Aria Pro II Herb Ellis

[jmstritt]

I wanted to throw this out there for anyone who may be interested. As some of you know, I recently picked up a new guitar. I met with a guy that said he had an old Aria L-5 copy and so I went to check it out. Very nice playing guitar, sounds great acoustically or amplified. So basically I traded him an amp that I had laying around the house unused that I had probably $800 invested in. So I am very happy with the guitar, and I decide to do a little research to find out exactly what it is that I have here.

1st off, the guitar has no serial #, or model #. The only text on the guitar is the logo, "Aria Pro II," on the headstock. From what I learned, pre lawsuit and mid lawsuit period Aria's had no serial number. So I keep looking and I discover that Aria made and L-5 copy called the L-1000c, around the same period that I would suspect my guitar was made. Everything looks almost identical, except for the fact that the inlays are slightly different, and the pickup selector on the L-1000 is located on the lower bout, whereas my guitar has the selector switch on the upper bout. Interesting... I know that guitars of this era had serveral running changes in production, but moving a selector switch involves cutting in a different place, that means reprogramming a CNC machine which is no quick task.

So I keep digging, and I see a Herb Ellis model that Aria produced. Lo and behold it has the same inlay pattern as the one on my guitar, same pickup selector location as my guitar. The only differences that I have noticed are the tailpiece on my guitar is the same as the one on the L-1000 in that it doesn't have any of the Herb Ellis insignia on it. I can easily rationalize that as being a running production change. The other thing that is different is the pickguard which I do believe to be an aftermarket pickguard from the previous owner.

I just thought that I would share a little of my story and luck in coming across a very nice and potentially collectable? guitar.

I do want to change the pickguard either to a Herb Ellis pickguard if I can find one, or just a plain black one. If anyone knows where I can find a reasonably priced pickguard for this guitar I would sure appreciate the heads up. $85 from All Parts seems a little steep...

[robertm2000]

I'd try pickguardian.com - recommended by USA Custom Guitars. Both companies are very willing to talk with you to make sure you get exactly what you need.