Aria Pro II Excel Series

1991 model.
Dark black super-strat, shark-teeth inlays on a 24fret rosewood neck, bindings on the neck, jumbo frets, gold hardware, gotoh tuners, licenced Floyd Rose whammy with a brass block and s-s-h configuration with the humbucker being coiltaped.

Decent sound, with some 90??ties vibe.
I have stock pickups on it and they sound pretty good, at least that good that i havent changed them.

Took it to a guitar tech who set te action as i like it.

It stays in tune very well!
And it is built to last.

I searched for a genuine super-strat and found one that is suitable for a experienced player and may i say that this not some crappy toy you would found today when going out to buy a super-strat.
Overall the Aria is a basic super-strat, a well made, well functionin Jackson copy that does not let you down.

This guitar has S H H Config one volume one tone control..
mmm.. It has a beautiful ebony neck with shartooth inlays which looks super!!!
22 frets - medium size...
Floyd rose.. double locks.... etc etc..

Just fucking awesome - really relly good sound!!
I just love this baby!
th best guitar I have ever had!

No problems

Great one...

If you have a chance - BUY!

I think it is a etter value than any other uperstrats out there (except maybe Jackson Soloist)

SHH Configuration, with P/U Splitter
one volume one tone
22 frets. medium
Ebony/Maple Fing./Neck floyd rose - Double lock.
very very versatile

I play everything from Blues to Hard Rock and Even Metal.
This guitar suits everythin just fine.

Bright sound, Rich.. Beats The Stratocasters...
Can be compared to the Jackson Soloist
Great sound! Love it...

Low Action, very intonated and fine tuned guitar, very comfy neck.
Wish the action could go even lower

Great... no words..
oh - strap buttons aren't something.
But don't depend on it live.. ya know - floyd rose..

never dealt with them

I've been playing for 8 years.
This is one of the best guitars I ever played... Great looks, sounds//// everything.
I highly recommnd this guitar
probably one of the best aria instruments ever made

I think it was made in Korea, it has 22 frets, laminated top, jet black. It has 1 volume and 1 tone knob (which is a push pull to make the humbucker sound like a single coil) but the tone knob was messed up when i got it (i traded it for a guitar that was in pieces and didn't work, he still can't get it working!) and the action was horrible. When I finally got around to getting it setup and what not it seemed like "well, i probably will just sell it anyways" but then I played it and I'm ALMOST in love! it has S/S/H pickup configuration with Aria Pro II pickups (they are actually pretty good!), the only thing I don't like is it's extreme brightness, So I am changing the Humbucker with probably and EMG humbucker (something that isn't as bright) or maybe with a 500T out of a Gibson gothic explorer. It has the strat/soloist body shape, don't know the woods, but it has a rosewood fretboard (i think), it's just a regualr finish, it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, the tuners are non locking, but it has nut/neck tuners, the neck has medium frets, 22 of them, which play fast and smooth and in all, the guitar is made really good. Alot better than ANY FENDER STRAT! HAHA. It's made more like a Jackson i think.

I'm more for death metal and grindcore and pornocore and extreme metal music, but it's pretty sweet, it'll be better when i can get an EMG 81 in it. But for the way it's made, it's got a great sound so far, but it could be just a little more deathly for me. The single coils are noisy as hell unless your playing them clean, and then the humbucker is perfect either way! I can get practically any sound out of it i want, but i mainly go D tuned - B tuned, so I go low. It's a 6-string.

The action rocks, it's practically perfect! cept it comes outta tune a little when i use the floyd rose alot, but it's pretty stable!

Don't know, never really had any problems since the set up. I could use a new cord though! haha. I'd rate, but i really don't know, but so far i think it'll be great.

never had to deal with them.

It's great, if you find one and have always wanted a jackson but don't have the $700 to get one, then grab this thing, you'll absolutely love it!

I'm not sure of the year but from the serial number database it seems like a 1994 production model
Made in Korea
22 frets
No plyguard - back access to electronics
Controls given - one Volume knob for all pickups and a push/pull
tome control that splits the humbucker on the bridge to a single coil allowing more combinations.
Original Aria pro II Passive High impendance Pickups
with an s-s-h configuration
body wood... I don't have a clue about it
neck woods - ebony fingerboard and maple neck - Shark tooth inlays (COOL!)
Sunburst finish - 3 tones - black-red-light brown
a Strat/Soloist body shape
A Floyd Rose floating Bridge with neck locking.
non locking tuners - but o need for ones since there's a naeck locking.
maple neck... 2 pieces - thin with medium frets.
Accessories included Allen wrench for floyd rose and a mounting
hardware on the back of the head.

