Aria Telecaster bass copy

Unsure of the year. Probably 70's?. Short scale (30") copy of Fender tele bass. Branded Aria but I've seen identical versions with Teisco badges so assuming Teisco manufactured. Body is hollow despite appearing solid. Single-pickup, volume knob, tone knob.

Finish is an odd yellow shade (wife calls it the "banana guitar"). White pickguard.

Came with a case that is falling apart but still kind of cool.

Giving it a 10 because "features" don't really apply to vintage gear IMHO, but it is an interesting instrument.

This is the only bass I've ever owned (I'm a guitarist). I find the sound to be fine. I mainly like it because of its size. It isn't really much larger than a guitar. I have some heavy flatwounds on it that seem to sound better than the strings it came with (which were probably not short scale strings). Can get kind of funky, especially when picked.

I took this thing almost completely apart for initial cleaning. The bridge was screwed on with aluminum wood screws that were pretty corroded and they weren't screwed in straight. I replaced these with some nice stainless screws but they're still going in at odd angles. Between that and some of the stuff I saw inside I'd say these are of only moderate build quality.

The frets are kind of low by now but the ends are finished well. No real complaints about the setup though I had to widen the nut to put some thick strings on it.

Finish seems ok. Obviously it's been dinged up over the years.

Seems fairly strong though the hollow body makes me nervous.

A wee bit past the warranty period :).

I'm not a fan of the hollow body but it DOES make it light. Kind of a toss-up there. It seems like a serviceable bass and it's very comfortable to play.