So the Cliff Burton signature bass costs a little bit

[Concr3t3]

I got to play this bass at NAMM. It's REALLY nice. Maybe not $6000 nice but maybe $3000 nice. It was really well balanced and the neck was magic. I don't know what the originals from the 80's were like but this bass is truly bad ass.

The info I got from Aria are as followed:
250 made world wide.
100 only available in the USA and 7 have been sold.
$6000 per bass.
A production line version will most likely happen in 2 years; Aria is trying to find the right manufacture. No idea on what the price for that series will be.

I don't know, I really enjoyed that bass but I don't see dropping $6K. Personally, I wouldn't drop $6K on any bass. Yeah, I'd be willing to go $3K for this bass.

[the wako kid]

it seems to me that it would be more practical to buy the real vintage aria than this one,and it would be closer to the original. cliff burton was a great bassist,but the bass I will always remember is that purple ric. on the other hand,if a squier priced version of this became available,it would sell like crazy because of all those young metallicats out there.

point is,most people with the money to buy this don't like metallica,and the kids who would want to buy this don't have the money.

poor marketing,even if its a great bass.

[AcridSaint]

I'm curious why people think that only high school kids would be interested in these basses. He died before any of them were even born.

I also don't think that anyone should assume that only bassists with 6k in the bank are going to buy this. I'd say that many and more Metallica fans out there in their 30s 40s and even 50s who easily have this kind of disposable income and may or may not ever care to play the instrument.

[Alembic83]

Nice! How was the tone? Have you heard other SBs enough to say if this was comparable or not?

What did you think of the strings? Are they supposed to be very light gauge, like 40-95?

I wonder if any of those 7 sold in the US include Robert Trujillo? It would be a cool tribute to have him play it on a few songs.

Originally Posted by Concr3t3

I got to play this bass at NAMM. It's REALLY nice. Maybe not $6000 nice but maybe $3000 nice. It was really well balanced and the neck was magic. I don't know what the originals from the 80's were like but this bass is truly bad ass.

The info I got from Aria are as followed:
250 made world wide.
100 only available in the USA and 7 have been sold.
$6000 per bass.
A production line version will most likely happen in 2 years; Aria is trying to find the right manufacture. No idea on what the price for that series will be.

I don't know, I really enjoyed that bass but I don't see dropping $6K. Personally, I wouldn't drop $6K on any bass. Yeah, I'd be willing to go $3K for this bass.

[wraub]

For the price of this, one could spend a lot of time searching for and buying every original model they could find. Probably come up with a dozen or so basses.

Sort and sift the best of those, keep a couple, and hold the others for periodic resale at fair but inflated prices, due to the relative rarity of them created by you buying them all up in the first place, and recoup a lot of your spending.

Just sayin'.

wraub

[KrisHayes]

Cool tribute, but unfortunately cashing in on the name. Similar to the expensive Hofners.

[Concr3t3]

Originally Posted by Alembic83

Nice! How was the tone? Have you heard other SBs enough to say if this was comparable or not?

What did you think of the strings? Are they supposed to be very light gauge, like 40-95?

I wonder if any of those 7 sold in the US include Robert Trujillo? It would be a cool tribute to have him play it on a few songs.

Well, I had to play acoustically because they didn't have an amp available. That being said, I could feel the notes singing throughout the body. The sustain was really nice. This was my first Aria, so I don't have a reference to compare it too. I play a Warwick Corvette $$ (not RockBass) so comparing it to that, this Aria resonated better than my Corvette. I'm wondering if that's because my Corvette is a bolt-on and this Aria in a NT. Weight wise, it felt a little lighter than my Corvette but that also might be due to it being incredibly well balanced. I think that was my favorite feature about this bass.

As for string gauge, the E felt like 100. The G might have been 40, but then again I have a hard time telling the difference between 45 and 40 unless they are right next to each other. The strings had some good play without too much resistance.

I wouldn't be surprised if RT was one of the 7 buyers. Actually, I might be insulted if he wasn't. hahahaha

As for those of you who doubt this bass, that's fine. You're right, you're not missing anything and I'm not here to convince you otherwise.

For those who are interested in this bass, if you get the chance to play it, do so. Who really cares if it's not from the original series from 30 years ago; it's not meant to be. That model came out back in 2006 of something (SB-1000CB). I've played plenty of top shelf basses and this ranks up there with them. Like I said, I would not pay $6000 for this bass but I would consider $3000.