Aria Pro II LS-600

Made in Japan in 1979:
Carved maple top & mahogany back. Maple fixed neck w/rosewood finger-board. When I originally got this guitar the electronics were in disarray. It appeared as if someone with very poor soldering skills tried replacing some components (i don't believe the pickups were originals). It also appeared to have active electronics, as it had a 9v battery holder that was only accessible by removing the screws on the backplate - there was no easy-access battery compartment/holder. It also had a small PCB in the electronics compartment that i could make no sense out of because it was sealed up pretty tight. Rather than trying to decipher what was going on, I replaced all the pickups, pots, caps, and mini-toggles with American parts. I also replaced all plastic parts - pickup rings, jack input plate, etc. - with metal parts. It had a plastic nut that I replaced with a brass nut. I left the 6-position 'varitone' switch intact, and used the 3 mini-toggle switches for single/double-coil splitters and a phase switch. The main controls knobs are a main volume, and then TONE-PU-bridge, and TONE-PU-neck.
The tuners had also been replaced with Schaller tuners, which are some of the best i've ever twisted. Very smooth with a nice, low ratio.
I later learned (after doing some digging) that it was originally wired with a master volume knob, a master tone, and then a volume 'boost' knob, that was turned on/off by one of the mini-toggle switches (I believe that this is what he active electronics were for, because there's no other way to 'boost' a passive signal w/o involving some sort of amplifier circuitry). The other two mini-toggles were originally wired as coil-taps and phase switch (i guess one switch would coil-tap both pickups?).

The pickups I installed were Seymour Duncan '59's, and like i mentioned above, i wired it so that i could tap the coils on each pickup individually, as well as toss them out of phase. The 6-position 'varitone' switch is very unique and unlike anything i've seen on any other guitar. Basically, it operates a mid-range shelf at different frequencies. The best way I can describe it is: it sounds like it different positions of a wah-pedal. With the way I currently have it set up, I can make it sound like basically any type of guitar out there - and it sounds amazing. If I want a single-coil sound, or a thinner out-of-phase sound, or a hi-mid fuzz tone - it's all at the flick of a switch (or two). About the only bad thing I can say about the guitar is that there are so many different tonal possibilities (at least 48 different tones!), that it can get rather confusing in a live situation when you're trying to change sounds quickly, and in low light. On the other hand, it makes a very versatile studio guitar that can produce just about any sound required with the twist of a few knobs and switches.
I've played this guitar for over 12 years, and i've compared it side-by-side to plenty of Les Paul's, and so far, every time, i've preferred the sound and the playability of the Aria - and I'm a Gibson man! My main axe is a '76 Firebird! It's a solid guitar. I'm not sure what it weighs in at, but it's thick and heavy. I love it.

The action is as good as, if not better than many other guitars i've played, including Gibby Les Pauls. The only problems I've had with the finish/workmanship/etc. is that the binding around the cutaway, close to where the neck joins the body, got wet and came away from the body about an 1/8th of an inch. I could take it and get it fixed, possibly, but it has no effect on the playability of the guitar, so I'm fine with it as it is.
I'm really surprised with the workmanship of this guitar. Like I've said, compared to many 'Pauls, it's as good as, if not better.
I'm not sure if it's because of all the upgrades done to it, but this guitar is simply amazing. It sustains forever; the tones are endless; the action and neck playability is easy and fluid.
The only other bad thing I can possibly say about the guitar is that it is quite heavy. It can wear out your shoulder pretty good after a 2-hr gig. But that's rock-n-roll....

No problems to report, mainly because I re-wired the entire thing myself without knowing how it was originally wired, so it was wired in a standard passive pickup configuration with coil-taps and a phase switch.

never bothered.

As previously mentioned, I've owned this guitar for over 12 years, and use it primarily as my back-up guitar, or for alternate tunings. My main guitar is a '76 Gibson Firebird IV.
The one I have is as good as, if not better than most 'Pauls I've compared it to. Granted, most of the 'Pauls I've had on hand to use as comparison were late-'80's models or newer - nothing vintage.
I've never seen another one for sale anywhere that has the same configuration (knob layout and 6-pos switch w/coil-taps). I had no idea what model # it was until I came across this site: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/ap2_catalogs.html

This was one of my better 'pawn shop finds' to date. I traded a mid-80's Gibson L6 (total POS that wouldn't stay in tune for more than a song) and $50. Then sunk another $150 in it right off the bat - pickups and electronics. It's simply an amazing guitar.