Aria Pro II ES-800

Very Beautiful Aria ES-800 345 Made in Japan in 1981
Set-Neck Very High End Guitar Real Mother Of Pearl Fret Board & Headstock Inlays.
Discontinued in 1981 so this is the last year of this guitar.
Real nice Birdseye maple body and 3 piece mahogany neck rosewood fret board with real mother of pearl trap inlys .........not plastic, and white binding everywhere.Custom Hand Wound Lindy Fralin Humbuckers.
This was a $450 upgrade for the pickups and to have these installed.
And man now she is right up there with a $3000 Gibson.

Total Jazz, Blues, Rock, guitar with the new pickups.
The original ones where good for Jazz and Blues but I play rock too.
I play them all and this guitar fits the bill.
this guitar is just amazing.

The neck is killer on these real nice. Has the fret edge binding.
The finish is just Beautiful. Killer Birdseye maple top and back.
Nothing bad to say here.

This guitar is 25 years old this year and I know she will last forever. This guitar is real clean fopr being 25 years old.

Never needed them..........But I was told this guitar is still under warranty. I guess it's for life..........now try getting that from fender or gibson he he........

I have been playing for over 30 years and these MIJ guitars are just as good if not better then most USA made guitars.
The new gibys are not like they use to be so I am buying these MIJ guitars when I can find them. For the price they are worth every penny.

First of all, let me say that this was a garage sale find. I know nothing of its life before it found its way into my hands for pocket change.

According to the web, the ES800 was made from 1977-1981. The serial number, however, indicates that it was made in 1976, so I'll believe that before some unofficial Aria Pro II website.

22 frets, well dressed. Semi-hollow, good wood (although I don't know what it is exactly). 2 volumes, 2 tones. 2 humbucking pickups, I don't know the make or model. Passive electronics, set neck, and nice quilted top. This is supposedly a clone of the Gibson ES-335, and I believe it after playing both.

Bridge is tune-o-matic (stock) and the tuners are stock. Neck reminds me a lot of my Les Paul, and it came with an OLD case and strap. Exactly what you would expect from a well-maintained old axe.

There IS a 5 position "chicken head" knob in addition to everything else that I've not yet figured out the purpose for. Anyone have any clue what that's about?

Once again, this was a garage sale find. This is how everything was RIGHT OUT OF THE CASE. All I did was wipe off all the dust and slap on a new set of strings.

I use this axe for jazz and blues, and I've played it through a couple of Fenders (for that fat tone) and a Roland keyboard amp (just to see how it sounded without amp coloring).

It's about as noisy as you'd expect from a axe that's almost 30 years old and is still completely stock. I think there might be a grounding problem... but so far, it hasn't been enough to bother me. The pots are quite dirty (crackling when turned), but I can easily fix that.

This guitar can go everywhere that you'd expect... from dark and creamy to rather bright and cutting. My one problem so far is that the bridge pickup is farther away from the strings than the neck pickup, and is, of course, quieter. Easy fix, though.

I like it a LOT. 9 for not being completely silent.

I'm not sure if this belonged to a player or not, but this bad boy was set up almost PERFECTLY right out of the case. I mentioned above that the bridge P/U was a little low. The trim around the edge of the guitar has yellowed and cracked a bit, but hey, it's 30 years old.

Otherwise, perfect. The neck is cherry with well-dressed frets (one of my personal pet peeves is running into the ends of frets when running my hand up and down the neck).

Even the gold hardware is still gold (usually the plating wears off within a couple of years). One spot on the neck pickup cover has faded to silver, but that's it.

So far, so good. I've used this axe in a couple of different jazz shows and rehearsals, and no problems.

As far as will it last? Well, it's lasted 30 years so far. I don't doubt that it will hold up another 30.

Having said that, I try not to gig without a backup. If it's a paying gig, especially... lol... However, if I had this axe and a set of strings, I'd be very comfortable in jazz and other "light" situations.

"Umm, hello, Aria? I've found this guitar that was discontinued in 1981. Is it still under warranty?"

No, I haven't even tried them. Don't plan to.

Beautiful. I wasn't in the market for a hollow body at the time, already owning one (which, by the way, is FAR inferior). However, a family member saw this baby (and another axe) at a garage sale for $10 apiece and figured that they couldn't go wrong. They were right.

Just an FYI about me... I've been playing music for over 15 years. I own a tricked out Epi Les Paul, a gorgeous vintage Epi SG, a customized Flying V, a 70's SG clone, a Japanese hollow body, a 70s Teisco (my first guitar!), a vintage Harmony short scale 12 string, an Alvarez Artist acoustic, a handmade Hohner 4 string bass, and a Washburn Taurus 5 string. I play mainly through Fender amps on guitar and Peavey and SWR on bass.

If it was stolen or lost, I'd be quite upset, because there's no WAY a deal like this is coming again... at least not SOON... lol...