Aria AD-50

Fairly plain, ordinary appearance dreadnaught. It has the white-looking engelman spruce (solid) top and solid rosewood back. The rosewood sides are laminate.

The standard chrome tuners were OK, but I replaced with gold-tone Ping tuners. Nice thin neck, with adjustable truss rod.

Built in Japan, the neck is nice, but the string placement is a bit narrow due to the nut cut.

Herringbone around the outer edge of the top.

This is where this guitar shines. The sound is very, very good. Deep, woody, with real punch -- lots of volume.

Probably the best sounding guitar I have ever played.

I replaced the tuners and the nut. The nut is cut with too narrow string spacing. I located a nut with great fit and with somewhat wider string specing. I fit it to the guitar and am very happy with the new playability.

You might want to replace the saddle as well. The factory tuners were good. But I like the Ping replacements I installed better.

Finish and construction on the guitar are excellent. I thought the action was pretty good from the factory. The only problem was the cut of the nut was too narrow (I feel this way about Dean acoustics as well).

My AD-50 is now about four years old. I have not experienced any construction problems. The guitar is mostly used at home. I have taken it to a school and a senior home a few times. I see no signs that there are any durability issues.

This company's AD-80 is a better looking guitar, but I don't believe it sounds any better. The AD-50 is a true bargain.

I have had no dealings with the company. I haven't needed to.

Based on price and sound quality alone I would give this a 10.

However, I feel strongly that appearance, construction, playability, and other factors should be part of the overall evaluation of a guitar.

I am still looking for a beautiful guitar with an outstanding case that sounds like this one, but has no construction issues that need to be fixed.

I expect a quality case (such as the Breedlove cases). I prefer a spruce top with a deeper color, perhaps aged or toned slightly brownish with nice tight grain. I like inlaid detailing around the body/top/sound hole with tortoise or colored woods.

I expect string spacing and action setting that makes for easy playability.

The Aria AD-50 has the sound (excellent). It ain't pretty (it's ordinary). It needs a nut replacement and action adjustment. Mine had a barely acecptable quality case. BUT FOR THE COST - IT SOUNDS GREAT!

Martin D-28 Copy.

Dreadnought gloss body, satin neck, solid Englemann top, solid rosewood back, laminated rosewood sides, mahogany neck, decent Grover copy tuners, rosewood bridge and fingerboard, bone nut and saddle. Low profile 1 11/16" neck. Very nice herringbone trim.

Ebony bridge and fingerboard would have been nice. :')

No case, no pickup

This guitar is not Martin-like, it IS a Martin. Well, okay, it's not, but it could be. It sounds livelier than a D-28 - more like an HD-28 with a few less overtones. Amazingly rich with great bass.

It is very loud and responsive.

The sound is pure Martin.

Action was fine right out of the box.

The top is perfectly bookmatched with no run-out. The headstock seems to be a separate piece of wood than the neck and volute. Rosewood back and sides also beautifully bookmatched with a nice grain.

Finish was great, beautiful herringbone trim, a tiny bit sloppy where the neck joins the body. Bracing looked good, very neat and tidy inside. Frets were smooth. Has a lovely rosewood smell, rather than the overpowering glue I have come to expect from the imports.

Nice bone compensated saddle, bone nut not polished but cut well and functions as it should.

If it wasn't for the herringbone ring around the sound-hole and the Aria name on the headstock, I would have thought it was an HD-28.

It seems as solid and well-built as a Martin, can't see any reason why it wouldn't last as long.

Haven't had to deal with them.

Been playing around 30 years. Own other Martins and Larrivees, and a Gibson.

If it were lost or stolen I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

I love that it is nicer than my old D-28 at a fraction of the cost. The sound and finish are unbelievable at this price.

I have owned and played a lot of Martin copies. None come close to this Aria, not do the other pac-rim imports I have played, including Johnson Carolina, Blueridge, Epiphone Masterbilt, and Guild GAD. Heck, this guitar sounds better than the Guild D-50BJ I had.

Seriously, I was hankering after another Martin rosewood dread but no longer need one - this guitar is that good!

It's a Dreadnought model with these specs:

Top : Solid Englemann Spruce
Back: Solid Rosewood
Sides: Rosewood
Neck : Mahogany
Fingerboard : Rosewood
Bridge : Rosewood
Hardware : Chrome
Finish: N-Natural
Pickup's: No

It has a nice headstock with a vintage look "Aria Dreadnought EST. 1956" label. It's neck is quite common in width. I'd prefer a more 'electric guitar' neck (smaller) like those Blueridge's have, but this one ain't bad. I guess it's more a taste thing. I believe it's made in Japan. It had every feature a good guitar needs so I rate it an eight.

