Aria Pro II FS-1000

After reading the previous postings on the FS-1000 I thought I might point out an inaccuracy in the description of the factory bridge.
This is not an adjustable height bridge like a TOM or similar. The posts are meant to be screwed down tight to the body. (Look at the thread pattern on the posts, it is not fine enough to be accurate in setting the bridge height) The bottom plate of the bridge fits into the posts and sits at an angle. Because of this angle as string length is changed,string height also changes. This is why easy access to the truss rod is given with the chrome torpedo nut protruding from the head stock.To lower the strings tighten the truss rod and intonate by shortening the strings. To raise the strings decrease truss rod tension and lengthen the strings. Small adjustments only as string height changes with truss rod tension and string length. Take your time, be patient. It is quite a bit of work to set this guitar up properly. All of the parts are designed FOR this guitar and to work together. This set up will yield incredible action. This a very good bridge, better than a new wrap around.
And now for my rant...
know your hardware and how to set it up before you toss out vintage, well engineered parts that you don't have enough experience with knowledge of to understand, replace or review. Matsumoku guitars of this era were(are) great guitars, especially the upper end ones...
End of rant.

Made in Japan between 1978-1981. Comes from the Matsumoko factories where Ibanez and numerous other brands were made.

22 medium frets, hammered in a wide and flat (low radius) ebony fretboard with dots as position markes. Don't know what the dots are made off.
Ash winged body with maple/walnut neck that goes through body. The body shape resembles an ES335 jazz model.
Headstock has 3L+3R tuner layout and is covered with a piece of ash veneer. Bullet type rod to adjust neck curve.
Ash covers for electronics compartment that match very well with the walnut wings of the body.
The ash has a brownish transparent finish. The lacquer seems quite thick and solid.
Creme binding around body and headstock.

Brass nut and adjustable one piece chrome bridge. Height is adjusted by means of the two studs. So that is a compromise (with regards to the fully adjustable saddles of a Fender bridge) Each string can be intonated individually.

It has a 3-way switch to select the two humbuckers. Volume and tone control and a 3-way low-pass filter. Active "noise killer circuit" that is fed by 18 volts.

It came with a non original Gator hardcase.

Overal great spec's but I'll take it down 1 point for leaving out the option to split the humbuckers (that are indeed splittable).

I'm using it through a Vox Tonelab SE that is connected to either a Yamaha EMX640 with 2 McGregor fullrange cabs (12" + tweeter) or a Hughes and Kettner Lucas 1000 with behringer mixer.

I'm using it in a gospel choir. We play pop to rock. So I need my guitar to be pretty versatile.

The guitar is strung with 0.11 D'addario chromes wich makes the overal sound more mellow.

The acoustic/unplugged sound is very bright with non of the boingy bass registers. It sounds a tiny bit louder than solid guitars, when played unplugged. But it has none of the sound qualities of jazz icons like the ES-335, as was stated already in earlier reviews.
Got very long sustain with a fast attack. Also the D'Addario chromes deliver more than sufficient sustain.

When plugged, the humbuckers sound a bit thin with quite sloppy bass. Treble is brilliant and sweet. The 3way low-pass filter goes from biting to dark. The darker settings make it feel like a blanket spreading over the speakers.

I installed a push-pull pot that splits both humbuckers at the same time. I can get more funky sounds now as well.
Also had a look at the low-pass filter and the "noise killer" circuit. I'm not sure, but I think the filter never is bypassed. Perhaps to tone down the very bright character of the guitar. I'm not sure about the "noise killer" circuit. I will disconnect it some day to see if there is a difference.

Overal the sound is very bright with very long sustain and biting attack. But the pickups do not bring forth all the qualities of the guitar.

You can set it up very easily and can get quite low action. The neck is tilted, like the Gibson Les Paul. This makes it more easy to me to set a low action without fretbuzz.

Electronics work very well, even after so many years. No sizzles or fizzles, no noisy pots.

Finish is proper.

I think that this guitar already proved it's durability. Though I have to say, that after so many years the saddles of the bridge are little bit worn. Fretwork is still very playable.

Don't know. There is a site and a forum with much information at: http://www.therathole.org

Have been playing 19 years know. Played tubes and modelling. At the moment all modelling.

I love the playability. Like it better than the LP Custom and Fender 52 Reissue tele and Ibanez JS1000. It's a very easy guitar to set up. Did some mod's though. Installed a push-pull and straplocks.

The pickups are quite crappy.

I'm going to install a Seymour Duncan Allan Holdsworth HB in the bridge and a GFS Retrotron Nashville in the neck. Also going to replace the bridge with a GFS wraparound.

