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Aria Pro II SB-1000 mk1 (batwing) Rebuild


Norris
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[b]History[/b]

The bass was built in April 1980 (serial number 004097). I bought it second hand from Humbucker Music in Leicester in mid-1985. It was then my only bass for around 10 years, in a busy Leicester-based covers trio band called The Chase. We played several nights a week, pretty much every week for many years. This bass has certainly seen some use - and in some way I'm preparing you for some pretty horrible 'before' shots to come. I was young, and foolish and the bass was not particularly looked after. It has been hit against cymbals, battered by drum sticks and literally thrown into the back of vans for many years.

In around about 1995 I bought myself a brand new Fender US Jazz Standard, and the Aria was put in the loft where it remained for several years, unloved, almost forgotten. <Cut to scenes of the passing seasons, the falling of leaves, new growth in spring, with stirring string accompaniment, forward to .., 2010 and my mate Andy asks me how the old Aria is, as he's always had a liking for what are now classic Japanese guitars. Curious, I fetched it out of the loft and was dismayed at the state of the poor old workhorse. The loft is obviously not completely damp-free and the years have taken their toll.

Those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now. The scenes you are about to see are not pretty, and I'm not proud of myself. If you decide to proceed and end up traumatised, please bear in mind there are happier pictures to come - this is a rebuild thread after all!

...

Edited by Norris
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[b]A Bass Barely Alive...[/b]

(We can rebuild it!)

OK, here are some 'before' shots. Remember - I did warn you!



The coffin opens...














OK, that's enough of that. As I said, I'm not proud of the state it was in.

Luckily Andy is a good mate, a rather good guitar technician/restorer & all round good bloke and he took it away to work his magic...

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[b]Strip Down & Re-Fret[/b]

We decided the lacquer was in too bad a state to try to save it and it didn't look particularly good in its 'reliced' state, so the lacquer had to come off, the dents steamed out and the wood sanded back down to a nice smooth surface.





Andy had taken some decent photos of the water slide transfers before stripping, so that he could get new ones made up


And then re-fretted it




That's enough for now. I'll post some more photos shortly

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[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1431202518' post='2768822']
That's 'cos the Internet doesn't smell :)
[/quote]

But I do have a slightly damp and rather wiffy golden retriever next to me :)



Did he sand the lacquer off?

Edited by bartelby
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The Chase? You didn't happen to have a bald headed front man and a huge Mercedes van, did you? I worked at an electronic music service centre (Central Sounds) in Hinkley back in the early nineties. I remember doing stuff for a Leicester band with a name that was short and started with Ch. For some reason I was thinking about them recently and I couldn't quite remember the name.

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The drummer Rob Peasant was pretty bald. The guitarist was Danny Willson. We played all round Leicestershire and beyond from 1985 to 1995

Edit: No Mercedes van. We had a white Transit for a long time and then a trailer

Edited by Norris
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[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1431203663' post='2768831']
The drummer Rob Peasant was pretty bald. The guitarist was Danny Willson. We played all round Leicestershire and beyond from 1985 to 1995

Edit: No Mercedes van. We had a white Transit for a long time and then a trailer
[/quote]
Ah, oh well. I have a feeling they had more members anyway, I seem to remember there being a keyboard player, too (we were actually a Roland service centre repairing mostly keyboards, but I do remember installing crossovers in a bunch of said band's pa cabs). the name of that band is going to have to go on bugging me!

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[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1431204478' post='2768839']

Ah, oh well. I have a feeling they had more members anyway, I seem to remember there being a keyboard player, too (we were actually a Roland service centre repairing mostly keyboards, but I do remember installing crossovers in a bunch of said band's pa cabs). the name of that band is going to have to go on bugging me!
[/quote]

We never had a keyboard player or indeed a PA as sophisticated as to need crossovers :)

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[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1431202759' post='2768825']
Did he sand the lacquer off?
[/quote]

I'm not sure - I'll ask him. I think a lot of it was scraped off, but there was obviously a lot of steaming out the dents and a lot of sanding too

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It's just a flesh wound!
I hope that the CA used in the fretwork cleans up well. That's a lot of squeezeout! Good work on the waterslides. Any chance of sharing the image file? I think Pete has the same text also, however I don't know how clean a version we have in the "Aria Pro II" community at large. Even though the first batwings weren't produced until 1977, a first release bass would make a great 40th birthday present for me....I'm sort of a '76 vintage so it's either that or a Thunderbird. I think an original T-Bird pup would cost more than a reasonable condition '77 batwing....!

Looking forward to seeing another one of the old girls getting back into her prime. She's certainly been around some rough lads it seems....haha

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[quote name='Prostheta' timestamp='1431284513' post='2769639']Good work on the waterslides. Any chance of sharing the image file? I think Pete has the same text also, however I don't know how clean a version we have in the "Aria Pro II" community at large. [/quote]

I've got a selection as vector artwork, a PDF copy of which got posted up on the Mats forum - I dare say it's still there somewhere. The range has expanded a bit since then, so if you need anything let me know.
FWIW I did the artwork for Jason's CB Tribute B'n'G & that turned out rather well.

Pete.

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[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1431323363' post='2769876']
Is this it:
[url="http://www.matsumoku.org/temp_pages/ap2_masterpiece_logos.pdf"]http://www.matsumoku...piece_logos.pdf[/url]
[/quote]

That's it. The pointy finger is the giveaway :D

The current range is:

The Aria Pro II (Batwing)
Aria Pro II (open book)

'Designed & Approved by H. Noble' paragraph
'Designed & Approved by Aria Research...LAB' paragraph

Aria Pro II The Advanced Electrics (don't think this was ever a headstock decal, but it'd scale up very nicely to a t-shirt)

RSB Special
RSB Deluxe-5

Cardinal Series

In the works is artwork for the ZZB-Deluxe, & I'll get around to the ZZB-Custom at some point.

P.

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I don't seem to be getting any notifications on this thread at the moment, so apologies if I've not replied to any queries.

I'll try to post pictures of the hardware clean up and the respray this evening (although attendees of the Midlands Bass Bash have already seen it on Saturday)

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I wish I'd taken photos with the old strings on. You can probably tell how bad they were from the state of the case lid. They were twice the normal gauge from all the rust.

What you probably can't see on the photos are the cracks that had to be glued. Mainly around the knobs, switch and socket, but also quite a nasty one on the top half of the body where it had started splitting along the grain of the wood.

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That's a difficult fix despite cracks normally being fairly easy. The wood (Chestnut? white Oak?) on the wings is coarse, and when that cracks it likes to stay that way....or give you nice gluelines!
Part of me wants to kick you in the shins for letting her get this way, however you seem to have figured out what the proper way to treat this lady is. :-)

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[quote name='Prostheta' timestamp='1431358999' post='2770442']
Part of me wants to kick you in the shins for letting her get this way, however you seem to have figured out what the proper way to treat this lady is. :-)
[/quote]

I don't blame you :)

The bass has a lot of sentimental value to me, which is why a lot of time, effort and a fair chunk of money has gone into the restoration.

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