This is where this guitar stands out. When I bought this guitar my budget was about 1000 EUR. I was looking for a loud sounding guitar, probably a Dreadnought. I wend to five or six different larger music stores (in the Netherlands) and tested many guitars and compared them. I noticed I that price didn't always match the sound of a guitar. To be honest I didn't like any of the Taylors I tried. Maybe I just like the Martin Sound better. I did like the Blueridge guitars, they had a nice loud sound and a very nice small neck. I almost bought one until I touched this Aria AD-50. I have never heard any guitar that is as loud as this one. Especially the bass tones are amazing rich and loud. I didn't bought it immediately though, but went home to search for more information about this Aria Dreadnought series. I noticed there also was a AD-80 of the same series. At that time it was the highest grade of Aria Dreadnought series. I asked my dealer if he could order one of those so I could compare it with the AD-50 model that was already in store. Although the AD-80 has the looks, to my surprise it didn't sound as loud as the AD-50 they had. Maybe it takes a while to open up, but I ended up buying my AD-50 for the special offer price of 369 EUR (normal price was 470 EUR) After 1,5 year I still think it's the best sounding guitar I've ever played.

However when your planning to buy one, make sure you try it yourself. Since the AD-80 owners also seem very enthusiastic about it's loudness it might be very different per guitar. So.. try!

After half a year I brought it back to my dealer to adjust the action settings. One string (high E) was set a bit too low so that it touched the fingerboard at higher frets when playing a 'G'. For me this was a costless repair. Besides that, the guitar's finish seems great.

I haven't got a reason to think it wouldn't last for many years. Just a plain solid guitar.

My dealers support was great, so they didn't need to contact their distributor. Can't say anything about the customer support of Aria.

I'm not a professional player, but I do play a lot in my spare time. My style is fingerpicking. I would definitely buy this guitar again if it were stolen or lost. Of course I would test it again to make sure it has the same sound quality my stolen/lost one had.

I think the Aria Dreadnought guitars are way to unknown for their quality. Maybe they'll get discovered by a larger audience once.

I have the AD-50 and i'm very happy with it. Bought it on a holliday in England and brought it back to the Netherlands. There aren't many of them over here. It looks like a Martin and played like a Martin.

Engelman spruce top
Rose wood back and sides

This is realy a great guitar, a friend of my who ownes a Martin D-28 compare the aria with it and he said that there is almost no different with the martin! The sound is perfect!

A round and warm sound like a real goog dreadnought used to be
The more you play it the better it gets.

The finish is wonderfull and a friend of my said that it was just better finished than his Martin D-28

I Played some other like Crafter but that is shit! If you are used to play this you wil have to find one that plays the same like this. Same friend just agree.

No scratches or any thing on it. The neck is still in a top condition, after playing lots of hours!

If you tread it right this is a guitar for life! It still is like new and is played for hundreds hours so with the lack is nothing wrong. The guitar is in a perfect condition and just sounds perfect

Never had a problem with it! And if you have go to your local shop.

only complaint is the plastic nut, saddle and bridge pins.Changed it for nut and thats it. Played differnt brads and this is a stayer. A good instrument for a good price.

ARIA CLONE OF MARTIN D-28 SOLID SPRUCE TOP , SOLID ROSEWOOD BACK , LAMINATED ROSEWOOD SIDES MADE IN CHINA???ASIA IT DOESNT MATTER
MAHOGANY NECK , ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD, BRIDGE 20 FRETS NO CASE INCLUDED NECK IS A LOW PROFILE STYLE. SURPRISING GOOD QUALITY WOODS

I play world music, country,blues and boomer rock . This guitar was purchased as a replacement for a Martin d-15s ( all mahogany). This has a much brighter sound .Sound is full and well suited for the music I play. It is not a cannon it is still new and should open up nicely.

This was purchased as a scratch.dent from music 123. There are no scratch or dents. The spruce top does not appear to be bookmatched, which is the only flaw???. Excellent setup , action slightly low.Very good quality , surprisingly so. The fit and finish is very good, fretboard , frets are nicely finished. My only complaint is the plastic nut, saddle and bridge pins.

it should be fine if you remember it is a acoustic dreadnaught

limited lifetime warranty , never dealt with the company

Been playing over 25 years. Own or have owned , martin , gibson , breedlove, taylor, larrivee, ramirez, washburn .If it were stolen or lost would by another . To use the cliche GREAT BANG FOR BUCK. The neck profile , playability and sound are my favorite features.I wish it came with a 1 3/4" nut width and bone nut, pins, saddle. I would recommend this guitar to anyone who can get over the name on the headstock game. After years of buying overpriced NAME brands which are hyped by the music publications which take their advertising dollars, I have been convinced that the asian guitar manufacturers are now producing worthy instruments for the guy who cant or doesnt want to spend thousands for instruments.This Aria is a good example.