I made it a week…

[Wound_Up]

Nice score. Can’t go wrong with most uncle Matt guitars (Matsumoku)
You know I’m a fan of the vintage Japanese stuff….

Is that a vintage Japanese guitar? How can you tell? They all have a different headstock. Whether different shape or different logo, etc...

That one has a headstock like what they currently sell. So I'd assume it's new or at least newER. Not vintage, anyway. And likely not Japanese.

Here's a selection of vintage Pro II PE series headstocks and a few others. There's nothing vintage with 'PE Series' on it that I've found. Only modern, recently built Arias, like what they currently sell, have a 'PE Series' headstock that I've found.

 

[3bolt79]

Is that a vintage Japanese guitar? How can you tell? They all have a different headstock. Whether different shape or different logo, etc...

That one has a headstock like what they currently sell. So I'd assume it's new or at least newER. Not vintage, anyway. And likely not Japanese.

Here's a selection of vintage Pro II PE series headstocks and a few others. There's nothing vintage with 'PE Series' on it that I've found. Only modern, recently built Arias, like what they currently sell, have a 'PE Series' headstock that I've found.

View attachment 617269 View attachment 617270 View attachment 617271 View attachment 617272 View attachment 617273 View attachment 617274 View attachment 617275 View attachment 617276 View attachment 617277 View attachment 617278

While it is MIC and not MIJ, I may have to do a little extra on the set up. I figured that this was priced below a Squier, I would take a chance on it.

 

[Lucius Molchany]

Neat!at first I thought it resembles a Heritage guitar!

 

[Boognish]

Nice looking guitar! Neck looks wide AF!

 

[CirroStratus]

I sure hope so ha ha!

I was looking at a blue burst Aria Pro II MAC-STD for $349.00. But the PE was offered well below that. It is a nicer guitar in a lot of more features.. we need to make a thread doing Reviews on guitars in the $299 to $500.00 price range. I will have almost enough guitars to do reviews of a few different guitars.

That’s a thread that I would subscribe to

 

[nigelr]

I missed out on aria pro ii back in the 80s when I started playing and wish I hadn't. It seems they have a good reputation, nice that they are making them again. That one looks rather nice

 

[Bane]

HNGD! Very cool, a piece of history

 

[dbb541]

Is that a vintage Japanese guitar? How can you tell? They all have a different headstock. Whether different shape or different logo, etc...

That one has a headstock like what they currently sell. So I'd assume it's new or at least newER. Not vintage, anyway. And likely not Japanese.

Here's a selection of vintage Pro II PE series headstocks and a few others. There's nothing vintage with 'PE Series' on it that I've found. Only modern, recently built Arias, like what they currently sell, have a 'PE Series' headstock that I've found.

View attachment 617269 View attachment 617270 View attachment 617271 View attachment 617272 View attachment 617273 View attachment 617274 View attachment 617275 View attachment 617276 View attachment 617277 View attachment 617278

My bad, I didn’t know they still made them.

 

[ETucc]

As I'm sure you will let us know how she sounds and plays, I will just say, personally,
I like the look. Since I have gotten into Jackson, I have a bit of preference for a bound neck. The Full Binding there looks really nice

HNGD!!

I really want a bound neck Strat like Eric Johnson’s model…

 

[Stone]

HNGD Scott again lol

 

[3bolt79]

You gonna open a shop ain't ya...
Put MacKenzee outta biz!
You go girl...
Or some'n

Yeah McKenzie has really gone down hill lately. The owner has a lot of used guitars, but he has them over-priced a lot of the time. And, there’s not really any new guitars he can get due to having to buy a certain size of order, Mom and Pop shops are going under.

He still sells Suhr, Anderson, and Collings though.

 

[StratoMutt]

 

[LedZepconcertvet]

That's pretty.

 

[tery]

A week !

 

[Bowmap]

A week !

Yeah. Surprised me too. What took him so long.

 

[dbb541]

Yeah McKenzie has really gone down hill lately. The owner has a lot of used guitars, but he has them over-priced a lot of the time. And, there’s not really any new guitars he can get due to having to buy a certain size of order, Mom and Pop shops are going under.

He still sells Suhr, Anderson, and Collings though.

It's probably been 10 years since I been in there. I used to go in all the time when Bob was alive. It sort of changed for me after that. I need to stop in there some time soon.
I Bought a Les Paul studio around 1994, A 1970 Tele around 2002, a Stephen Davies built strat around 2004, an Ibanez Custom Agent Les Paul around 2010 from that shop.

 

[3bolt79]

It's probably been 10 years since I been in there. I used to go in all the time when Bob was alive. It sort of changed for me after that. I need to stop in there some time soon.
I Bought a Les Paul studio around 1994, A 1970 Tele around 2002, a Stephen Davies built strat around 2004, an Ibanez Custom Agent Les Paul around 2010 from that shop.

Yeah, we sure do miss Bob.

 

[3bolt79]

I was pleasantly surprised that the only thing this guitar needed was fixing some pokey frets. The guitar was set up when I got it.

Nut slots were just right. Action and intonation were spot on. The pick up heights were set right for volume parity. Pretty good deal for $314.00.

I like it better than my Gibson LP. It’s much lighter an fits my body better.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Is that a vintage Japanese guitar? How can you tell? They all have a different headstock. Whether different shape or different logo, etc...

That one has a headstock like what they currently sell. So I'd assume it's new or at least newER. Not vintage, anyway. And likely not Japanese.

Here's a selection of vintage Pro II PE series headstocks and a few others. There's nothing vintage with 'PE Series' on it that I've found. Only modern, recently built Arias, like what they currently sell, have a 'PE Series' headstock that I've found.

View attachment 617269 View attachment 617270 View attachment 617271 View attachment 617272 View attachment 617273 View attachment 617274 View attachment 617275 View attachment 617276 View attachment 617277 View attachment 617278

It is a vintage Japanese made guitar. All Aria’s made in the late 70’s were from Japan.

 

[touch of gray]

I know that is kinda Les Paulish, but I like to have have an extra one to play at a gig in case my primary guitar had a problem.
This one isn’’t a Gibson, but is very close, style wise. I have this on the way, and a 2022 Les Paul Tribute (Gibson), and an Ibanez Artist. So there it is, for better or worse.

I have said this before, the Les Paul is the Yin to the Yang of the Strat. You have to have light and shade.