MADE IN JAPAN 1974 - ARIA G400 - SIMPLY TERRIFIC - GALLAGHER STYLE - ACOUSTIC GUITAR

ARIA G400 1974

This guitar was handmade sometime in mid1970s by (undisclosed by Aria) Japanese workshop. Because it has solid top, it must have been made no later than 1975.

It could have been made by Ryoji Matsuoka or Yamaki co. Similar patchy finish cloudiness is very common on Yamaki guitars, while rather uncommon among other Japanese brands of that era.  

Ryoji Matsuoka was a primary maker of acoustic Arias since the early 1970s. Aria dedicated separate catalogs to models made by Ryoji Matsuoka. Model G400 is not included there.

While most of Aria acoustic guitars were made based on Martin, Gibson or Guild blueprints, this guitar was made in style of Gallagher guitars. I won’t however call it “copy”. The word “copy” suggests a product of somewhat lower quality than the “original”. This guitar can easily beat many brand-new high priced "Made in USA" guitars.  

This guitar was priced 40 000 yen in 1974. As of today, Japanese factory made solid top guitars of similar construction and looks are priced at $2500 level. However, in terms of volume and tonality they stand no chance against a 50 year old vintage guitar. Only guitars made with 50 years old woods could do that (after being frequently played for at least a couple of years). This will be rather difficult to order such a guitar, because woods seasoned for so long are very hard to find. Guitars made in Japan with (only) 20 years old tops are priced at $4500 level. A similar class solid top guitar made by a well-established individual American luthier, can easily cost you 50% more. If you'd like to add solid back and sides made with 20 years old Indian Rosewood the price may very well double. If, however, you wanted to go "all the way" and have old growth Brazilian Rosewood b/s you need to be prepared for the price at $25000 level. 

NONE OF THESE GUITARS WILL SOUND MUCH BETTER (IF BETTER AT ALL) THAN THE ONE YOU ARE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW!    

This guitar sounds "immensely better" than (made for export) C.F. Mountain W500D 1977:

https://reverb.com/item/85422725-made-in-japan-1977-c-f-mountain-w500d-superb-martin-d45-style-acoustic-guitar

It offers immense volume and superb response. Its sound is somewhat warm yet very rich, with quite deep yet clean basses and colorful sweet trebles, all with great note clarity & separation, and all magnified by very impressive sustain. This guitar represents much more than you can expect just by looking at it.

Even though this guitar comes with some very minor cosmetic issues, overall condition of this fine instrument can be described as “excellent for its age”. The most "serious" imperfections are a few internal cracks within fingerboard's binding (on the E1 string side) while the binding itself is still firmly attached. Judging by the condition of the fingerboard and frets one can be quite convinced that this guitar hasn’t been really played a lot. Very importantly neck is straight while neck/body angle allows for very comfortable string action.

Specification:

Top: Solid Spruce

Back & Sides: Indian Rosewood “laminates”

Neck: Mahogany with 2-way truss rod

Fingerboard: Ebony or (super well ebonized) Rosewood

Nut width: 43mm

Scale: 650 mm

The action is set to 2.20 mm under E6 and 1.70 mm under E1, with still some extra room on the saddle.

This guitar will be shipped in a used hard-shell case.

THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS CASE IS TO PROTECT THE GUITAR DURING SHIPMENT. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ITS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OR MAKE ADDITIONAL PICTURES, NOR I WILL ACCEPT ANY COMPLAINTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS CASE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DIFFERENT ONE.      

 IF YOU BUY A GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. STRING BUZZ DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE.

My posted for sale guitars are stored in climate-controlled vault already packed into shipping boxes, with loosen strings. Because the strings are loosened, they don’t pull the neck or soundboard, and the neck may relax (straighten more) and the soundboard flatten a bit, which may result with the string action being lower than my it was with my original settings and lead to buzzes and/or dead notes after guitar arrives to you. Such a change in neck curvature can also happen just because of vibrations during the shipment and/or temperature fluctuations. Therefore, you must be ready to make final action adjustment yourself and or have it done by professional. All that really needs to be done is the simple neck adjustment by using the truss rod (turning the truss rod counterclockwise will relief the neck and strings will move away from the frets).

THAT IS WHY TRUSS RODS ARE INSTALLED IN THE NECKS OF ACOUSTIC GUITARS!!!     

Real Value of Japanese Vintage Guitars

The key to understand value of vintage Japanese guitars is to acknowledge galloping price inflation throughout the late 1960s and 1970s with its peak of 25% in 1974.

During 1960s and most of 1970s model numbers of Japanese guitars were strictly connected with their prices in Japanese yen.

The same class guitar sold in 1970 for 100 000 yen (labelled as model 10), would be sold for 150 000 yen in 1972 (labelled as model 15), 200 000 yen in 1974 (labelled as model 20) and 300 000 yen in 1978 (labelled as model 30). Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised that two Yamaha GC10 guitars made 10 years apart are two instruments of totally different class. The same rule applies to all guitar models made by all other Japanese makers.

Japanese inflation slowed down in the 1980s. By the early 1980s and during following decades model numbers were no longer strictly associated with their prices. Some Japanese guitar makers introduced model names instead of model numbers. For several economic reasons, since 1980s Japanese made guitars were becoming more and more expensive, while their exports slowing down. Today (2025) Japanese high end classical guitar models are priced at $20000USD level.