Aria Pro II CS-400

My dad bought me a CS-400 back in 81 when I was 13. I wanted a strat but the sales guy at Allegro Music in Fremont CA, Bob Rider, steered me to the Aria Pro.

I will never forget that day. My dad, a laborer who didn't make a lot of money, took me down to buy a guitar. I had been bugging him for weeks.

We went to the music store and I went right for the strat (cheap one), but Bob showed me the CS-4oo and I was sold. Infinitely more versatile, incredibly light and less money.
Paid $400 back then.

It has been under my bed for most of the last 20 years. I just started playing again (not profesionally) and it's so fun to play.
I have a brother who plays a STratocaster professionally. He is very good. He has back problems though. This feather light CS400 would be good for him. He won't switch though. That Fender brand is important to him.

In terms of utility, The Aria Pro CS-400 Is a great little guitar.

Ash body with carved top, medium chunky maple neck with rosewood fretboard, Fender scale, kidney bean tuners, string thru or string-thru-bridge, two humbuckers, three way switch, coil tap switch, phase switch, brown burst finish. Early 80s Matsumoku made, like all CS models.

Absolutely fantastic sound. Both pickups will do whatever you ask, but the neck pickup is especially sweet. Pure PAF tone all the way. Also, the variety of tones you can get with the coil split/phase switches is great, and the tones stay great because of the quality of the guitar itself.

Beautiful action, fit and finish. I mean this thing is solid all the way, right up there with Gibson construction. Hats off to the old Matsumoku factory. Mine needed some fret leveling simply because the guitar had been played some by the time I got it, but the action itself is just right. The top is carved well, very symmetrical, and the body cutout on the back is positioned well.

I would trust this guitar to gig, practice or just mess around anytime. Finish is still going strong, hardware has oxidized a bit but still does the job like new. I would replace the strap buttons if I were going to gig regularly, but that's the case with any guitar.

Never had to repair it or deal with Aria customer service. Although, it would take some serious abuse to break this thing to the point of repair.

Been playing 10 years, in a couple of blues bands in that time. If this were stolen I'd be heartbroken because this guitar grows on you every time you play it, then I'd get busy looking for another. I love pretty much everything about it. I've played other CS-400s and some could be slightly neck heavy, but not mine. Favorite features are ease of play and the great pickups. Wish it came factory with strap locks, but hey, this thing was made in the early 80s! Play through a Marshall Bluesbreaker with an Ibanez Tube Screamer. Also have an Ibanez EX 360 and 90s Gibson Les Paul Standard, but this is the axe I pick up most by far.

The features have already been listed below. This is the second on of this model that I have owned. The first one I bought was XMAS in 1980. It was my first Pro-Level electric. I played mainly Jazz fusion back then, and this was the perfect guitar for it! I lost in because I got hard up for money in 1992. I have searched for years for a replacement, and finally one in decent condition showed up on Ebay in mostly stock condition will all of the Japanese hardware still in tact.

You like Telecaster, Les Paul, Strat, 335, L5. You can get all of these sounds exactly, but what you do get thats close, you could live with. The charm is really how hot the neck pickup is. Especially when you want to get that Carlos Rios/Santana/Carlton sound! I use to play my first one through a Polytone Minibrute with a pedal set. Now I play through a Fender Princton Stereo, and a Line6 Flextone I.
The only thing I ever disliked about this guitar it the cord connector, which are bad on most guitars from that time period.

The first one I bought, I got from Freedom Guitar in Hollywood. It was already setup. I had the store put on Stainless Steel Half Round Series II strings on it. This Ax just plane ripped. The second one I got was setup ok, but hay the guitar is almost 30 years old! Despite that, it came in the mail in good playable shape.

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Except for that dreaded connector, I never had any problems with it. I had my fist one for 12 years. Never needed a backup for it.

Never needed it.

I have been playing for over 30 years. I own various other guitars of different types. If this one were stolen, I would be heart broken. It took me quite a while to find this one after 15 years of searching for one. I have always believed someone was crazy, or died to want to get rid of it. I had 20 guitars before I bought this one, now I am down to 8. I guess I was just being a guitar ho until I found this one...lol

I had just gotten paid from my first union studio session, in the XMAS in 1980. The engineer asked me what I was going to do with the money. I told him I was out to buy a better ax. Till then I was playing on a modified Les Paul Copy I got out of the Sears Catalog. I went to Guitar Center(Which was not as big as it is now.) and tried every guitar in the place. People were telling me to get a Gibson, or a Fender. No luck. I went to Freedom guitar a couple of doors down.(Which is no longer there!). The salesman heard my playing style, and reccommended this guitar to me. He told me that I could walk out the door with it for $500 with the HSC! He told me they have just came in from Japan. I thought it was going to be junk, since all of the American Guitars were at least twice that. Needless to say, I walked out with it. I took the rest of the money and bought a Polytone Minibrute and a couple of pedals. I went to the next session a week later. Concerned I may have gotten jipped, I had some other session guitar players check it out. They were very impressed! This was the only Electric guitar I owned for the next 12 years. The only thing that plays like this guitar is a PRS(I could swear he stole this design!)

If you find one of these, buy it and guard it with your life!

Cardinal CS-400, made in 1981.

All features as been posted by Charles - see bottom of this page:

The bridge is hybrid: Allows to hang your strings into the bridge or put them thru the body. May sound slightly different, but I did't really experience with it.

