The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Can't seem to find any info on this. Got it for $225 plus the trip and tax. Aria, not Aria Pro II but obviously a PE of some kind.

A PO had installed Epi ProBuckers in it along with the rest of the Epi snap-fit components. The push-pulls were stiff as all get out, the pickups were lackluster, the 3-way had a partial short to ground for the most part killing the neck pickup. One tone pot was noisy as heck the other had a dead spot that would send most of the signal to ground. The input jack was way too big for the bore so I couldn't even plug a cable into it. The relief was so bad I could have won an archery competition with it. It was essentially unplayable. To boot there were a hundred winds around several tuner posts binding on the nuts. But, I knew going into it all that Epi stuff was coming out. Epi started going downhill around 2005. The only Epi I own is a Del Rey with stock OBL pickups made in 95 just like the one I foolishly sold and it is a gem. Puts their replacement DC Pro to absolute shame.

New pots, new 3-way, new jack, tone mod, new mushroom strap buttons, new screws to replace rusty ones and a set of Duncan Designed HB103s (Duncan Mayhem clones). The neck has settled into correct relief and the action low all along the neck. The flame isn't over the top but it does add to its charm. It is definitely a keeper!

Any of you know anything about this model? No serial.

It should be around 15-20 years old, I might have a catalog with this one in it.

In general this is a variation on what Aria sold as PE STD... "Aria" or "Aria Pro II" on the headstock is just a difference for different markets... same goes for the inlays.

I have a recent PE-350-STD and for a budget guitar it isn't bad. It is a bolt neck though.

This one seems to be fairly well made. The neck is still settling down. It had rail road rails on it and six feet of relief . Well worth the $225 plus trip (even though I had to gut it). The original neck pickup is obviously post matt but it does have 45 stamped on the back and is set up for coil cut (two conductors plus ground) with a yellow lead. It pegs at 11K.

The flame veneer is subtle on this one. Never a pick guard either.

Thanks Wutz!

There's an Aria catalog from the year 2000 for sale on Reverb right now... take a look at the photo of the page with the PEs... you will see a lot of similarities with the PE-STD... even so your top is shown on the photo with the PE-DLX:

https://reverb.com/item/19883709-aria-g ... -from-2000

I've also found similar models, one Aria the rest all Aria Pro II. None with a flame veneer top AND set neck AND dot inlays.

I'm still waiting for the neck to settle down. It is starting to but I suspect it was strung with those railroad rails with too much relief for a very long time. The action is good but I think it could be better.