Aria & Aria Pro II Club (Part Two)

[hexpickup]

Thanks for the link to the Custom Shop catalog. I have a 4 string that looks to be the same design as the 024D. I've had it for 8-10 years but could never get any info about it until now. It is Black with Gold hardware, has Aria Pro II on the pickups, AP on the headstock, a signature on the truss rod cover and MAB UENO MODEL inlay on the fretboard. Does anybody out there have any more info?

...As you have heard, these are from Aria's "custom shop" and you rarely see them! You seem correct in IDing it as a modified IGB-015T, too. It looks nice! Do you have any more pics?

As for age, my AP Custom catalog was from around 1991-1992, so I guess it's from that range. As for value, that's hard to say since I don't recall seeing any like this for sale on the used market. I guess the original retail price would have been around 200,000 Yen judging from the prices of other Aria Custom Shop basses. Here is a link to the AP Custom catalog, as well as the regular Aria Pro 1993 catalog if anyone is interested:
http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/...ia Pro Catalogs/AP Pro Musician Line 1991-92/

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd117/vintagejapanbass/Aria Pro Catalogs/1993 Catalog/[/QUOTE]

 

[Alembic83]

SB-1000 Fretless conversion S/N 049140:

The modifications? 2 x Kent Armstrong humbuckers wired in series & associated woodwork to fill in the original p/up cavity, no actives - the originals were fried along with the stock p/up, so I did away with them & just plumbed in the 6-way tone selector array. Works just fine & no battery worries.

There's a full restoration/rebuild thread over on the Matsumoku site [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Pete.

I was following your rebuild on matsumoku.org but forgot about it until now...What a great job! I like how you got the logo and the patent paragraph on there!

I'm curious how you got the 6 way tone selector to work with out the preamp. Any pics of the electronics and/or diagram? It might help with my RSB 900 project!
Thanks and great work on the bass!

 

[AbsoluteFunk]

The Paint Strip Was a TOTal Nightmare Dude!!:scowl: i used nitromorse to try and cut thru the laquer and then sanded after that .. I recon in total there must have been 12/13 coats of prep/base coat paint and laquer very well painted took about 30 hours to get it right down to the beautiful wood , and by god it was worth it, and when the wax went on.. well that was it for me... i could have died happy

 

[Mikeus]

just got this back from the shop...

got some bartolini p/ups and a gotoh bridge installed and also had a neck shim put in to angle the neck back some more.

this is an Integra SPT model. black. probably from early 90's. laminated neck.

 

[Alembic83]

The modded Aria looks nice! It's the Billy Gould pickup configuration on his Zon, right? What kind of Bartolinis? And you got any closer pics of the pickups? Is it passive or active? How does it sound now? Does it get close to the Zon tone Billy has? Sorry for the all the Q's but I might try this someday since Integras are a LOT cheaper than Zons!

 

[Mikeus]

The modded Aria looks nice! It's the Billy Gould pickup configuration on his Zon, right? What kind of Bartolinis? And you got any closer pics of the pickups? Is it passive or active? How does it sound now? Does it get close to the Zon tone Billy has? Sorry for the all the Q's but I might try this someday since Integras are a LOT cheaper than Zons!

Thanks Alembic83, I'm really happy with it. Yes i was going for the Billy Gould Zon pickup config. His pickups are much closer together though...[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I got bartolini 1 x MMX and 1x 9J#1 pickups, Its a passive bass. I'd like to have an active pre-amp installed too.

this Integra sounds identical to his Angel Dust bass which i believe was the same Integra but with stock Aria pickups and passive. (unless it had barts???) its got alot of bite but not as bright and harsh as his earlier Integra bass

The tech also angled the neck back more by putting a "shim" in the neck pocket so it comes back towards my body more and he installed a nice black gotoh bridge.

It plays really nice, and the pickup surround cover makes for a nice thumb rest higher than the pickup so i can throttle the hell out of the E string better.

 

[MaddAnthony_59]

I just got this off of Ebay. I didn't realize it was a 32" scale, but I have another 32", and it's not that bad until about the 15th fret. It's a Player. Mostly original. I'm not sure about the cavity cover or the knobs. It's Not the original Pickup. Very HOT Humbucker! I saw the original 4 mounting holes in the pickup cavity, but the solder-job looks Pro if not Factory. It BOOMS! I have to plug into the Active side to keep from Clipping the Preamp. I took this beast completely apart once I rec'd it, and cleaned, lubed, and reassembled. No more cracks, pops, or squecks. Slightly neck-heavy, but plays effortlessly, and at 7 lbs, you can play it all night long! Anyways. here is my Latest Material Possesion!

This is a Fairly Rare serial number according to the Matsumoku site I visited:
The first digit (and upon rare occasion the first two) indicated the year. A small number of guitars produced had serials preceeded by a letter, but as to what the letter inidicated is yet a mystery and one can only guess without concrete evidence.

This bass has both the Letter and the 2 digit year! (It's an '81)

So, what did you spend you last $100 on?

 

[Deathblade Eric]

I was following your rebuild on matsumoku.org but forgot about it until now...What a great job! I like how you got the logo and the patent paragraph on there!

I'm curious how you got the 6 way tone selector to work with out the preamp. Any pics of the electronics and/or diagram? It might help with my RSB 900 project!
Thanks and great work on the bass!

