The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi All,

My first post, so please bare with me. I have an Aria Pro II Custom. It has no serial number. No identifying marks on the back. My research leads me to believe it is a Japanese model - that is of course why I'm here. It came without tone or volume pots. I added the ones in the photo. It also has no pickguard - there probably may have been one originally. No case. The guitar is in terrific condition and plays beautifully.

If anybody can provide me with any info on this beast I'd be very happy - year, model, woods (thing weighs a ton!). Any thoughts?

I hope I'm adhering to all Forum protocols! Thankyou.

Tony

It looks to be an LC-500. The coil cut/series-parallel switches are most likely not be original. If the hardware was originally gold and the stop bar/tail piece are chrome it could have been an LC-750.

Seems to be in great shape otherwise.

The early Aria Pro IIs often did not have serial numbers. Neck plates if there sometimes had no serial number or even "Made In Japan" and no numbers stamped into the back of the headstock either.

Hey Crusty,

Thanks for that. Yeah, I wondered about the switches..... Thanks for the link; I've been through the catalogues and the LCs look near enough but the headstock is different. I don't know, might that change things? Either way, we'd be looking at pre 1980 (no later) on its manufacture date maybe? These guys had a lot of guitars out there!

Cheers for the info.

Tony

It could be the angle the catalog photos were taken from. The more the backward pitch of the headstock from the camera the less pronounced the "open book" looks. I've had a lot of trouble with this taking pics of guitars I planned to sell. I did the same as you and included a separate pic of the headstock at the right angle. Also keep in mind that is the only year we have catalog pictures for. And, sadly that catalog scan was pretty rough and the printing was pretty bad too.

The dates on those I managed to grab from the Aria history section on their site before it disappeared. Some of the "?" were actually from their estimates. Apparently the Aria Pro history is a little foggy even for them.

Ah, the camera angle - never thought of that! Okay, that puts things close enough for rock 'n roll I reckon.

LC-600, IMO.

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Opu B UA_p ! (Ñ„Ñ€.)

I could possibly go with that but the hardware is mixed. The tuners and stop/tailpiece are worn gold so it would probably lean towards the LC-750 as it had gold hardware. I suspect the pickups (or just covers) and bridge have been swapped out at some point. The mini toggles are also chrome. The more I look at it the more I think those things have been switched out.

The key features that set the LC750 apart from the lower numbered models are an ebony (as opposed to rosewood) fret board and a carved maple (rather than plywood) top. Maybe the original poster could pull one of the pickups and have a look in the cavity next time he changes strings.

As for the hardware, the bridge is clearly chrome plated (slight bluish cast) and probably a replacement. The tuners and bridge might have been gold plated initially but with most of the plating now worn off or they could be nickel plated. (Old nickel tends to look very slightly yellowish especially compared to Chrome).

Yeah, gold hardware from that time period didn't last long. My Supra had gold hardware but with it's age it looked a lot like the tuners on this LC. Almost distressed. Bits peeling off, etc.

Pulling the pickups would pretty much solve the mystery.

I guess the only features visible right now are what looks to be either an ebony fingerboard or well oiled rosewood, tobacco sunburst, and what appears to have originally been gold hardware. The pickup covers or the pickups themselves have been replaced. You're right. About the only way to nail it down as close as possible is to pull a pickup and check if the top is arched ply or carved solid. Maybe lightly tap on the top of it with the plastic end of a screwdriver. It will sound distinctly hollow if it is. There's no mistaking it. My first Electra LP copy was arched ply. The pickups kept falling off the top the first few days I had it and found out why. The pickup screw holes were wallowed out and someone kept trying to use toothpick tips to fill the holes. I probably found 100 rattling around under the top that fell through the screw holes yet the PO kept trying. Gotta give him a A for effort and diligence anyway.

The 1977 APII catalog gives a pretty good description of the LCs' body construction.

http://matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/c ... 2.jpg.html

http://matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/c ... 3.jpg.html

According to the above, the LC750 and LC70 Had a carved solid maple top laminated to a "mahogany" body Like a Gibson LP. The LC550 and LC500 featured "solidified hollow-less" construction--a solid "mahogany" body with an arched plywood top and some sort of solid wood filler between the two. I'm not sure you could hear a difference using the "tap test".

Of course the specs could have changed in subsequent years and "Lawsuit" headstock APIIs continued to be built for the Japanese market for some years after they disappeared elsewhere.