Aria Pro II ES-700 WR

From what I can gather the ES 700 is a Japanese model made in the late 70s by Matsumoto. It's a semi-hollow body with maple top and back, maple centre block and mahogany set neck. 2 humbuckers. 2 vol & 2 tone controls, double cutaway body in the style of a Gibson ES 335. It's got a very fast, comfortable neck with a rosewood fretboard. I bought mine used from the origianl owner along with the original case.

It's a great guitar for jazz and blues a la BB King. I paly it primarily through my 76 Twin Reverb - very clean.

This guitar left the factory a long time before I got my hands on it but it is a testament to the quality of guitars that Matsumoto was making in the 70s. The original owner obviously looked after it well - the finish is like new, the color is a rich wine red.

I've never gigged with it but after almost 30 years this guitar looks and feels like it just left the showroom. It's eother an incredibly well made guitar or the original owner left it uder the bed for 3o years.

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This guitar reminds me of a "lawsuit" Aria I owned in the early 70s (yeah - I'm a geezer) and just felt right from the second I picked it up. I also own a Stat(MIM) and LP Classic 60s re-issue but have been finding myself spending way more time playing the old Aria. The truth is, if this guitar was lost or stolen I would be hard pressed to replace it (but would try)

I'm French so forgive my bad english; just want to give my testimony on one of my favorite axe. Bought it on ebay Germany, es 335 60's copy according to the general shape, i don' know what kind of wood is used, probably made in the late 70's (1977/1978) in Japan. Excellent workmanship, has all the usuals things found on es335 plus the great trapeze tailpiece and mother of pearl inlays on the neck; The previous owner istalled 2 mini switches to permut the p'ups as single coils, this is not deeply effective anor useful.

Fantastic sounding guitar with a wonderfull neck, i had to change the first 5 frets and now it's more than great, the neck is just fantastic and the three original aria p'ups sound really different; ,Mainly used for jazz/blues covers, it does the job perfectly; used wiht an old music man 210 65 W.

i had to make the set up cause the previous owner obviously didn't care about it and preferred folk music, every part was rusty, after a good cleaning looks like it's just out of the factory yesterday . so easy to play with a low action. AAA++++

nothing to complain about

never had to deal with Aria yet and if i had to, i guess the warranty is over for ages

if i could, i'd surely buy an old Gibson es175 or L5 but this one is not only the closest one i found as a es335 copy but it sure sounds as good, even better, as many es335 i had in hands. no regret at all, i'm proud of it and would look for the sama gain if stolen one day. Event unpredictable by definition but the thief would have some hard days after that crime.