neck carve was nice, but it was a very cheap guitar.

Ive returned to it a few times to try to mod it to make it a playable instrument again, but Ill need to switch out a whole lot of parts, and give it a refret besides (which is well beyond my ability).

Aria Pro IIs get enough good feedback here and around the net, but while I loved my first guitar more than anything else in the world at the time, it was a very cheap guitar.

They were regarded as pretty good value at the time as there werent many good guitars in the lowmid price bracket, but its nostalgia rather than stunning quality which is fueling their current prices.

The one pictured is a later Korean model, so although its riding a little on the (not particularly well-founded) reputation of the earlier Japanese models, it really is exactly what it looks like, i.e, a perfectly ok, slightly boring modern Asian guitar, a category they pretty well invented.

FWIW I have a 1980 Aria 335-type, with varitone, gold hardware, and a deep, bookmatched, flamed violin burst.

It looks lovely, plays well, and overall is just, well, ok really.

I tried this guitar (same shape, also Aria proII and nice appointments, etc.) and it was in an entirely different league than Epiphone.

I realize, its from Korea but sure does look made well to me.

Mine is Japanese.

Theres nothing, I repeat NOTHING that couldnt be easily upgraded that wouldnt put this guitar on a par with Gibsons, never mind Epiphones.