I'm a lead guitarist in few bands around here and I'm working on the studio alot we play Rock mainly. From Slow Ballads and Jimi hendrix to Shred Metal. and this guitar suits all those needs really well
I use a Fender Princeton 110 Amplifier,
Effects & additional equipment:
Line 6 P.O.D
Remote Channel switcher for POD
Crybaby GCB-95 Wah pedal
Dimazzrio Cables
Aria Pro II Distortion Pedals
Ibanez Power Lead
Ibanez Tube screamer
Ibanez Flanger.
Noise gates
digital stereo delay.
about the noise.
overall saying the pickups has a very high-output
andthe singles are very noise and sensitive to external signals
the humbucker makes almost no noise at all,
but using a noise gate solves the problem completely
The guitar has a planty big variety of sounds
the neck pickup sounds just like a Gibson
the combination of the neck and middle pickups gives you a Fenderish tone, the middle pickup, is very delicate and good sounding
and the humbucker gives you the fat, great tone for hi gain
Applications, when splitted it's giving you the exact TELE sound.
The one thing that I really don't like about it is the noisy single coils... is you are someone who use Guitar-cable-amp setting
it will be very noticable in hi gain applications and distotions
in clean sound the guitar makes no noise at all i all positions
the thing that's great about it is the sustain... it lasts forever!!
even no need for active Pickups!

This guitar is fully proffesional piece of equipment.
I've never seen the orriginal setup since I bought it used (well it was never played though..) but it's action was perfect - very low even that it has a floyd rose bridge, the pickups were required
to be adjusted abit... since in a floyd rose when you bend a string it lowers the tune of the other strings for the time of the bending - I had to tight up the tremolo springs and then it got okay
the guitar has no flaws at all - it has a very very well done
job on the mking of that axe.. I wish the US made guitars had the same quality... really!
one thing that was abit problematic is a bad contact at the selector - but I fixed it

This guitar surely withstand luve playing - I played alot of gigs live with it.. and so did other artists that used my guitar for live playing, the hardware is very well done - it seems like will last for years.. though the locking nuts were replaced once.
the finish is excellent and very solid.. I don't think it will wear off the guitar.
the strap buttons aren't too solid and abit risky to depend on - I had them replaced.
and I wouuld definatly use the axe withought a backup,
I had an American Fat strat and I always had to bring
the Explorer for backup because the Febder wasn't too realiable.. this guitar seems to have no problems with that.

Never really dealt with the company... my guitar tech handkes the guitar

I've been playing guitars for over 15 years and I've played alot of them in my life, this axe though is really really good for It's price. I think it's just that each guitar has this one out of a thousand models that just getting out of the factory almost perfect.. the combination of the woods and picup tones.. just everything.. I don't think there are many Excels out there like this one..
I had.. as I remember from the beggining to nowadays
Squier Strat
Mexican Strat (fender)
Gibson Les paul studio
Gibson Les paul custom
Gibson Flying V 67 Reissue
ESP M-III
Fender Jazzmaster
Jackson King-V
Gibson Explorer.

No idea what year it was made in, but I guess early 90's. No idea where it was made either, but the reviewer below seems to think it was made in Korea, which is no problem for me. 22-frets, "shark tooth" style inlay, transparrent red sunburst, book-matched top, coil tapped humbucker at the bridge, 2 single coils in the mid and neck positions. 5 way selector switch, volume, push/pull coil tap tone control knob. I think the neck is maple with a maple 22 fret fingerboard, not sure about the body, but its a strat/soloist shape with floyd rose liscensed double locking bridge system. Gold hardware, non locking tuners (but who needs them when you have a locking nut...), I guess that its a medium size neck, slightly thinner than a strat. Some really great features for a guitar in any price range.

When I first tried this guitar, I had already tried new SG's, L.Paul's and a Strat...and I had almost given up looking for a decent guitar, but I saw this instrument sitting in the corner for 179pounds(UK) and thought I'd give it a try.
At first I wasn't sure because the shop/previous owner had set it up so that the action was about half an inch off the fretboard, and the shop "tech" had no idea what he was doing. (Maccaris' Charing X road, London, WC1). So I kept pressing them and finally got the tech to lower the action to a playable level, without regard to intonation, etc...
The first thing that I tried was the neck pickup, because I usually use this pickup the most on guitars since I play jazz/rock music and like the Frank Zappa/ John McLaughlin "full" neck pickup sound. But I played this clean through an amp and the smoothness/fullness of chords and octave playing just did it for me. That was it! The feel and shape just said "take me I'm yours!"
After a couple of years, I felt that the single coils were just not holding the tone that I was after, so I put a S.Duncan Lil'59 in the middle and I made the single coil neck hole bigger (with a swiss army knife and 12 hours of blood and sweat!), and put in a humbucker out of an old Jackson...and now it has exactly the sound I like! I would say though, that this body/neck wood is not really made for metal crunch type music, but as a all style fusion player, it suits me fine. I don't know what the reviewer below was thinking because this guitar sounds really full and has more meat than most other guitars I've played - and I've played a lot.
I'm now using it with a Zoom 3030 multi FX unit, and it works fine. I can get an especially smooth/full tone with a little tremelo and chorus, and a very nice lead sound with a little smooth overdrive. With full out +10 distortion it sounds so amazing that it becomes addictive and pinch harmonics just scream at you! I'll admit that the sound took some dialing, but it was worth it. The solodering was well done, except for the output jack, that had to be re-soldered, but I guess that was because the previous owner tinkered with it a bit. Overall, a nice sounding instrument for just about every style. I read a review of this guitar years ago in a magazine, and I remember that it said that this was an instrument built for fusion music...so its fine for me.
If you really want to hear what this sounds like, check out some of my albums, in which I've used this guitar for almost everything at: <a href="http://pages.hotbot.com/arts/fizzymilk">
http://pages.hotbot.com/arts/fizzymilk</a>

