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I just came home from my brothers place. Played his yellow sunburst Aria Pro II LP. My brother bought it from one of my friends back in the 1980's for $80. My brother doesn't play guitar (never did), he thought it looked cool back then, so he bought it and hung it on his wall. It's been hanging there ever since. My friend sold it to my brother because he wanted another guitar and quite frankly thought the Aria played like ****. I think i agreed at that time. Shitty guitar. Note: we were guitar newbies and could play Smoke on the water and..... yeah, that was it.
Now, me, many years later, many guitar experiences later and a much better guitar player - took the Aria LP down from the wall, where it had been hanging in a thin steel wire wrapped around its headstock for so many years, the wire cutting deeper every day into the red stained wood. Torture. It didn't bother me, it has never bothered me, you know shitty guitar - until i tuned it up today and hit the first note. WTF! Massive tone! Mind you, my brother doesn't have an amp of course, so i'm playing this LP un-amplified. I'm doing Hideaway (Healey version) and it sounds so good! No matter how hard i hit the E chord theres NO twang or boooing. It's rock solid and i like that! I remember now. I had a black Gibson LP Custom back in the 80's and it had the same tone to it. Huge, loud and solid. The intonation on the Aria is just great and the old strings sounds very fresh.
I don't know exactly where i'm going with this [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] but damn that Aria played great! I asked if he would consider selling it, but never got a straight answer. Maybe later. I really feel dumbfounded to ignore that guitar back then and then love it today. Man, that makes me wonder what guitars i discarded back then, that might have been great players. That's funny.
Anyone have any comments on these old 80's Aria Pro II's?
Now, me, many years later, many guitar experiences later and a much better guitar player - took the Aria LP down from the wall, where it had been hanging in a thin steel wire wrapped around its headstock for so many years, the wire cutting deeper every day into the red stained wood. Torture. It didn't bother me, it has never bothered me, you know shitty guitar - until i tuned it up today and hit the first note. WTF! Massive tone! Mind you, my brother doesn't have an amp of course, so i'm playing this LP un-amplified. I'm doing Hideaway (Healey version) and it sounds so good! No matter how hard i hit the E chord theres NO twang or boooing. It's rock solid and i like that! I remember now. I had a black Gibson LP Custom back in the 80's and it had the same tone to it. Huge, loud and solid. The intonation on the Aria is just great and the old strings sounds very fresh.
I don't know exactly where i'm going with this [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] but damn that Aria played great! I asked if he would consider selling it, but never got a straight answer. Maybe later. I really feel dumbfounded to ignore that guitar back then and then love it today. Man, that makes me wonder what guitars i discarded back then, that might have been great players. That's funny.
Anyone have any comments on these old 80's Aria Pro II's?
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