Bloodaxe Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Does anyone else on BC have one of these? Mine's from 1984 & I'd like to get a comparison shot of the bridge for possible repro purposes. At the moment this is the closest shot I have: It mainly differs from the standard SB bridge in that the saddle slots & ball retainers are open ended - were they all like this? Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 [quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1239837' date='May 21 2011, 11:59 PM']Does anyone else on BC have one of these? Mine's from 1984 & I'd like to get a comparison shot of the bridge for possible repro purposes. At the moment this is the closest shot I have: It mainly differs from the standard SB bridge in that the saddle slots & ball retainers are open ended - were they all like this? Pete[/quote] There's one in a Guitar Shop I know, I'll take a photo on Weds if you wish. Have you tried the various Aria websites? BTW he has another in for repair as well, a neck through but Ii think both have the same bridge -as we remarked upon it at the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 [quote name='yorks5stringer' post='1240238' date='May 22 2011, 12:29 PM']There's one in a Guitar Shop I know, I'll take a photo on Weds if you wish. Have you tried the various Aria websites? BTW he has another in for repair as well, a neck through but Ii think both have the same bridge -as we remarked upon it at the time![/quote] Yes please to the photo. I've cross-posted on both the Matsumoku forum and Talkbass so the obvious bases are covered. Ta, Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbob Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 That bridge seems quite a lump ! Only have the 4 string version I'm afraid , as you say mine doesn't have the open ended ball retainers , plus your bridge must be bigger in length than mine , as mine sits pretty much at the ass end of the bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 [quote name='plumbob' post='1241393' date='May 23 2011, 12:01 PM']That bridge seems quite a lump ! Only have the 4 string version I'm afraid , as you say mine doesn't have the open ended ball retainers , plus your bridge must be bigger in length than mine , as mine sits pretty much at the ass end of the bass.[/quote] A touch over 400g (14.2 oz) of brass all up & the baseplate's 10mm thick A bit of detectoring suggests it's a very early example... 1984 S/No but doesn't appear until the 1985 catalogue, & the 1986 cat shows a version with enclosed keyhole slots. Subsequent issues have a P/J pickup config & a different fixing screw arrangement. I was considering either selling it on or de-fretting it, but if it is a 'rare' example (& virtually stock), it might be a keeper. Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbob Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Heres mine I think its about 1986 , the bridge pickup started squealing many years ago , so I opened it out and put a Seymour Duncan musicman and 3 band eq in it, kept the neck pick up for cosmetic purposes , have often thought about making a fretless out of it , one day I may have a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 [quote name='Bloodaxe' date='May 22 2011, 08:54 PM' post='1240803'] Yes please to the photo. I've cross-posted on both the Matsumoku forum and Talkbass so the obvious bases are covered. Ta, Pete. [/quote Methinks should have looked more carefully, it's a 5 stringer and the ones I've seen are both 4's! Doh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelk27 Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 [quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1239837' date='May 21 2011, 10:59 PM']It mainly differs from the standard SB bridge in that the saddle slots & ball retainers are open ended - were they all like this?[/quote] That's the bridge design pictured in the Japanese APII Winter 84/85 cataloge, and in the Japanese and European APII Full Range/Summer catalogues. String it with a high C, and your bass would be just as it left the factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weepaul Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Wow,that looks great. I didn't know Aria made 5's back then. Hows it play and sound ? Hows the B sound ? How much can you pick these up for ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodaxe Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 [quote name='weepaul' post='1243113' date='May 24 2011, 04:28 PM']Wow,that looks great. I didn't know Aria made 5's back then. Hows it play and sound ? Hows the B sound ? How much can you pick these up for ?[/quote] It will be a nice player once I've got it set up properly with a decent set of strings (it's got an abysmal set of el-cheapo ultracrap Ebay specials on it at the moment), but the string spacing is quite tight so it takes a bit of getting used to. Neck profile is chunky without being 'clubby'. It's last decent set of strings were some Warwick yellows about 3-4 years ago, so with my tea-bag memory I can't honestly give much of a view of the sound, other than to say it's an Aria with the big 4-wire humbuckers & two of those wide open in series make a lovely racket Don't recall any low B issues other than having to take a bridge spring off to get the intonation sorted. As to current market value, again I can't say. They don't fetch up too often. I got lucky, it surfaced not long after a massive glut of Aria MAB (Magna) series 5'ers cleared on ebay in either 2005 or 2006, so I reckon it was 'last turkey in the shop' syndrome... except it ain't a turkey, turkeys don't have teeth If you stumble across the much more abundant Magna, give it a spin, you may be surprised. They don't usually fetch much more than £150 & they're good value. I sold mine after the RSB turfed up as I couldn't get on with the slab body, sounded great though. Otherwise keep a watch on Ebay & Gumtree. That's probably not a lot of help on reflection, is it? Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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