Can anyone identify this bass?

[derrenleepoole]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160582097685&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1104"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...T#ht_500wt_1104[/url]

Liking the look of this, could be a nice little bass if done up. Anyone recognise the model or confirm it's an early Aria?

[yorick]

Looks like seventies/eighties Aria pickups with a generic 70's far east cheapo neck. The body looks sort of home made with the "matching" control cover.

[yorick]

Looks like seventies/eighties Aria pickups with a generic 70's far east cheapo neck. The body looks sort of home made with the "matching" control cover.

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='yorick' post='1218689' date='May 3 2011, 03:25 PM']Looks like seventies/eighties Aria pickups with a generic 70's far east cheapo neck. The body looks sort of home made with the "matching" control cover.[/quote]

You could be right. The neck pickup looks slightly skew and the poles don't site right under the strings.

[TomRichards]

Those are definitely Aria pickups from the 1980s. The top one is an MBI, I believe the bottom is the MBII. You would never find them both on the same series of Aria instruments.

This is a pseudo homade bass. The neck seems to be a cheap copy from a very "vintage" instrument, and the body is definitely homemade.

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='TomRichards' post='1218699' date='May 3 2011, 03:30 PM']Those are definitely Aria pickups from the 1980s. The top one is an MBI, I believe the bottom is the MBII. You would never find them both on the same series of Aria instruments.

This is a pseudo homade bass. The neck seems to be a cheap copy from a very "vintage" instrument, and the body is definitely homemade.[/quote]

Cheers Tom, good to know.

[Bassassin]

Total bitsa, and quite a curious one at that. As has been pointed out, the pups are (unmatched) 80s Aria units but oddly enough, the neck's off one of these:

[url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html[/url]

Having seen 'round the back of one, they sometimes have a 6-screw plate like this bass too. These basses appeared with many different brand names so it ain't necessarily an Aria neck but it's fair to say there's a connection. They're roughly early/mid 70s.

No idea what the bridge is from, it's a tad too wide for the string spacing the neck needs IMO, and isn't aligned spot-on. The body looks quite nicely made - perhaps a bit too nice for a garden shed job - and I'd say it's been part of a different bass, looks like there are holes for another bridge visible just in front of the existing one.

Could be a nice little bass if the neck's a good one - even more so if it doesn't get many bids.

Jon.

[noelk27]

The black pickup could be 70s, 80s, or 90s, and is either an MB-I or MB-II variant. The cream pickup could be 70s, or 80s, and is either an MB-III or MB-IV variant. No way to tell until you take them out of the carcass.