This bass was taken into the workshop last week for a complete overhaul and set up. As the Aria Pro II range seems to generate a lot of interest (as did the previous blog) I’ve decided to blog this one also.
This guitar is approximately 28 years old and has never had any professional attention. It’s in very good condition and still plays quite well. This is a testimony of excellence to the Matsumoku factory whose guitars and basses were extremely well manufactured and made from the best quality materials.
The bass was showing some wear and tear on the fingerboard due to the round-wound strings that have been used throughout its lifetime, but a clean up with some fine sandpaper, and lemon oil soon had it looking like new. The electrics where checked over and showed no signs of any ageing. The guitar set up and intonated like a dream, much to the delight of its owner.
Look out for further Aria Pro II blogs as there are several Aria guitars scheduled into the workshop for repair.
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June 27, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Hi Graham
What are the chances of having two Aria SB700s in the workshop within a month of each other, both the same woods AND both fretless? Very slim I thought. These basses aren’t that common you know! I’ve studied the video and my own SB700 and I now have the evidence!! My excellent little bass is older having the ‘bat’s ears’ cutout on the headstock and the one in the video has the ‘open book’ headstock. No trickery involved!
Thanks for your excellent work on my SB700 Graham. You really can’t tell that it once had frets and that they were taken out with a JCB. 🙂
July 4, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Hi Louis.
Thanks for the comment.
The Aria range built by the Matsumoku factory in the 80’s seems to generate quite a bit of interest.
I have a few more Aria Pro guitars scheduled in for repair so keep checking for blog updates.