Aria Pro II Herb Ellis Signature PE-175 1981 Sunburst Jazz Guitar Rare

USED Aria Pro II Herb Ellis PE-175 Jazz Guitar

Hi I'm Chris (MD, Guitar Mania), and I want to thank you for viewing this product. Guitar Mania is a small family run tradition bricks n mortar shop with a front door, til, phone and real people, offering a very personal service ;o)
It's business, but it's personal, so your order really matters to me! Thank you!

WOW!!!! What an amazing guitar, you don't see these everyday. We have dated the guitar as being from 1981 built in the Matsumoku factory in Japan.

NECK NOTE: The playability of this guitar is FAIR / Good but it's a 40 year old guitar and there has been some age related movement. When you 'sight' down the neck you will notice more relief on the bass side compared to the treble side. Techically speaking this can be called a twist or a warp. But everything has a scale and a degree to it so let's call it a slight warp / twist although I hate using those words as people instantly think it's a write off and unplayable.
It's not.
Although it is CLEARLY VISIBLE when you sight down the neck from the headstock end, bizarrely the playability is pretty good. The action is slightly higher on the bass side compared to the treble and we've set this up so that there is minimal fret buzz for average / medium picking. You can lower the action on the bass side if you have a lighter picking technique or don't mind a bit more fret buzz.
We've set this up how WE feel it should be with a good general all round compensated feel.

Condition: 7/10 - For the age of the guitar it's in very good condition, a few scratches, bumps and marks over the body. Nothing major I could show in the pictures, I'm actually amazed how well it's been looked after.

Neck: 7/10 - See previous neck note.
The frets are in great shape, years of life left. They have been fret dressed and crowned at some point though.  A couple of small bumps in the back of the neck you can feel as you run your hand over, nothing to take away from the playing experience though. Lovely tight grain Ebony fingerboard!

Hardware: 7/10 - The pickups are the original Maxon pickups and all hardware is original to the guitar. Pickguard is in great condition too with no cracks, a lot of these seem to be missing the pickguard. Hardware is tarnished, as to be expected for a 43 year old guitar. All functions perfectly.

Electrics: 8/10 
Sockets, pots and switches etc are wear and tear items. The electrics on this guitar have been tested and are in very good working order, but my standard disclaimer is it's a used guitar and one must expect SOME occasional electrical 'scratching' noise, crackling and popping when adjusting pots and switches. In our opinion the electrics on this guitar exhibit less than average 'noise' in normal play but there's no guarantee how long they will stay in this condition. 

Playability:
This guitar has been lovingly set up by Jon, one of the UK's most highly regarded and experienced guitar techs. 
That doesn't mean this guitar is the best playing guitar ever, it just means that he has taken the time to set it up. Adjust the action, intonation etc so that it plays as well as can be expected and stays in tune as good as any guitar of this type does. 
We all have differing styles and demands from our instruments. Some of us like fast n low actions for fretboard burning licks, others prefer a high n mightly action for show stopping windmills and downtuned heavy riffing and everything in between. No one set up suits all!
As mentioned earlier. this specific guitar has been set up sympathetically for it's style.

Case: Comes with a third party hard case from the 80's

Priced with all of the above in mind but feel free to "make an offer".

Shipping
FREE Next Working Day Courier deliver to Mainland England, Wales and Scottish Lowlands only all other areas are chargeable.

About Guitar Mania - MULTI award winning shop

We first opened our doors in 1994. Since then we have expanded and grown in size and popularity to become one of the South's leading guitar shops. Our commitment to a friendly, knowledgeable and personal service has won us a collection of awards. These include: Three times winner of the prestigious FENDER EUROPEAN TOP DEALER AWARD for service, knowledge and commitment to Fender products. (They only presented them for three years) And SEVEN times award winners at the Poole Retail Awards 'Top of the Shops' event, including overall Best Independent Shop and Best Customer Service.

Our aim is to provide the highest levels of customer care, to offer a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere and still offer the lowest possible prices.  
Because we are all passionate guitarists ourselves note that all our guitars are dispatched: 

• Inspected - check for scratches, dents etc 
• Tuned - Stretching each string for optimum tuning stability 
• Set up - adjust action and intonation as required 
• Tested - give it a play to make sure we like it ! (Tough job huh ?) 
• Ready to Play - now it's your turn ! 

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