Product: Aria AP-DLX
Price Paid: 900 (AUD)
Submitted
12/11/2005
at
06:56pm
by
Chris
Email: chrisalchin<at>in dot com dot au
Features
:
10
brand new for 2005. $900 australian
I had this guitar airmailed to me from the states as this model/brand isnt sold over here and i wanted somthing original.
Solid cedar top, parlor/picilo size acoustic guitar, mother of pearl inlays on head stock and dot markers. classical style open peg head and tuners. nice diamond valoute. 19 frets, 12 to the body. mahagony back and sides with a mahogony unbound neck. red tortise shell pick guard. abalone sound hole inlays.
Now heres where i get excited.... geunine BONE nut AND saddle from the factory!!!!! no other acoustic guitar have i ever played has a bone nut and saddle from the factory. senstaional.
ill give this a 10 for features, it has everything an acoustic guitar needs... quality hardware. plus its a smaller sized guitar, not as easy to come by as your regular dreadnaughts/jumbo's.
Im assuming that if your looking to purchase one of these guitars, your obviously, like me, a serious musician, not a high school punk rocker....
Sound
:
10
I play folk and blues semi- professionaly. have done for awhile now. iveplayed on a few albums and redordings. the sound is bright without being harsh. very strong in the mids, not as much bass response as the larger counterparts obviously, very sweet sounding. suits chicken pickers and flat pickers very well. not the loudest guitar in the world, but im playing on installing a passive under saddle transducer soon so i can amp her up. closest thing i can equate this too is a martin 0045. very quality sound.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
action was very high from the factory, and strings looked like they had been put on by a blind monkey. i broke a g string at the peg within 2 days. so i restrung it properly and sanded down the saddle 2 mm lowering the action dramaticly. its fine now, next time i restring it ill take it down some more. apart from that fit and finish was faultless. i really like the diamond valoute on the back of the head, very classy. inlays are nice. hardward (tuners, nut, saddle) are fantastic. vest ive seen on a sub $5000 guitar. ill give it a 7 as i was really expecting a better factory setup. super high action on a finger picking guitar is unacceptable in my books.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
cant really say yet, only time will tell. it does however seem very sturdy.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
n/a
Overall Rating
:
9
i own too many guitars to mention. this guitar never leaves my side. itake it everywhere with me. it was an instant favourite the moment it arrived. Apart from the excessivly high action this guitar is perfect. ill give it a 9 as im sure they were planning on parking a dump truck between the fretboard and the strngs at the factory... really who ever strung this guitar at the factory needs to be shot... twice.
