The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

At a gig the other night I spotted one of the most beautiful looking Arias I have seen. It was a bolt on Les Paul Standard body shape/bridge/pickguard but with more of a PE type headstock with the uppercase logo like that in attached pic. It seemed to have a super thick violin finish flamed maple cap on it....almost looks custom shop but on a bolt on?? Weird. No serial numbers anywhere on the headstock/neck plate.

Any thoughts on model/year would be appreciated. I am probably "barking up the wrong tree" but wondering if maybe it was some sort of prototype around the time of the move to Aria Pro ii

The logo is post Matsumoku. I have an Aria flame top set neck much like what you are describing. It's a great guitar for sure. To date still no model but I know it is not a prototype (meaning one off) but it is a PE.

Prototype is a word that people use when they can't identify a model. "I can't find any info on it. Prototype?" Custom shop is extremely unlikely.

You "flame" maple will usually be a thin laminate on those models.

Currently Aria has a PE line up from a couple of hundred USD to a couple of thousand USD, with about every price point in between. You get what you pay for, so quality is decent to high as well.