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I'm currently hunting for a used archtop. Somebody is offering me a 1980 Aria pro II Herb Ellis in Exellent condition. He has put new Kent Armstrong pickups in the guitar but the original pickups are included. Unfortunatly I won't be able to try the instrument myself since the seller lives too far away.
Does anybody have any idea of the value of these guitars ?
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02-01-2012 04:46 PM
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i think its listed in the jazz gear section of the main page as a popular guitar for jazz. i have heard people talk well about them ...sorry no personal experience though.
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2010 Price guide has it as a PE175 from 78 to 87.
From 450 to 550 US which seems low to me
2010 blue book doesn have it listed but the guy who does the Blue Book wrote this Aria Pro II ?Herb Ellis? Model TE 175: Prototype or First Production Model? - Premier Guitar
he has it as 800 to 1000 which is a little high to me as well.. but what do I know?
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Thanks guys.
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I have one for 500 euro but i won't part her for that less!
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I recall the ones I've seen on eBay went for roughly $600 - $950. Owners consistently report that they're on par with a Gibson ES-175 in terms of tone of construction. Apparently they're the 'real thing'. If you buy it, you're getting a good guitar. They're not easy to find.
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The 2012 Vintage Guitar Price guide has the Aria pro II Herb Ellis in excellent condition priced between $450-550. That stated, I usually see them on eBay for $550-900 as the above post stated as well.
PE-175 was made between 1978-1987.
Most of the reviews I have read on the guitar state it is a great instrument.
Here is an interesting video comparison that I found on YouTube of the PE-175 and the ES-175. Although the video/audio quality is not great it is good enough to be interesting.
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there is a polytone guitar on ebay as we speak.. saw it last night
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Thanks for the input guys.
I am also being offered a used Gibson es-137 (few years old) for the same price as the Aria. I dont´t really dig the color though, it´s blue. I am a bit torn which one i should choose.
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Hey Sam, I just wanted to give you a heads-up from my short experience with Polytone Guitars. Back in the late 70's, Polytone imported some oriental guitars. I spent some time at the Namm show tuning them up for the Polytone factory. At that time, they were mostly solid bodies and, IMHO, not good instruments, IMHO, they were cheap imitations of some of the other guitars at the show. I didn't see any more of them after the Namm show was over and I have no other information to add. The Polytones in the picture above look like a better quality than the first few at that Namm show. Most of us are familiar with the quality of the Polytone amps and the great jazz sound that can be achieved with them. I don't know if Polytone continued to sell them or ?
best wishes,
wizLast edited by wizard3739; 02-03-2012 at 05:37 PM.
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There are a couple of them.
Originally Posted by SamBooka
Crane's in England has had what is labelled an Improv I for sale for some time. It's @16" wide, a little under 2 1/2" deep, and they say that it has a block. It has a bunch of changed parts and looks quite nice. Not the same as the hollow-body version I have, which is identical to what is listed on the original Polytone tear sheet.
The recent listing is for a Improv II S, also with a bunch of changed parts. It's 14 1/2" wide, 1 3/4" deep, with a block.
Polytone had them built in Japan in 1980 for two minutes, and the very few of them that have emerged have wildly different body specifications. Since no one knows or cares about these guitars, it's of no concern.
As the wise men over at the Matsumoku forum pointed out to me, the solid body Polytone "Contempo" guitars to which wizard3739 refers, were rebadged El Maya guitars, built by the Rokkomann company. They had a facility in Kobe that was apparently destroyed in an earthquake, or by Godzilla, or possibly by Mothra, or some combination of all three.Last edited by Hammertone; 02-03-2012 at 06:50 PM.
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If I'm not mistaking there is a block in the Aria as well. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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The Aria Pro II Herb Ellis guitars I have played over the years have been straight-up hollow ones.
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-03-2012 at 06:39 PM.
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Ok, thanks for clearing that up. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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Aria Pro II PE-175 Herb Ellis :
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The one i'm considering to buy looks like the one in the middle; with a wider headstock and does not have "Herb Ellis" writen in the neck inlay. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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Yes. Originally Posted by jerzy
Hi.This is my first post,but I've been reading some threads for a while.
I own Aria Pro II HE and can highly reccommend the guitar.Excellent!I own or have own a lot of really good archtops like Gibson L5 Studio,Gibson L4 CES,D'Aquisto New Yorker(which I going to sell soon),Epiphone Elitist Broadway and Byrdland,Yamaha AEX 1500 and many others.Gibson L5 and Aria HE will stay with me forever.I paid for the Aria $550 with HSC and I still can't believe how cheap the guitar was(price/quality).There are a lot of junk guitars on the market for that price.Another story if you would like the guitar as much as i do.It's almost like choosing a wife on the internet.
For example I am not a big fan of guitars with floating pickups,but some players love them.I prefer full,rich,more electric sound from guitar with routed pickups and Aria HE suits me very well.Anyway it's always risky buying a guitar without playing her first.Good look
Jerzy
Jerzy has a big expierience with jazz guitars.
All The Best- Wszyskiego Najlepszego
Kris
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No. it's full hollow. The PE-175. Originally Posted by marr
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Another thing to note about the Aria Herb Ellis PE-175, is that unlike some 'signature' models from some manufacturers, Herb actually played the damn thing full time. That on it's own says something about the guitar. I believe the only reason he stopped playing it and started playing his Gibson signature ES-165 was that Aria ended production of the model and hence the endorsement with Herb. With that done, Gibson approached him about endorsing a guitar.
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This is an intersting thread. What about those Larry Coryell signature guitars from Cort? And isn't there a cheaper version of th George Benson by Ibanez out now?
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I've owned a Aria Pro PE 175 for thirty years. It has great tone, and usually I leave my Ross "Fame" 40W combo amp tone controls in their mid position with it. The ebony/mahogany neck is very stable too. The gold-plating is wearing off a bit, but that's not a problem. When I got it fairly cheaply for £200, the neck was a bit twisted; luckily John Diggens, a luthier in Birmingham UK, managed to straighten it out with steam in a metal tube
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I really don't know what they go for these days, but I have two of them and absolutely LOVE them! Even if you paid $800, give or take, I think you would be very pleased. Mine have the original pick-ups in them and I love the way they sound!
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Hammertone is spot on, there's really no real price help for the HE.
I think they are one of the most undervalued and under appreciated models available AND they rival much more easily found and expensive gits from Heritage, Gibson, Ibanez and more.
In fact when I play mine beside my 575 it's equal in every respect.
It puzzles me a bit that the pups were changed, the stock pups are excellent, tone seekers... go figure.
The 137 is nothing at all like a HE it's fully hollow. There is a post in the HE and a center block in the 137 like a 335.
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i've owned 6 or 7 of these, most in the last several years but one in the early '80s. The price i paid went from $500 to $900.
And yes, there is a block under the bridge.
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While we're on the subject of the HE, has anyone dated them? mine is 93923xx
http://www.premierguitar.com/article...oduction_ModelLast edited by GNAPPI; 09-23-2016 at 09:29 AM.
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