Decided to go through some of my shots, delete the worst and
sort out the best. I still struggle with the photography.
Anyway, sat in front of a warm fire, I thought I might as well
carry on, so two entries in 2 days!
As you are probably now realising, I have a thing for well made
Japanese basses and guitars.
This was my first SB. I suppose I should have done it first but
some of the pics were not too good, so were binned.
These, I think, are much better and because it is such a cracker
this one also gets multiple shots.
Aria SB600, fixed neck.
This one came with it's original shaped case and I was quite excited
when I collected it, my first "SB". I had other Arias, in various
guises but not a single pick-up, natural grained SB.
The wood on this one has a lovely grain, front and back and the
set neck is very well put together.
There was also a bolt on version of the 600.
I was really pleased with it and after a dust off and clean up,
slapped some new strings on it and we were away.
Sounded really great and I fancied myself as a real 80's bass
player, until after a while, my thumb on my right hand started to
hurt quite a bit, after several days of some fairly inaccurate slapping.
I have got slightly better at it since then but I will never be Mark
King or any of the other great players that make that style of playing
look so easy! How do they do that? My thumb didn't fully recover
for several days!!!
I originally put Rotosound strings on it but after some time, I
changed them for Stadium Elites, after having a go on a friends
Jazz - they were quite bright and I thought they would really
suit the bass. It worked, much brighter and snappier, well
suited to the bass and because of that I fitted a lot of basses with
Elites, for some time after that.
Now, there are quite a few Aria's to go, both guitars and basses
but I have to admit. . . . . . . the single pick-up SB's are so difficult
to tell apart! The SB1000, is different but the SB R-60 and Elite 1,
with the same strings on. . . . . . . . very hard to tell.
Aria made so many models that were very close in spec, it is sometimes
difficult to work out the differences.
I think I may have put this link in before, it is Graeme Fyfe's excellent
site, all about Aria SB's. Top man, very interesting.
http://www.prog.rockers.co.uk/aria.htm
I will come back with more Aria, another time - next up will be my
Guild B301 Fretless, a Black Beauty with old school black tape strings.
Very double bass, very Jazz. Mmmm, nice!
Still snowing a bit, off to stoke the fire up!
Cheers. :)
4 comments:
SB-600 was my first Aria. Bought it in 1984 at Southern Music in Brighton, UK. My collection now holds 79 Arias, mostly SB 600, 700, and 1000s but some various others, too. To me, these are like fine works of art.
Hi. Just seen this. 79 Aria. . . . That has got to be some kind of record!! Drop me a line on my email, you'll find it listed on the blog and tell me more - very interested!! :)
79 Arias!?! Wow! Any black n golds you be willing to part with? I’m really wanting one for my collection, just not having any luck...
Hi. No Black n Gold, I'm afraid. LOADS of other Aria but never seem to get around to having one of those. Good luck in your search. Cheers. :)
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