I have an Aria Pro II ZZB Deluxe with a fubar neck. Great opportunity to buy a cheap Eden neck and make a low budget, medium scale copy-ish of John Entwistle's explorer out of it (Aria + Ox = Ariox)! The Aria ZZB has a 32.5 inch scale. The Eden neck is a 32 inch scale, has fewer frets and has a slightly different neck pocket dimensions than the original neck. I also have a Kahler tremolo unit I've wanted to put on something for a long time. Pointy basses need tremolos to achieve maximum absurdity.
Image of parts:
Body: Aria Pro II ZZB Deluxe (alder, I think. Likely 52 pieces) Will be stripped for new paint. Not sure what color. I kind of like the cheezy lightning bolt, though.
Neck: Eden 32" short scale neck. Old neck is there for no good reason. I might replace the nut. I might not.
Electronics: two Aria Pro MB-III pickups. They are passive humbuckers, but with four poles in each coil offset to make them look like reverse Precision pickups. Super RAD! I like how they sound, too. They will stay.
Bridge: Kahler tremolo
Tuners: Schecter Gotoh copies pictured, but Hipshot ultralites are supposedly in the mail from Pennsylvania...
Knobs: Fake Gibson speed knobs.
Neck Plate: will reuse the old Aria neck plate.
Strings: D'Addario EX-160M (50-105 gauge roundwounds)
Cat: Piggy (pictured) will likely help move small parts from the table to the floor and play with strings. Jack (not pictured) may also help, but he reserves the right to sleep.
The body will be stripped. The neck pocket needs to be enlarged for the Eden neck and a new cavity for the Kahler will need to be routed, as well. Then I need to figure out how to paint this thing. Luckily, it should be warm enough to paint outside by the end of the build off.
No raw boards of wood will be harmed during this Build-Off.
Backstory:
I love pointy basses (Metal!), but have never owned a really pointy bass. My first bass was an Aria Pro II XRB, a pointy-er precision copy with 80s headstock. It was the 80s and I dig the metal. I sold it, bought a Precision bass later and have mainly played Precision basses ever since.
I saw an ad on Craigslist a few months ago for an Aria Pro ZZB for pretty cheap (less than a new body from Warmoth). I loved these when I was in high school, so I drove up to Cleveland (mistake #1) and went to an instrument hoarder's house (mistake #2). He is a guitar player. His porch was littered with old Peavey amps/cabinets and there was a single pathway through more guitar bodies/amps/general crap through his house. A friend of his died and left him a Warlock and this bass. I tried the Aria out sitting on the only chair in the place. The truss rod kind of turned and it made noise when played through an amp, so I gave him some cash and beat feet before I caught something. This event was pre-COVID-19 in Ohio. It was just super nasty (the bass and the house). Not like Miss Jackson if you're nasty, either.
I cleaned the bass with Naptha before taking it inside my house. It took about two hours to get it clean, including the layer of scunge on the fretboard. Tons of chunks of paint are missing. This bass was rode hard and put away wet. The neck is never going to be straight enough to have reasonable action without skills beyond mine. So I bought the Eden neck to see if I could make something fun out of this thing.
And here we go!
Image of parts:
Body: Aria Pro II ZZB Deluxe (alder, I think. Likely 52 pieces) Will be stripped for new paint. Not sure what color. I kind of like the cheezy lightning bolt, though.
Neck: Eden 32" short scale neck. Old neck is there for no good reason. I might replace the nut. I might not.
Electronics: two Aria Pro MB-III pickups. They are passive humbuckers, but with four poles in each coil offset to make them look like reverse Precision pickups. Super RAD! I like how they sound, too. They will stay.
Bridge: Kahler tremolo
Tuners: Schecter Gotoh copies pictured, but Hipshot ultralites are supposedly in the mail from Pennsylvania...
Knobs: Fake Gibson speed knobs.
Neck Plate: will reuse the old Aria neck plate.
Strings: D'Addario EX-160M (50-105 gauge roundwounds)
Cat: Piggy (pictured) will likely help move small parts from the table to the floor and play with strings. Jack (not pictured) may also help, but he reserves the right to sleep.
The body will be stripped. The neck pocket needs to be enlarged for the Eden neck and a new cavity for the Kahler will need to be routed, as well. Then I need to figure out how to paint this thing. Luckily, it should be warm enough to paint outside by the end of the build off.
No raw boards of wood will be harmed during this Build-Off.
Backstory:
I love pointy basses (Metal!), but have never owned a really pointy bass. My first bass was an Aria Pro II XRB, a pointy-er precision copy with 80s headstock. It was the 80s and I dig the metal. I sold it, bought a Precision bass later and have mainly played Precision basses ever since.
I saw an ad on Craigslist a few months ago for an Aria Pro ZZB for pretty cheap (less than a new body from Warmoth). I loved these when I was in high school, so I drove up to Cleveland (mistake #1) and went to an instrument hoarder's house (mistake #2). He is a guitar player. His porch was littered with old Peavey amps/cabinets and there was a single pathway through more guitar bodies/amps/general crap through his house. A friend of his died and left him a Warlock and this bass. I tried the Aria out sitting on the only chair in the place. The truss rod kind of turned and it made noise when played through an amp, so I gave him some cash and beat feet before I caught something. This event was pre-COVID-19 in Ohio. It was just super nasty (the bass and the house). Not like Miss Jackson if you're nasty, either.
I cleaned the bass with Naptha before taking it inside my house. It took about two hours to get it clean, including the layer of scunge on the fretboard. Tons of chunks of paint are missing. This bass was rode hard and put away wet. The neck is never going to be straight enough to have reasonable action without skills beyond mine. So I bought the Eden neck to see if I could make something fun out of this thing.
And here we go!
