Jorg wrote:
I've seen the (AP) logo before and thought it was a custom shop but Aria denies it. That's probably enough reason to believe it exists. . .
Just digging up this old quote (and I have seen other people saying Aria denied their custom shop existed in other places) as I have an "AP" logo bass (a 1992/93? SB-034T) on its way to me from Japan and have been doing some research around this.
Here's a page from an "AP Custom Shop" brochure showing my new bass at a price of 160000 JPY (I just bought mine for a quarter of that, but with some painful shipping and importation costs):
Attachment:
PRICES_apcustoms2.jpg [ 63.6 KiB | Viewed 1028 times ]
So the AP Custom Shop most certainly existed
I also found the following info in some Japanese adverts for other "AP" guitars:
Quote:
https://auctions.kaiguys.com/auction/j478187166 ARIA custom shop ベース
SB-024 当時18万円前後と記憶しています。 名器と名高いSB-1000は1991年10万円前後、1996年12万円前後と記憶しています。
ARIA custom shop base
SB-024 I remember it was around 180,000 yen at that time. I remember that the famous SB-1000 was around 100,000 yen in 1991 and around 120,000 yen in 1996.
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Quote:
http://garakutaguitar.com/APcustomshopMA.htmlAP ARIA CUSTOM SHOP MA 1991
1990年頃始まったと思われるAP“PRO MUSICIAN LINE”はセミオーダーシステムとも言うべきもので、ボディ・シェイプは既存のモデルの中から選択し、材やパーツ類は厳選された高級なものを選択できた。 ハンドメイド・ギターと比べてリーズナブルなことが売りだったようだ。(それでも10万、20万~)ヘッドに大きく入れられたAPロゴがその証。
The AP "PRO MUSICIAN LINE", which seems to have started around 1990, should be called a semi-order system, the body shape was selected from the existing models, and the materials and parts were carefully selected and high-class. .. It seems that it was reasonably priced compared to handmade guitars. (Still 100,000, 200,000 ~) The AP logo on the head is the proof.
I'll post some pictures of my new bass and a 1992 Aria Pro Musician Line catalogue later in the week.