Old Japan basses - are they good?

[Aras]

Looks great. Aria is a well known brand. The body looks like basswood (japanese basswood has a bit more grain). I even kind of like the "brutalism" in the way the 3 or more parts of the body were (mis-)matched.
Do you have the chance to play and hear it before buying?

Yes, look nice!
It's not basswood, it's all maple. I will try it, but only on next week

 

[UNICORN BASS]

I have a white (nicely aged, yellowing) Aria Pro 11 "the cat" bass i picked up for peanuts at pawn shop. The pre amp took a dump so i replaced it with a Bass Mods 3 band with passive tone control and 18v electronics. The original reason i bought it was because it had $300 worth of gold Shaller bridge and tuners on it but since it sounds great and plays like butter i decided not to cannibalize it for the parts. Amazingly thin Jazz style neck and great body shape, MIJ around 86' i think.

 

[Rockwriter]

Thanks!
Those ones are made from alder, maple, and basswood if i remember correct. No plywood. As i heard, general point of old guitars is wood. Well dry, and tested by years

They are now for sale brannew check out www. chordtabs.com

Just like with any other bass, some are good, some are not. Being made in Japan doesn't necessarily mean it contains ninja magic. For example, my first bass, a MIJ Aria Pro II made in 1988, had a plywood body. It still sounded nice, but it was plywood. Do some research on the models. It's no different from today with instruments made anywhere in the world, the lower end models will be cheaply made, the higher end models will be better made. Generally, a high end MIJ bass from the late 70's onwards will most likely be a very, very nice bass. It's the general consensus that, at the time, the high end Japanese instruments were better made than their US peers and, clearly, the arrival of high end imports spurred the American manufacturers to up their game. It does come down to the manufacturer and model, though.

The plywood body's were a Chinese copy of the Maya the Chinese lower quality factorys will make them from MDF or chip board check out the new models. Link Removed. Com