In the feature the Retrontron possibly will be replaced by a TV Jones TV'Tron filtertron. And the bridge will be replaced by Badass or Schaller. But at the moment I lack the money for those updates.

High build quility, great specs, weak pickups. But it's really worthwile to upgrade. So, if it was stolen, I would definetely try to find another. But they are so very hard to find. This is the first one in my life that I've seen.

My guitar was made in 1980 but I believe it was made from 1978-81. It seems like it was made in a very limited series, as I have never seen any more than my own in real life. The guitar was manufactured in the famous Matsumoku factoury during the golden era of Japanese guitars. The design is semi-hollow body with a neck-through tilted back like a Gibson. I think the neck scale are gibson but are not sure, it feels like something in between Gibson and Fender, it has 22 frets.
The Neck is a 5-piece of maple and walnut with fretboard in ebony. The body, or the wings of the transmission neck is of very heavy ash with f-holes and double cutaway. I could just imagine how heavy it should have been if it wasn't hollowed. By the way, the cavitys is not that large and there is not any semi acoustic guitar at all.
The guitar are equipped with two active humbuckers selected by a 3-way toggle switch. There are one tone and one volume knob and a 3-way tone switch. There is also a "noise-killer cirquit".
The guitar is in natural finish with a fantastic varnish. You can not imagine this guitar is 25 years!!!!
The body style looks a bit like a mini 335. It is true to say that Aria made fantastic instruments those days!

The tone of the guitar are bell-like with a fantastic sustain. The tone is ringning on forever. The sound of the wood is more of the brigh and have the sweetest tone I heard. I really love it!!! I can sit in the sofa and play the guitar with out plugging it in just to get the feeling of the tone in tha guitar transferring from the guitar and entering my body. It is close to sensual!!
The Original neck humbucker have a very nice and warm bell-like tone and so the bridge. But I think the bridge is a bit too weak. The out signal of the electronics are very low and may suit jazz or similar. As this is not my music style I changed the electronics to a Seymour Duncan Jazz in neck position and a DiMarzio Super distortion in bridge. I am not too much into the Super Distorsion. I may change it to a Jeff Beck and in the future I may change back to originals as I now have other guitars that can fullfill the hard rock tunes.
I have now wired the guitar with 2 volume and 2 tone knobs, a split, paralell and reversal switch and just kept the 3-way toggle to the PU:s. I have not made any new holes in the guitar but made a bracket for two additional pots and a coil-split switch in one of the f-holes. I would not do anything to the guitar that is irrestorable. I now have a very large range of sounds and the guitar really rocks. But when I changed the PU:s I lost some of the bell tune of the old PU:s.
I mainly play 70:s pub-rock, pop and blues.
If i needed to sell all my instruments except one I would keep this one!

The finish is fantastic, with a super glossy varnish. The frets and fretboard are just as you want it to be. You cannot see any fret wear after 25 years! The action is low and the fit is just as good as it can be.
I can imagine how scarying it must have been to all of the competition on the market in the late 70:s. This guitar is really fighting in the highest class!
The balance of the guitar is perfect but the weight is a bit high. For me it is heavy to use a longer period. It feels heavier than my LP. The Tuners are fine quality and the beauty have a brass saddle that doesn't hurt the tone.

The words have been used before, but for this guitar there are no other words. It is rock solid.
The guitar would withstand everything you can think about.
I would like to add straplocks because of the weight. It is not funny to drop the beauty. Ash budies easily get marks.
The guitar stay in tune fine and all the components are high class.

I have no idea about customer support. I have never needed it. Although I have been speaking quite a lot with the agent for Sweden as he also have the support for my old Hagstrom guitars, and they are really nice guys. They keeping support for a brand that stopped producing guitars one year after my FS1000 was born!

I bought my first guitar 1979, but I can't say I have been playing since that. I bought this Guitar as my first electric about 3 years ago. The reasons I was looking for an Aria was my uncle. He had an Aria Bass guitar with neck through in the beginning of the 80:s or the late 70:s and a friend long times ago that had an Aria (a CS I think it was). The memory of those instruments was that they felt much better value than Fenders and Gibsons. And beauty and class! I think I called up my uncle and spoke with him about it. He told me, do you find a neck-through Aria for a good price- buy it" and promised to look for a Gibson for me. I was really into buying a Gibson SG or Les Paul Junior when I by a coincident saw this beauty and felt in love. I have never regret that I bought this one. Today I have some more guitars for different playing styles. I got one Washburn KC-40 Hard rock axe from 1988, a Hagstrom Viking from 1967, a Hagstrom III from 1967 a Hagstrom Jimmy from 1968, a Aria Les Paul from 1977, a Takamine acoustic from 1994 and a couples of nylon string guitars. I have also had a Vantage VS600 from 1981, a Hagstrom I from 1965 and a Hagstrom II from 1965 as I really like Hags. I also have a Aria Pro II FB-series bass from 1991 as I was more into bass before.
I am playing through a Yamaha G212-100 mkII. My other gear is a Big Muff, a Dunlop Wah-Wah, a Danelectro DaddyO, a Danelectro CoolCat and a Roger Linn AdrenaLinn.

