Aria 5102T

Made in Japan in the early 1970s. The 5102T is a curious hybrid double cutaway thinline, full hollow body like an ES 330, but with a roller bridge and Bigsby-type vibrato tailpiece topped with a woodgrain chevron that might be more fitting on a semi-hollow. Features two passive pickups which have one row of adjustable pole pieces and one row of staples. I don???t know whether they are true humbuckers. They sit in humbucker type surrounds but are just the size of P 90s. The pickguard is notched to allow access to the pickup height adjustment screws on the treble side. There are tone and volume controls for both pickups, but not in the usual Gibson arrangement. The forward two knobs are neck pickup tone and volume, etc. The three way pickup selector has a one piece metal shaft and knob. The three-piece maple neck is bolted on and has rather a slim flat U profile. It???s a narrower neck than some people like and has a very round radius. I guess it???s about 1 and 9/16 inches at the nut. Pretty and very plausible looking pearloid block fret markers finish the look. The tuners are three-on-a-plate closed jobs with metal knobs. Unlike the Klusons they???re imitating, these don???t have a grease hole, but you can drip some Triflo oil in the gap where the shaft enters the casing and they???ll smooth out very well.

The laminated maple body itself sounds very resonant. Even with the heavy vibrato hardware, the 5102T sounds pretty full and loud unplugged. The pickups are--not surprisingly--vintage sounding low output and tonally mellow. For years this neck pickup has been my best traditional jazz pickup. The bridge pickup and the two combined will do all the classic rock sounds that bring nostalgic tears to bloodshot middle aged (I'm being kind here) eyes. The pickups are however microphonic. If you tend to tap the top of your guitar spastically on off beats as I do, you???ll be joining the percussion section. Even a heavy hammer-on up the neck can deliver a dull pop. Let???s not even talk about overdrive ???

I think the sound (not to mention the tuning stability) improves dramatically when you remove the vibrato tailpiece and its pound and a half of steel in favor of a plain trapeze tailpiece. It gets rid of some of the pinginess and emphasizes the naturally mellow character of the instrument. A further improvement can be gained by removing the roller bridge and putting on a rosewood floating bridge. That gives you a woodier attack and--at least acoustically--more volume and resonance. I???ve been really thrilled with the results of this mod. It does require some work, as the typical floating bridge has a radius of 12 or 13" and the 5102T???s fretboard is closer to 8".

The vintage sunburst is very pretty. The binding is not without flaws, but comparable to well-made cheap guitars anywhere. I like the inlays and overall aesthetics.

If anything, these guitars are over-engineered. The metallurgy is more befitting a Toyota or even the Singer sewing machines that were being assembled in the same plant. The Japanese builders will get the right combination in the 80s when the heavy cast hardware will be applied to solid bodies dedicated to harmonic distortion and grave hearing loss. But for these guitars, low tech hardware serves better. I think the non-vibrato tailpiece even gave my guitar a softer springier playing action. There are thousands of these guitars still around 35 years later, so the basic construction is obviously very solid.

I've never known Aria to answer queries about their older models.

I???m a fan of the early 70s Aria stuff. I cut my teeth on a Japanese-made acoustic from the same era, so in a certain way they suit me. I???d always be interested in picking up another of these hollow bodies. The wooden parts alone can be the basis for a great project. Lots of people seem to buy them and put P 90s in them. I might try that next.