Aria Pro II SB "?"

[noelk27]

Having trouble identifying a particular SB series model. Purchased by me in '88, used, the bass has an '85 serial number. Based on the weight I'm guessing that the wings are a North American ash, finished in black, with the traditional maple and rosewood five-piece centre block. Now, here's where I start to get confused: the bass is not thru-neck, but has a socketed and glued neck, with a deeper profile than than usual for an SB, and which is comprised of three sections of maple, with a dark (possibly Jacaranda) touchboard (dot, not eye/block, markers), a 40mm nut, tapering to 18mm bridge spacing. Bridge is chromed, tuning pegs are chromed, nut is brass, control pots knurled (finished gold), and pickup appears to be an MB-II. My best guess is a late issue SB 600, as it's not an SB R-60 or SB Elite-I.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Edited December 1, 2009 by noelk27

[Bloodaxe]

I was thinking SB 600 as I was reading this - purely on the basis of the set neck... but as we Matsumoku fans know all too well the phrase "specifications may change without notice" is a blood oath, not a vague warning.

Pics? It doesn't actually exist unless it's been photographed y'know.

I'd love to know why the 600s got made. The idea of a set neck version of the SB 700 (which was essentially a passive SB 1000 without the 6-way tone selector) seems to be completely pointless. The only thing I can think of is tat a batch of "carcasses" went very wrong in the neck department & some bright spark suggested cutting the dud neck off & glueing a new one on to save binning the lot. If that was the case it must have been a big batch, as the 600 straddles the headstock change from Batwing to Bookend.

Love to try one just to see how it stacks up against my SB 900!

Pete.

[FlatEric]

[quote name='noelk27' post='670683' date='Dec 1 2009, 01:32 AM']Having trouble identifying a particular SB series model. Purchased by me in '88, used, the bass has an '85 serial number. Based on the weight I'm guessing that the wings are a North American ash, finished in black, with the traditional maple and rosewood five-piece centre block. Now, here's where I start to get confused: the bass is not thru-neck, but has a socketed and glued neck, with a deeper profile than than usual for an SB, and which is comprised of three sections of maple, with a dark (possibly Jacaranda) touchboard (dot, not eye/block, markers), a 40mm nut, tapering to 18mm bridge spacing. Bridge is chromed, tuning pegs are chromed, nut is brass, control pots knurled (finished gold), and pickup appears to be an MB-II. My best guess is a late issue SB 600, as it's not an SB R-60 or SB Elite-I.

Anyone have any thoughts?[/quote]

I think it must be a 600.
The description of the "chunky" neck joint matches mine.
Don't remember them having gold knobs - maybe a later addition.
Mine sounds great but it takes me about half an hour to get used
to the string spacing.

[url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/catalogs/1981ts/81ts_a_pg3.jpg.html"]SB600 Link.[/url]
Can get you a pic of the neck joint, if you want to check it out.

Cheers.
Flat Eric.

[noelk27]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='670701' date='Dec 1 2009, 05:13 AM']I was thinking SB 600 as I was reading this - purely on the basis of the set neck...

Pics? It doesn't actually exist unless it's been photographed y'know.[/quote]

[quote name='FlatEric' post='670729' date='Dec 1 2009, 08:34 AM']I think it must be a 600.[/quote]

Same here, but the SB 600 dropped out of the Aria Pro catalogue in '83/'84, so that makes this '85 something of a rogue.

The neck, although with a resemblance to the design used on the RSB series (although the SB is 2 + 2) definitely has a chunkier feel, so even that puzzles me slightly.

I’ll get a photo posted when one gets taken!

[4 Strings]

A pic would help. From memory the bridge on a 600 was brass (coloured).

I had a 600 in the early '80s. Loved it, played well, looked amazing and cheaper than those with higher model numbers (enough for me to afford it).