Greetings,

I've got my asbestos anorak back from the dry cleaners, so I can say it... The SB-1000 is NOT active.


...at least in the usual sense. What the 18v circuit appears to be is a unity gain buffer i.e. a line driver, with passive V & T controls arranged in the usual fashion. I just strapped the 6-way tone selector across the signal path at the Volume pot. As it has its own on/off switch, I can drop it in & out as needed.

I do have a circuit diagram of sorts that I confected when I carefully destroyed the original epoxy-potted "black box" circuit. Can't vouch for its accuracy though, & I didn't draw the 6-way selector. My attempt at recreating it failed dismally, possibly the result of forgetting something basic, just as likely from getting confused when trying to make a circuit board using a laser printer & a household iron.

Pete.

 

[s_mcsleazy]

my custom painted aria pro ii xrb (and my jazz)

so am i in

 

[Alembic83]

Thanks Alembic83, I'm really happy with it. Yes i was going for the Billy Gould Zon pickup config. His pickups are much closer together though
I got bartolini 1 x MMX and 1x 9J#1 pickups, Its a passive bass. I'd like to have an active pre-amp installed too.

this Integra sounds identical to his Angel Dust bass which i believe was the same Integra but with stock Aria pickups and passive. (unless it had barts???) its got alot of bite but not as bright and harsh as his earlier Integra bass

The tech also angled the neck back more by putting a "shim" in the neck pocket so it comes back towards my body more and he installed a nice black gotoh bridge.

It plays really nice, and the pickup surround cover makes for a nice thumb rest higher than the pickup so i can throttle the hell out of the E string better.

Yes, Billy used the Integra on Angel Dust which was all stock (Aria Pro II active double coil pickups, with vol, balance, bass, treble controls) from every video clip and photo I've seen. I finally got my hands on one of those basses and it does absolutely nail the Angel Dust tone. I have another one that I modded with DiMarzio pickups that I took from a busted up Ibanez SR1000. I love them both...The next one I find, I'll have to try the Billy Gould Bart mod, like you did! Here's the stock one, like Billy used on 'AD':

On your bass, why was the surrounding plastic pickup cover necessary? Was the routing for the MMX pickup too obvious so they decided to use the cover? It doesn't distract anything from the looks, just curious. I like the Gotoh bridge, too. That's the same model on the SB-1000RIs...

 

[Mikeus]

On your bass, why was the surrounding plastic pickup cover necessary? Was the routing for the MMX pickup too obvious so they decided to use the cover? It doesn't distract anything from the looks, just curious. I like the Gotoh bridge, too. That's the same model on the SB-1000RIs...

Now that you mention it, Gives me an idea to make a cover that just covers that hole and not go around the pickups.

The P p/up hole was much closer to the neck than I wanted the MMX to be, Otherwise it would look like this...

 

[fitzy73]

i just got a aria sb black&gold 1 ,does anyone have a wiring info on it , the dual sound switch had a few loose wires which left the d & g string very quiet , i reattached them where it looked like they go and the problem was solved . but i measured the output with a mutlimeter in one position i get a reading of 10.25 and only 2.85 in the other ,is this normal . is the pickup ok . any help would be great

 

[Deathblade Eric]

i just got a aria sb black&gold 1 ,does anyone have a wiring info on it , the dual sound switch had a few loose wires which left the d & g string very quiet , i reattached them where it looked like they go and the problem was solved . but i measured the output with a mutlimeter in one position i get a reading of 10.25 and only 2.85 in the other ,is this normal . is the pickup ok . any help would be great

"Dual Sound" is Aria-speak for Series/Parallel, so if both coils in series = 10.25 ohms, both in parallel should = 2.56 ohms (assuming both coils have equal resistance) - so it sounds about right. The extra 0.3 ohms could just be down to contact resistance in the switch, I wouldn't worry about it.

Pete.

 

[fitzy73]

cheers pete thanks a millon ,was worried for awhile

 

[JusaBossa]

Hi people, i have this Aria Pro II SB-700 Fretless and I want to know its price, can anyone tell me, please?
It's from 1981, maybe that would help.
Here are some pics:

Hi, I have a similar with frets. Do You know how to find out when it was made, year? Mine has the serial no of 00 70 89.

Thanks. I paid 420 e of it in Finland.
J

 

[iriegnome]

My 1974 Kimberly (Made by Aria) A-200. Bought in 1979 for $75, sold it in 1981 for $80! I am currently looking to buy another identical to it. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[iriegnome]

Here is my NEW 1975 Aria A-200!!!

 

[Yakob]

BEAUTIFUL!

I DEMAND A DEMO VID!

 

[Basstovsky]

Here is my NEW 1975 Aria A-200!!!

You got that off ebay right? (unless there is an identical one on ebay that i saw) I was thinking on it since I'm good at restoring electronics, but the auction ALSO mentioned a severely bowed neck, which is something I'm not in any way qualified to deal with

I really like those old univox-kinda-but-not-really style arias and epiphones, I've followed many of the auctions on the 'bay

 

[iriegnome]

I did get it off e-bay. Most of those people really do not know what they have or what to do about it. Severly bowed necks can be fixed. Even if I have to bring it to my local luthier and have it worked on, I will. The bass is really not for playing at this time, it is strickly for my collection. Since it was the very first bass I ever owned, I wanted to find it again.