Aria Pro II PE-190 Robert Conti

Appears to be a 1979 johnny smith copy by Aria. Heastock say PRO II and it is in mint shape. This guitar is great. I paid $650 for it. But considering the details it is a fine buy. Here are the fine points:
Ebony fingerboard. Laminate top, floating D'armond copy pick up, one tone control, Painted 7 ply binding, Maple back, 3 ply neck, Inlay on the headstock is classic "Lawsuit" from the 1970's ibanez era!
Hard shell case. Slightly vintaged finish. Big sized archtop 4 inches wide? Also a classic L5 tail piece with the name Robert Conti inlaid. ALL gold Hard ware, Sealed gold tuners. Back of headstock is painted or overlaid in Black. The headstock is inlaid with the flowers motif found on vintage epiphone/gibsons. The headstock is oversized Also--It plays too easliy.

Pick up is a bit microphonic but can be change! The rosewood and inlaid floating bridge is great. Very warm sound.

For a 20+ year old guitar this is in MINT shape!

I bought this for a winter GIG guitar. I own and perform with other more $$$ guitars Daquisto, heritage, epiphone and gibson. But this guitar might become a favorite. Still to early to tell

no experience with the Company

I am a rpo player, 100- 150 gigs a year, 15 Cds, 2 degrees in music and more! i rarley buy guitars anymore, but this one is hot!

I bought this guitar new in June 1981 (graduation present). Label says Hand crafed, made in Japan.

This one is Blonde with a birds eye maple back. Gold hardare finish is worn off in some places. Lots of nice, attractive details. No electronics on mine.

I used to play to impress the girls, now I play to impress my kids. Also, I teach music in Hebrew school on Sundays. This guitar has a lot of sound bright (especially with new strings) and deep. It holds its tune well.

I love the way this guitar sounds, but I have heard better. For comparison, I like the deep back Ovation guitars, too, but this guitar does not sound quite so boomy.

I have adjusted the action so many times over the last 21 years it's impossible to remember how it was set up when I bought it. Right now it's a little high for my taste. I think I will take to a luthier to help me change the neck curvature and the bridge height to give me a lower action without buzzing.

There were no flaws when I bought the guitar, but 3 kids will take a toll. My son and younger daughter have each pushed a snare drum over on it causing dings. There are cracks in the finish every inch or so running the entire length of the top, but not the sides or back. The cracks do not go into the wood or effect the sound.

The gold plate has worn off in a few places.

Old or new this guitar stands out and turns heads. The only flaws in it are recent and due to my kids.

I play this guitar every day for 21 years. I have played in front of groups of children regularly for 8 years. I have never felt the need for a backup guitar. I carry back up strings, because, well, one could break, I guess, The break al the time on my Epi electric.

I do plan to get another guitar so that I won't have to take this one down off the living room wall and pack it up every week for Sunday school. I want to leave a guitar at work.

Never repaired. Never needed support. I may have the action checked for professional adjustment when school is out for the summer.

I have been playing for over 30 years. I own a cheep Epi electric and a twelve string that I saves from a trash heap.

I love everything about this guitar. I have to admit that my favorite feature is its look. I did not know anything about guitars when I chose this one; now that I do I still love it.

I have been told by Robert Conti that he gave all of this model away or sold them, but he wishes he still had one. Another pro told me that this is the best playing guitar he has seen for under 2 grand.

I wish this guitar had a nice pickup, but the humbuckers that they came with effected the look. I like it better as a strict acoustic.

I am very glad I bought this 21 years ago instead of the Ovation. I liked the look, the sound was different, brighter. I liked the light colored wood body vs. ABS. I may buy the Ovation Celebrity this summer to have in addition to this guitar so I may leave one at work.

For value, what else can you buy and still love this much after 21 years?

