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hhub17 « Solid, sounds good, easy to handle »
Published on 01/26/11 at 06:43Japanese-made, hollowbody without the neck-through body that was characteristic of all Aria Pro II guitars. Bolt-on neck, no vibrato. It's hard to consider one without messing everything up, IMHO.
Two humbuckers, volume and tone knobs. 3-way toggle switch: 1, 2 and 1+2
22-fret neck, some frets aren't flush and mus be filed on the bottom part of the neck. Sometimes the high E string gets stuck after a bend downwards. Some other times they grates my fingers. I should've done it already but I can't be bothered to do it and I have other guitars that also sound fine.
Mine is brown, with a more natural color, even if I'm not really sure that it's the real color of the wood itself.
UTILIZATION
The form of the neck is very pleasant, except for the tiny finish details, but don't forget it's an entry-level guitar.
The weight is balanced, no problems in this regard. On the other hand, you have to fix the strap to the headstock or you'll have to mount a strap lock yourself.
Easy access to the upper frets, up to the 19th fret, thanks to the neck and the thin hollowbody design, too.
After the guitar got wet in my cellar, the neck isn't perfectly straight anymore, even after three attempts to fix it at the guitar shop. So I tune it for it to be right up to the 5th fret, a compromise that makes everything unpredictable. But anyway, blues isn't Beethoven.
SOUNDS
I must admit that I thought it would die after the flood in my cellar. I cleaned it up well, applied a bit of silicone lub and the pots recovered their health, the electronics survived, and the sound is the same as before.
Namely: Blues, blues and blues. Fat, crunch, sweet with the neck pickup and powerful, sharper and more aggressive with the other.
No annoying sounds, you can get harmonics if you look for them and you have new strings. It sounds well with open strings, too. It has a good sustain despite the bolt-on neck.
Amp: It sounds better with the Fender Rumble 100, which has more lows and no overdrive, than with the VOX AD30VT modeling amp. It's great for jazz, as well.
OVERALL OPINION
I've had it for a long time and I take it up from time to time when I get bored of my other guitars.
I didn't try many others before buying it, it flirted with me in the store.
It's robust (do you know many electric guitars that can be 10 days underwater and can still be played afterwards?), with a nice sound, it's easy to play and to get nice sounds out of it (anything you play sounds good).
The only flaw: The finish and the frets that had to be filed.
Another drawback is that I want to change the pickups, but a good pickup would cost me today more than the guitar itself!!
Two humbuckers, volume and tone knobs. 3-way toggle switch: 1, 2 and 1+2
22-fret neck, some frets aren't flush and mus be filed on the bottom part of the neck. Sometimes the high E string gets stuck after a bend downwards. Some other times they grates my fingers. I should've done it already but I can't be bothered to do it and I have other guitars that also sound fine.
Mine is brown, with a more natural color, even if I'm not really sure that it's the real color of the wood itself.
UTILIZATION
The form of the neck is very pleasant, except for the tiny finish details, but don't forget it's an entry-level guitar.
The weight is balanced, no problems in this regard. On the other hand, you have to fix the strap to the headstock or you'll have to mount a strap lock yourself.
Easy access to the upper frets, up to the 19th fret, thanks to the neck and the thin hollowbody design, too.
After the guitar got wet in my cellar, the neck isn't perfectly straight anymore, even after three attempts to fix it at the guitar shop. So I tune it for it to be right up to the 5th fret, a compromise that makes everything unpredictable. But anyway, blues isn't Beethoven.
SOUNDS
I must admit that I thought it would die after the flood in my cellar. I cleaned it up well, applied a bit of silicone lub and the pots recovered their health, the electronics survived, and the sound is the same as before.
Namely: Blues, blues and blues. Fat, crunch, sweet with the neck pickup and powerful, sharper and more aggressive with the other.
No annoying sounds, you can get harmonics if you look for them and you have new strings. It sounds well with open strings, too. It has a good sustain despite the bolt-on neck.
Amp: It sounds better with the Fender Rumble 100, which has more lows and no overdrive, than with the VOX AD30VT modeling amp. It's great for jazz, as well.
OVERALL OPINION
I've had it for a long time and I take it up from time to time when I get bored of my other guitars.
I didn't try many others before buying it, it flirted with me in the store.
It's robust (do you know many electric guitars that can be 10 days underwater and can still be played afterwards?), with a nice sound, it's easy to play and to get nice sounds out of it (anything you play sounds good).
The only flaw: The finish and the frets that had to be filed.
Another drawback is that I want to change the pickups, but a good pickup would cost me today more than the guitar itself!!
