The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi folks........newbie in here and thought I might introduce myself. I am not a "collector" as such but feel like I have come full circle with Aria. My very first electric back in 1988 was an Aria Pro II "The Cat" - I never really knew the background of that guitar and the brand itself but studying some of the threads on here was very educational . You see these advertised a bit as MIJ but it didn't take too much to realise I had a pretty average guitar , probably Korean made.


Just today - 35 years later - I bought a PE-R80 .........again with some thanks to this board for adding to the very limited info around on these guitars and giving me the confidence to go out there and buy , knowing I had picked up something of a bargain. Not in the sense that I expect to profit from it but more like "if you know you know" Pretty much all my older LP style/singlecut guitars are MIJ - an Ibanez Deluxe 59er , an Epiphone LQ (Fujigen -like an R8) and my new Aria...............all purchased for less (in total) than a Gibson Les Paul Studio. Totally bonkers

I view the PE-R80 as a lovechild of a Les Paul Custom and a PRS . It's interesting to see many of the characteristic PRS design cues in the Aria years before PRS even existed. I think this is the bargain of all bargains if you can find one for a reasonable price and I am honoured to be an owner. It is in about as good a condition as I could've hoped. A few dings , an odd plastic strap button on the butt of the guitar and one tiny little cap/nut missing from the saddle adjustment on the high E string. No way I could get that part I assume but it seems to have no real issues created by that. Other than that she's

A couple of pics below

My third guitar after two Cardinal CS-350s back in the 80s is an 83 PE-R80. I've practically played the frets flat. IIRC I gave $450 for it new. I have a soft spot for the PEs. Way ahead of their time with the heel-less cutaways, Super Tunable bridge, Quick Hook tail piece (on some) and carved backs (on most). I see them listed often for over a grand these days.

IMHO Shiro Arai Co. pee'd in Gibson's Wheaties when they created the PE series. Made the Les Paul look like a box truck with a bad suspension.

I currently have two R80s, and R60, 450 and PE-STD (Indonesian).

Yours looks like it is in really good shape.

Hi Crusty - I agree with your thoughts and sounds like you have a great collection there. Mine is a 1982.

I am in Australia and there does seem to be a bit of a swell in interest (still very underground) towards the old MIJ singlecuts. I think some of the lower end Greco/Edwards etc....go for too much in many cases - more than I paid for my PE-R80- but this is in a whole other league and (thankfully I guess) not too many people seem to appreciate it. I bought from an actual guitar store and , after currency conversion , paid around US$850 in its original case. So maybe not a huge bargain in terms of the current market but in terms of what I think they are really worth (many,many times that) I am super happy.

Considering what they are going for here in the US $850 isn't bad at all. I gave $545 all totaled for an R60 with OHSC in mint condition so the price is about right. Buying it from a shop saved shipping too.

We have a couple of members from down under here. I sold two AP2 guitars to one of them.

It's funny how Japanese guitars had the stigma of being cheaply made in the late 70s and 80s but nowadays people see it differently. Partially this site's fault.

Yeah I think in particular Fujigen made guitars (mostly Ibanez Prestige) have really established MIJ as something to be desired recently (out here anyway) and that filters through .

When it comes time to service is there anything in particular I need to know about this SPT bridge . I cannot find any info on it - I am assuming it's just like an ABR but with more travel for intonation adjustment.

It's basically an adjustable bridge with like you said, longer travel. You can put just about any gauge strings on it and still get the intonation dead on. I hate ABR1 bridges. You have a gauge choice of 10, 10 or 10. The extra mass of the bridge improves sustain a little as well.

Wow, that is very nice! I too have a soft spot for PE's, especially the R60 and R80.
I've owned both but currently only have the R60.
I remember back in the 80's, Neal Schon of Journey endorsed Aria Pro guitars for a while. When he went back to Gibson, his new signature model had a similar neck joint.
I still see new guitars raving about their "new" smooth neck joint.
I like how you said, "if you know, you know".

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Thanks Jorg.

To be honest I wouldn't mind giving her a sister and getting a Westone Prestige 250 but my research says "stay away" because the shoddy pot metal bridge will break and end result = unusable guitar. If by some miracle someone reading this would like to comment and dispute that based on experience then please do

Gibson really puffed up their chests when they came out with the Axcess models. What a joke! And for $5000 a pop they can polish my knob. Shiro Arai and Hayashi Nobuaki had been doing the heel-less cutaway since the late 70s. To boot there was also coil cut and phase switching back then. Something Greedson still has a hard time wrapping their head around. I'd sooner urinate on a Greedson than play it.

I love my PEs. So much so if someone were to try to take them from me there'd be blood and bodies on the floor.

The site's header image is of my first PE-R60 and my avatar image is of my first PE-R80 if that tells you anything.

It wasn't the bridge on the 250, it was the tailpiece. Sadly some did eventually tweak and break. The post spacing was unique so replacing it was quite the chore and nearly impossible to hide. Here's the one I had. Wish I never sold it.

http://www.therathole.org/guitar/here/8 ... rinfo.html

And my PE-R80s.

http://www.therathole.org/guitar/here/8 ... rinfo.html

http://www.therathole.org/guitar/here/8 ... rinfo.html