![aria pro 11 bass aria pro 11 bass](http://images.richtonemusic.co.uk/product/YARIA67529b.jpg)
The bridge is the typical Fender style open four saddle unit and works as you'd expect. The pickups are Alnico rod P bass humbuckers and have a great growl and output with good frequency response. The four ply tortoiseshell scratchplate looks a "little" cheesy (not so much in the pics) in the seventies plastic type of way but is well cut and fits perfectly. The tuners are great quality and feel and work very smoothly. The neck is VERY comfortable with a nice, not huge P bass but not skinny J bass feel. The truss rod adjuster is at the body end in vintage Fender vibe.
![aria pro 11 bass aria pro 11 bass](https://linernotes.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG_1692-1024x682.jpg)
The long scale bolt on neck is a beautiful piece of hard maple with a glued on maple fretboard and no skunk stripe. The shape, contours and feel are all pure Fender. It's a solid two piece ash body and is fairly light but still substantial. Under the Aria logo is small writing that says "The world Wide Brand" which is an indication of the market Aria was going for. This Aria Pro II Precise Bass as it's branded on the headstock is a fantastic vintage P bass for the money. It catches my eye ever so often and I think I should get it down and play it. I ended up with two nearly identical ones and one is still in the rafters of my workshop.
![aria pro 11 bass aria pro 11 bass](https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--KHWvdQJ1--/f_auto,t_large/v1595391104/xucnms9y3kbz1gtibvpl.jpg)
I've always loved Aria and my first "proper" guitar was an Aria Pro II Cardinal which was a solid body, well made SG type guitar that played and sounded GREAT and was VERY cheap because it was during a time when these were "cheap Asian guitars". These two factories (and others) were making some of the greatest copies you will ever play under many different brand names. The "copy wars" were still on and demand for these good quality cheaper versions of import guitars was very high.
ARIA PRO 11 BASS FULL
The late seventies Pro II catalogues are full of Fender, Gibson and Ric copies in both guitar and bass versions.
ARIA PRO 11 BASS SERIES
So, the Aria Pro II series was to offer higher end quality instruments at more affordable prices and initially relied heavily on those US brands as inspiration and sales. By the early to mid eighties they were making better instruments than their "big two" US counterparts that they had once tried so hard to emulate. cheap guitars.īy the mid to late seventies Matsumoku and Fugigen were making world class guitars using top end timbers and know how.
ARIA PRO 11 BASS PROFESSIONAL
In 1975 they introduced Aria Pro II which was a more professional level instrument from essentially a "custom shop" aimed at higher level players and people who believed (wrongly) that all "cheap Japanese guitars" were. Throughout the sixties Aria released some of the most innovative and bizarre designs along with more traditional "copy and inspired" guitars while sustaining a good quality and playability by dealing with Matsumoku. Aria also used Arai (the correct spelling of the founders name) and Aria Diamond (mainly for hollowbody guitars and basses) among others. Matsumoku had been making electric guitars since around 1962 and in '64/65 was approached by Aria (and many others) to make electrics under their brand name for the domestic, and eventually export markets. Suffice to say they were one of the leading guitar manufacturers in japan throughout the 60's to the mid 80's and made not only some of the greatest quality instruments ever, but some of the greatest shapes ever.Īria has a long history in Japanese guitar making and the company itself was started in 1956 to specifically make nylon string acoustics, which was Shiro Arai, the owner and founder of Aria guitars first passion. The history of Matsumoku has been covered by me and many others so I won't bore you again now. Matsumoku has been discussed in many of my blogs ( Victor / Greco) and along with the Fugigen factory is one of my favourite guitar manufacturers of all time. Those who hang around here a bit will know how much I LOVE Aria guitars, or more accurately, the factory in Japan that made them.