Like I said, I bought it used and had to completely set it up myself after the shop had messed it up. I've since rewired everything and installed the above mentioned pickups. The finish on the guitar is perfect! Probably the best finish I've ever seen, and I've played les pauls, strats, etc. The fretting and neck finish is also flawless. I couldn't find anything wrong with the craftmanship, which is something I could never say about my USA made guitars. Looks like some real care went into this instrument. All of the frets are level and I have the action very low (lowest of any guitar I've ever played) and there are no buzzes at all, although when I go down south to Georgia, Florida, Texas, etc, I have to adjust it a little because of the heat, but that happens with every instrument...

I have used this guitar live for many gigs and and I record with it everyday of the week and never have any problems. It stays in tune fine and changing a string is easy. There are no marks on the hardware or finish, and it seems as solid a a rock. I never use a live backup guitar, and don't intend to as long as I own this.
A couple of years ago, I handed this guitar (in the gig bag) to the bag handler at LA Grand Union station, and she took it out of my hands, turned around and whacked it on a door frame, with such a bang that I thought the world had ended!!! I freaked out and my friend had to hold me back or I'd have killed her right there and then. Anyway, I grabbed the guitar back and opened the gig bag to check for any cracks, and found nothing. Not even a scratch! This thing is built like an Ox!!! Of course, the next day I went right out and brought a proper fitted case and now I treat it like a baby. But I think I'll be able to depend on this for many many more years to come, because it is the toughest guitar I've ever seen.

I've never really delt with the company, but I did try to contact Aria USA to find out more information about the Pro II that I have, but they ignored my e-mail, so...

I've been playing since I was about 7 years old and I own quite a few guitars, including Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Tanglewood and a custom fretless Jackson, and I would say that this guitar is the most pleasurable to play and I feel like it was made just for me. Everything about it is perfect, and it sounds even better with replacement pickups, but the original ones would probably suit most players. If it were stolen or lost I'd die! This thing will stay with me forever and then some, and I expect it to work fine after years and years. I play guitar between 9 and 20 hours a day, and I've kept this up for at least the last 10 years, the last 3 years (since I got this guitar) have been my busiest years as a musician, and this guitar has never let me down. I've probably broken about 3 high E strings since I brought it, and I haven't changed any of the strings now for over a year, so this is a really economical/reliable instrument to have. I hardly ever touch my other guitars, and the gibson and strat are just collecting dust. They've been in their case since the day I got this. I can't really compare this to another guitar, because of the amount of quality and care that went into the consruction of it, but sound wise, its somewhere between an SG, (fat, fat, very fat) Strat and a violin. It sustains forever! There is nothing really bad that I can say about this instrument, but the single coils that came with it were grown out of after 3 years, and I've always been a humbucker man anyway, so now its perfect. I just wish all guitars were made like this, and I expect this will be the last 6-string guitar that I'll ever buy.

Made: 1998, Koria 22 Frets Solid Body Guitar. Volume, Tone Buttons + humbacker Spliter. Two Singels And Humbacker. Maple Neck. FireBurst-Brown. Start LookAlike. Floyd Rose + String Blocker. Locking Tuners(Fine Tunning) Mid Neck..(Comfi) Case, Strap, Cable, Extra String's.
You Get a Very nice looking Guitar With Lot's Of "Toys"

Mostly For Metal.. Poor Clean Sound. i used it with a Squier Amp 15W. The Two pickups and the humbacker are silent, but it gives you a crappy sound anyways. POor Sound. i disliked this guitar.

Set up Very Well.. The pickup's Where adjusted well. Some Scratches, Cracks, Nothing Serious Tough.

No! This guitar is not for Playing Live That's For Sure. The Hardware Seemed fine. The Strap Buttons are solid. Dont Depent on this one.

im sorry i bought this one, i sould've known that if it's korian it's probebly poor. i Whouldn't buy this one ever agian. I Liked The Floyd Rose and the string's blocker, But The Sound is poor. Dont Buy it. Please.