Made in Japan, 1980, 22 frets, maple/walnut laminate neck-thru with hollow ash wings, double cutaway (similar to a Gibson SG) body has a natural clear polyurethane finish with a carved top and bound in white, F-holes bound also, wood electronics/battery covers, ebony fretboard, volume/tone knobs, 3-way pickup selector, two MH-1E humbuckers, 3-level preamp switch, takes two 9-volt batteries, brass nut, chrome hard-tail bridge, jumbo frets, 25? scale, Aria pearloid tuners. Purchased with case. The bridge is cool, it mounts on two adjustable posts and can slide away from the posts when you change the strings out. The side of the bridge towards the volume/tone knobs pivots on the post, the other side has a recess for the opposite post. String tension holds it in place.

I play clean 99% of the time for my church?s song service and this guitar suits me well. I haven?t had it long enough or used it in a variety of circumstances yet to really say what it will do. It?s very clear and bright but seems to lack some bottom end. I will try experimenting with some different string gauges and see what happens; I believe I have 10?s on it right now. The hollow wings don?t seem to do much tone-wise. It is only slightly louder unplugged than a regular electric but has great sustain. The output is slightly less than most guitars: on my old Harmony H400 tube amp on the highest setting and max volume it will barely overdrive the amp. Normally I would get a good overdrive sound out of the amp (not fuzz, just good 70?s distortion) but not with this axe. Settings on other amps I?ve tried it on have allowed for better distortion so in most cases this probably won?t be an issue. I wish it had more of a bluesey sound to it, again this may be a factor of string gauge and not so much the guitar. With all the effects out there now does it really matter what a guitar sounds like anymore? Regardless, I like a good clean tone and this does it for me, and the only effects I like to use are a wah and a chorus. Oh yeah, the phaser on my Peavey Mace head sounds awesome too. One more thing about the preamp: it acts like a volume boost. If you set your amp up right, you could get a clean sound out of it on the lower setting and then switch to high and to the bridge pickup to get distortion without touching the amp.

Being used it wasn?t set up the way I like so after cleaning the frets and brass nut (not a cheap gold plate job but real brass) they regained their bright shine. I waxed the body and was blown away as it looked like it was freshly dipped in a vat of polyurethane! No major scratches, just a few shallow ones on the back but they don?t really affect the overall look. The wood looks incredible, the electronics covers are not exact matches but come close giving it a very expensive and high quality look. Faux flamed maple tops are all too common but you?ll not find much else equaling this guitar?s genuine-ness and uniqueness. Intonation is flawless, everything works fine, the neck is arrow straight but I have the action set slightly higher than I like to keep fret buzz to a minimum. I prefer individually adjustable saddles but I don?t mind the one piece bridge. Overall the guitar looks gorgeous, like new practically. The only thing I don?t like is its balance, it is heavy towards the headstock and likes to tilt downward if I let go of the neck. The body has a somewhat sharp edge on it where your arm rests on it when strumming but it doesn?t bother me that much.

Solid! This thing is stable, thanks to the neck-through construction. It?s Japanese built, so it should outlast me easily! The finish is durable, all the hardware is of good quality and I would gig without a backup.

None as far as I can tell, but I found a good resource at www.therathole.org. I don?t expect to have to get this thing serviced ever anyway.

I?ve been playing guitars for five years and bass for two. I?ve owned two Steinbergers, a Les Paul copy, a Hohner Steinberger copy, a G&L Invader, and currently own this guitar and a Lyle Gibson Dove copy. I?m glad I got this axe as it is rare and unique. I wish I could find a bass to match it. I like stuff that?s different. If it were stolen I would definitely buy another one, but I wouldn?t break my neck finding one. I?m not saying that another one wouldn?t be worth tracking down, but I?d probably find something else along the way I liked that was equally unique (was that an oxymoron??) and different and get it instead. I love visiting small/independently owned music stores because that?s where you find all the older unique stuff. I prefer used equipment as the new stuff is expensive and doesn?t impress me that much. That?s where I found this one. I didn?t compare it to other guitars because there was no comparison. I chose it because of the construction, preamp, and price; how much do you think this would cost new today, say almost $2K? It was a deal I couldn?t let slip.