Hello,
The 1983 Aria Pro II Elite I has been restored! Considering the state the bass was in before (covered with an undercoat of red, and then black paint on top that, and also a sanded finish on top), I'm very happy with the result!
In case you want to know how it was done: 1) I used lacquer thinner to remove the red and black paint. 2) I wet-sanded the scratches using 1000 grit paper. 3) I had the body buffed by a guy in Seoul, Korea who makes custom guitars (
www.mdcustomshop.com ). Incidently, this guy also used to manufacture for Aria Pro II several years ago! He says he knows Shiro Arai, too...
I did most of the dirty work but without the suggestions and help of some local guys here (thanks Lance and Dave!) and of course Mr. Kim of MD guitars who buffed it, it wouldn't have come out this nice. Check out the link for more pics. Sorry if they seem a little dark. There are some before and during pics as well...
http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/ ... %20finish/
BTW, I almost forgot - the bass plays *great*! It's truly a bass worthy of all the work (and mess) and money to get it back to the condition it deserves! I was very disheartened when I discovered the deep scratches underneath the red and black paint. But thanks to wet sanding and buffing the bass' finish looks almost new (aside from the pre-existing chips dings!). You might also notice the non original knobs. It came with some other kind of non original knobs, so I swapped them for the kind Aria currently uses for the Re-Issues.
[img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/AriaProII/Aria%20SB%20Elite%20finish/100_4481.jpg[/img]