Aria CS-250 Cardinal Series

I picked up my CS-250 at a music store in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
I have no idea what year though... It has a laminated top, the wood looks to be stained or something, a nice deep mahogany kind of color. I like the rustic look of this guitar, the whole wood approach, with no plastic coating! It has four knobs for volume and tone. I'm not too sure what kind of pickup operation I have going on here, need to study into that kind of stuff, but it has three different switches, one which switches between the two main groups of pickups and which also has a setting that works the two central pickups on the same switch, and the smaller two, I am not quite sure what they do. It has a string through body style, and 22 frets. The machineheads need to be replaced, as they cause my strings to skip out of tune, etc... I think they are just too old. Other than that, no problems.

It's a great little blues guitar, especially in conjunction with a few select fx processors of mine, although it's not much for rockin out. has a nice clean tone. I am using a Korg Pandora PX-2 processor and a Peavy Rage amp, which is a cheap ass amp, so I am not quite sure what this guitar sounds like with a good setup...
I find I get nice little harmonic squeals with this guitar, high pitched distortion I can use in music. Kinda sound like screaming, like that one absolutely incredible note in Pink Floyd's time solo, where it sounds like his guitar is screaming in agony... wow! I find, however, that I get really dull sound when I add some distortion and play, say, metallica or something, but, once again, that might just be because I have a crappy amp... I have definitely heard and owned better guitars in my day, although this one is still pretty decent sounding.

This guitar would definitely NOT withstand live playing. I would constantly have to be checking my tuning, as it has a tendency to slip out when getting hammered on. The hardware does seem pretty durable, except for the machineheads, which I think I will have to replace. The strap button near the neck fell out, and I can't put a strap on it until I replace that.

I have been playing for approximately five years. I have a Segovia Acoustic guitar, Samick electric, and the previously mentioned gear, not to mention a couple of hand drums. If I lost this guitar somehow, I would probably buy something else. I love the way this guitar looks and feels in my hands. It brings out the blues in me. I just don't like how it's slowly falling apart. However, I am in love with it, and it is my main guitar at home, so I must rate it high.

Boutgh it new in late '80's new old stock for a store that was about to go out of business. Humbunkers with coil tpas/splitters. Standard set up like the others mention. Nice graim wood that looks like ask with a seethrough brown finish. Not a perfect match but quite nice looking. Stop bridge, Set neck. Nicely detailed.

Very versatile. I like the range of tones available with the taps/splitters.

Set up nicely. I work on my own stuff so I may have tweaked the pick up height etc, but nothing major.

Solid, Nicely constucted

not applicable

Great axe, Great Value. A sleeper!