Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
As far as I am concerned, one of the best kept secrets in the guitar world is the Aria Pro II Titan Artist series from the 1980s and 1990s. They are absolutely superb guitars, and are my own guitar of choice. I have two, a 1990s Korean-made TA-40 with Welsh Dragon graphic, and an earlier 1980s Japanese Matsumoko-made TA-30 which is actually my main electric guitar. The Korean-made examples are very good guitars, but the Japanese Matsumoku-made Titan Artists definitely have the edge over them; the differences are subtle, but I feel, important to the overall quality of the guitar. Anyway, this is the subject for a future blog post, one that I will return to later.
This particular Aria Pro II TA guitar (I'm not quite sure of the exact designation - the binding and gold hardware would imply that it isn't the basic bolt-on neck TA-40 model; it's possibly a TA-60) is finished in a very dated 1980s "crackleburst". I'd quite forgotten about finishes like this. Didn't Washburn produce a similar "magma" finish? Whatever, it really is quite awful and doesn't do the guitar any favours.
This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently at £51. I'd expect a guitar like this to sell for up to £200. I personally wouldn't want to spend more for a Korean-made TA, but a Japanese example would be worth forking out more for.
G L Wilson
EDIT: Sold for £186.89 which seems fair enough but is in the region of the upper limits of what you'd want to spend on a Korean-made Aria TA.
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
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Guitar
Aria Pro II Titan Artist semi-hollowbody in crackleburst finish
guitarz.blogspot.com:
This particular Aria Pro II TA guitar (I'm not quite sure of the exact designation - the binding and gold hardware would imply that it isn't the basic bolt-on neck TA-40 model; it's possibly a TA-60) is finished in a very dated 1980s "crackleburst". I'd quite forgotten about finishes like this. Didn't Washburn produce a similar "magma" finish? Whatever, it really is quite awful and doesn't do the guitar any favours.
This guitar is currently listed on eBay UK with bidding currently at £51. I'd expect a guitar like this to sell for up to £200. I personally wouldn't want to spend more for a Korean-made TA, but a Japanese example would be worth forking out more for.
G L Wilson
EDIT: Sold for £186.89 which seems fair enough but is in the region of the upper limits of what you'd want to spend on a Korean-made Aria TA.
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
- Aria Pro Ii Zz Deluxe 1980s Explorer-type Matsumoku-made Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: I readily admit that I have a soft spot for 1980s Japanese-made Aria Pro II guitars - even pointy ones like this Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe. Although quite obviously based on Gibson's Explorer the designers have made this version...
- Aria Pro Ii Sh-800 Through-neck Thinline Semi
guitarz.blogspot.com: I realise that we're at risk of becoming the Matsumoku Fan Blog with a third post in a row about a Japanese Matsumoku-made guitar, but I make absolutely no apology for this. These guitars are still out there, are fabulous players,...
- Matsumoku-made Univox Semi-hollowbody In Dazzling White Finish
guitarz.blogspot.com: I may well have said elsewhere that I find myself increasingly drawn towards semi-hollowbody or thinline designs these days. Earlier this year I bought myself a Korean-built Aria TA-40 with the Welsh flag on it (see this post), a...
- Japanese-made Westone Guitar From 1964? I'd Aways Thought They Were From The 1980s
guitarz.blogspot.com: We've looked at several Westone guitars previously here at Guitarz. As we've mentioned before, Westone was the house-brand of Japan's Matsumoku factory with guitars being produced from 1981-1988. The Westone name was...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: Here is a Quest Manhattan M-3X, looking as if it fused together design references from Rickenbacker and the Ibanez Iceman. Alongside Aria, Vantage, Westone and others, Quest was another brandname used on guitars made by the highly...