PE190, Gibson Johnny Smith Artist copy manufactured in late 76' or early 77' for Jazz guitarist Robert Conti. It has a bound ebony neck,25.5 scale, 1 5/8" at nut. Relatively fat neck, 20 low medium wide frets, large bound peghead with abalone floral inlay (ala early epiphones) and the words PRO II in large block abolone inlay letters, gold sealed tuners, and small scroll Aria ProII on truss rod cover. Single cutaway, blond finish,laminated spruce top,figured maple back and sides and multiple bindings on neck and front and back of body. Gold Johnny Smith Artist tailpiece with Robert Conti's name where Johnny Smith would go on a Gibson. The guitar originally came equipped with a copy of a neck mounted floating DeArmond pickup and single volume control on pickguard. The serial numbers do not match the serial number pattern used by Aria during this period, I assume that was due to the artist endorsement.

I use this guitar for my attempts at Jazz chord melody and my jazz and pseudo classical wanking. I string the guitar with D'Addario Chromes .011 gauge. This setup produces a very lush articulate acoustic electric jazz tone. Think Joe Pass on his solo albums. Un-amplified the guitar (for a laminated top) has a fairly loud and articulate sound. Because this is a floating pickup, I've been unable to get the dark 70's Pat Martino tone and obviously feedback become a problem at higher volumes. That being said, I love the way this guitar sounds. Complex chords ring true, and single note lines have a real sparkle. (hey I wanted to throw in one of the Guitar Player mag terms). Over the years I experimented with several different pickups but have settled on a Gibson Johnny Smith Floating pickup. Through a good tube amp or my old polytone the sound is warm and lush. I'm currently using this with a Line6 Duo and quite frankly this amp can not produce an acceptable clean jazz tone. I will be purchasing a tube amp shortly.

I purchased this guitar new (along with an Aria Pro11 ES175 copy)from Bob Conti (taking lessons at the time)in 1977. Since then I've carried this guitar around various parts of the south under variable environmental conditions. I quit playing completely in 1981 and except for a few times, this guitar stayed in the case until 1998. During the years I removed the pickup and pickguard. The original pickguard had crystallized so when I decided to start playing again, I took it to Savannah Ga's "top" luthier to make a new tortoise shell pickguard,reinstall the pickup and add a volume control. I got a pickquard that was too small (bracket shows at bottom) and a tone control with cold solder joints. But Hey I only had to wait a month. As I said earlier, the guitar sat in the case for 16 years without any precautions and today it looks and plays like I first purchased it with the exception that the very bright blond finish has mellowed to a warm butterscotch finish. Binding is still intact, no structural problems, fretwork is still great,gold hardware is still intact with little signs of wear. Neck is fast and very comfortable for my large hands. Great shape for a 23 year old guitar. Interesting note for old Aria collectors, my guitar has 7 layer binding around the front and four on the neck. After reading Michaels Wrights'articles in Vintage Guitar where he said that guitars from this era had one large piece of binding and paint to look like multiple bindings I took a close look at this guitar and it's very hard to tell without gouging the binding (lines are straight)but I believe he is correct.

All in all this is a very well made guitar and shows no sign of its age (other than darkening of the finish). The high end guitars made by Aria and Ibanez during the mid to late 70's to early 80's were super instruments and very good buys today although recently prices are on the upswing.

I've never had to deal with Aria regarding this guitar so I can't say. But I will say that Aria (based upon my unanswered emails) won't or can't provide any info regarding their earlier guitars. Too bad as I think they are some of the best instruments they or Ibanez for that matter produced.

I've noted after reading tens if not hundreds of reviews at HC that there is an over abundance of 10s. I believe that one big reason is that most reviewers write their review shortly after purchase. Well I've had this guitar for enough time and it's not a 10 (quite frankly I've never owned a guitar that couln't be better) but its a solid nine for fit, finish, durability and playablity. To get to a 10 it would have to have a better pickup and a carved solid top. But then I would have to had at least another zero to the original purchase price. By the way, Robert Conti is still playing and is now an endorser for BCRich (solid body 8 string). If you want to hear a player with chops to burn check out his website at http://www.robertconti.com.