I play in a coverband with a wide range of styles: Soul, Blues, screamy Rock, Funk, Pop, Jazz. OK, I can make all this with my Fender US Strats, Tele, a fabulous Ibanez AS 200 semiacoustic and a 70ies Les Paul deLuxe. Amps: Marshall JC 800/2210 (80ies), Engl Screamer. I am playing for 20 years.

The Cardinal CS 400 is none of them guitars above - but she brings her very own charakter into all these sounds on demand. Blistering funky notes - no problem. Smoothing clear jazzy tones - no problem. Screaming like hell - no problem. Gray Moore bluesing - no problem. Strumming 16th-funky Chords switched on out-of-phase - leave your pahser or wah at home. This guitar shines everywhere.

The japanese Matsumko-builders knew, what they did, when developing this guitar. There is this quick attack on every note and every string you plug. And that lasting, clear sustain following. Searching for a minimum of deads spots: I did'd find any.

The PUs are Protomatic V. They are closest to Seymour Duncans 59s.

Bought it used in 2005. Put new strings on it. Took me 5 minutes to adjust strings to my demand ans to bring "perfect" oktave-tuning on every string. Even a 6-string-E-type-chord on fret 17 comes in tune (we all know, what "perfect" tuning on guitars really means ;-))

Neck is in a 100% perfect condition after 24 years(!) - as you can (hopefully) find on new high-end guitars nowadays. Also saddle.

Well, this guitar in 24 years old with all original parts. Must be "10" after this time - considering

Bridges - there are a few scratches. But never broke a string even with intense playing. No need to raplace.

Switches and controls are all orginal. Sprayed some fluid to get them calm.

Tuning is a little hard (same as with my Ibanez AS-200). But once tuned, it stays tuned. Maybe, Sperzels could optimize in the future.

N/A

If it were stolen or lost - I'd get another one. Alas, this would be hard. CS-400 became rare and are very hard to find.

I think this is a 1982-83 model. Solid body, yadda, yadda... Looks kinda like a cross between an SG and a Les Paul, but super light. Has a natural Mohogany wood-grain finish with a bit of a sunburst to it. Dual HB, with seperate vol and tone controls, and a couple of nifty switches... I'm not much of a guit-geek... sorry for the lack of details. Came with a case (though I don't know if it was the original).

I've been an acoustic player all my life, so it essentially collected dust for 13 years until I started playing R'n'R(Late 60's, early 70's influences), and was asked to bring my own damn guitar to band practice (I was borrowing my friend's American Strat). I plugged into my friend's Vox and was blown away. I never looked back. I've barely touched my acoustics since. So rich, so powerful, so vintage. Has a bit of a buzz, but whatever. It loves every amp I've plugged it into. All it needs is some overdrive sustain and a touch of verb... reminds me of Townsend's SG on Live at leeds.

Not as easy to play as my friend's Strat, but worth it. You really have to stretch the shit out of the strings to get them to stay in tune. lucky for me a good friend is a Tech. He set it up about 3 months ago and it's been pretty well behaved. The tuning pegs are a bit stiff... probably from lack of use... Otherwise all good.

Seems to be a tank so far... Especially considering that our band practices often involve course drinking.

No idea. Bought it used.

If you find one of these, it will probably cost about the same as a working man's St. Patrick's day binge. Save your liver and buy the guitar. Best value for the money, from what I can see... And though I'm not the best person to be commenting... every person that has picked mine up since I dusted it off has fallen in love with it instantly. Think of it as the steal of the century, because this thing is vintage all the way.

This guitar was made in Japan in 1982. Ash body with 3-piece Maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. It has a set neck and comes with two humbuckers, string-thru-body bridge and decent quality tuners. There's a volume and tone knob for each pickup and there's also a switch for coil-cut and one for out of phase sound.

This particular guitar has a dark sunburst type of finish. It's a double cutaway body and looks a lot like a cross between a Gibson SG and a PRS. This also has a PRS-type 25" scale length.

This guitar has actually become my favorite because it's so playable, sounds wonderful and I got it secondhand for the low price of $169.00 (Canadian). It plays and sounds beautifully,the feel is superb. Everything about this guitar just feels RIGHT!

I use this with my Twin Reverb and also my Peavey Classic 50/410 and through a bunch of stompboxes. The sound of this CS-400 is amazing, it's right up there with my prized Gibson LesPaul Standard and I don't feel like I have to baby it.

The amount of high quality tones available on the CS-400 is simply amazing.

Like I already said, this guitar feels perfect and nothing needs to be improved. I'm totally satisfied.

This thing is really well built so I have no concerns at all.

Warranty is long gone but that's ok.

I've been playing for over 25 years and have owned a couple of Gibson LesPauls and a mid-70s Fender Stratocaster. I also have an Epiphone Dot Deluxe Flame and a mid-70s Ibanez "lawsuit-era" LesPaul Junior copy. All are really nice guitars. This guitar IMHO, is as good as a LesPaul or PRS, and at a fraction of the price to boot!

These guitars don't come around very often so it would be hard to replace.

I love everything about this guitar, it's more solid neckwise, than an SG but has the same upper neck accessabilty and light overall weight. It's also balanced better than an SG, it doesn't seem to be neck-heavy.

If you ever spot one of these CS-400s at a reasonable price, you owe it to yourself to check it out!