They were hand made on the bench one at a time and their numbers were extremely limited. Having the “The” attached to the front end of the logo is the easiest way to recognise the masterbuilt series “TheAriaPro II” (not to be confused with “AriaPro II”) these were the masterbuilt series of hand made guitars from the Matsumoku plantġ978-1981 This one is a Prototype PE1000U Images courtesy of (1971) eBay, & Sulger & my son (Pro II Cardinal head)Ģ4 frets, ebony fingerboard, brass nut, Maple neck through with Walnut stripes and Ash wings.ĭimarzio Tonezone pick ups. Guitar catalogs Pro II catalogs 1977 – 1985 1983 /en_index.htmlĪcoustic catalogs 70, 76 and more including Elecord Wayback Machine Guyatone manufactured the first electrics but from 1964 Matsumoku was used. They then found that the Aria brand was being used by Kawai, so went back to Arai. In 1958 Aria imported Fenders to Japan and in 1963 they offered their own electric guitars with the Aria brand. The manufacturing of Aria guitars were subcontracted out to Matsumoku from 1964 to 1986.
The first Japanese made guitars with brand name Arai (not Ar ia) appeared in 1958. At least for Aria guitars, made by Matsumoku, the serial number contains the year of manufacture in the first 2 digits, thus a guitar from 1979 would have a serial number, such as 79. He founded Arai & Co on 2 August 1956 in Nagoya, Japan. In 1954 guitar teacher Shiro Arai began importing guitars, sheet music etc from Europe to Japan.
