Product: Aria Pro II SH-1000
Price Paid: Canadian 400 USED
Submitted
12/25/2006
at
06:02am
by
Jim
Features
:
9
The SH-1000 and the FS-1000 are virtually the same guitar. Made in Japan in 1978-1979 by Matsumoko.
The body is a carved top neck thru semi acoustic style like a mini 335 and is made of heavy dark ash with cream binding on the f-holes and top.
The neck is maple with 2 walnut stripes and a chocolate ebony fingerboard with beautiful figuring. The headstock is a 3x3,with ash veneer. Flat radius with fat round frets and dot markers and solid brass nut. 2 MH-1E humbucks with single Volume and Tone and 3 way switch. It has built in 18Volt Noise Killer circuit and 3 way filter switch. Body covers are ash and match the body's dark natural finish.
Sound
:
9
I play mostly blues and some rock standards. I bought this guitar without playing it or plugging it in. I had never seen this model before. I have a number of amps, I've only tried my Fender Blues Deluxe so far. It is a dark sounding amp, but with this guitar it can be too bright with weak bass. Didn't like the low output pickups at first. The Blues Deluxe needs pretty hot pickups to get any overdrive at all and the SH-1E don't have it. So it don't shred, what will it do? The single tone control works better than any control on any guitar I've played. Tone it down, crank the amp, play with the filter and this thing sings with a nice balanced tone and good sustain. Great clean sound.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Apart from a few chips on the body this guitar is flawless in construction with lots of fret life left. Excelent action, a fret filing would make it even better, but it's not needed. The body finish is thick and looks wet like dark cherry or walnut, real nice. Big chunky chrome 2 pole bridge and pearloid tuners. The toggles are good quality and feel tight, the tone and volume knobs are metal not plastic. This is a well thought out and constructed guitar.
Reliability/Durability
:
9
This guitar is almost 30 years old and will last at least that much longer. All Active electronics have a life so I would expect some trouble in the future with the Noise Killer and filter. I'd take a backup because this guitar don't shred and 30 year old electronics are 30 years old.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Just got the guitar and the warranty is up.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been a player for 40 years and have a small collection of guitars I like. Ibanez AS200 (original John Scofield) a couple strats and a couple other Matsumokos as well as too many acoustics to count. I only use tube amps and apart from my Fender Blues Deluxe I build my own. This is the only SH-1000 I have ever seen, I would like to replace it if stolen. I wish it came with a case, it has an elongated narrow headstock that does'nt fit well into my Les Paul case.
