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Last edited by GoergeBenson; 06-07-2014 at 08:54 AM.
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06-07-2014 08:37 AM
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I have two of these.
I use one on our regular Fri night gig, the other is my home couch guitar--surprisingly good acoustic sound too and they both play like buttah.
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Yeh agreed, playability is exceptionally high.
I thought the neck was too fat when I first got it but it makes perfect sense, in the way they've done it. Its actually one for he fastest guitars I've played.
I've got 2 other solid hand carved topped L5 types, so this is not as a caustically pleasing, but it sounds much finer than your average laminate 17" guitar, so over all I'm very pleased.
The tone is very even, across the strings. Every note in every chord really rings out and shines through.
The trebles are really nice. Very round and warm, even past the 12th fret.
My only nag would be that the bass side is a bit dark but nothing that can't be adjusted through the tone pot, or amp.
Definitely not a muddy, bass happy box.
Fit and finish is excellent (for a hand crafted guitar)
Looks really nice too :-)
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yeah, these are great bargains too [at least they were when I got mine]
my first one was $600, the other around $900.
not a great acoustic sound but pretty good considering it's plywood and has all that hrdwre and holes cut into the top.
they do weigh a ton, but a guitar's weight never bothered me
yours has a slightly different peghead shape @ the top than I've seen.
Some have a funky tapered Heritage type peghead too.
Aria made them for a number of companies in the 70's and 80's, Goya, Memphis, etc...
I use mine on gigs where I don't mind if it gets bumped around a little.
'69 L-5CES for safer jobs...
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Well its certainly a testament to the guitar, that your happy to play one, when you also have an L5.
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I'd like one of those
how much did you pay ?
if you don't mind saying
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High Pingu
I got this one for £1,300
I would say between £1,250 and £1,500 depending on condition etc is a fair price for the guitar.
It has a surprisingly thin top, like I've mentioned, so it really performs more like a bigger Es-175.
Although I would say the back and sides are quite heavy, so it does have some diminishing returns in that respect.
Thats aside, the neck is wonderful and the guitar in general when plugged in or unplugged is surprisingly pleasing.
Very clear, very articulate, yet very warm.
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great , I believe its a copy of a
Gibson super V ces
L5 type with a Super 400 neck and headstock
I played and really liked an Aria herb ellis
of a similar vintage once , heavy tho as you say
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Well then you would like one of these. They have a more pleasing open tone, than the Heb, which I found a little too dull.
Yes your correct about the body and neck, although I must add, this is a cheaper Japanese laminated version. I'm sure you already know this of course. So doesn't sound exactly like the real deal but for the price, a very fine return indeed and looks wise, priceless lol.Last edited by GoergeBenson; 06-09-2014 at 03:18 PM.
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I have two Gibbys too, and a PE 180. The 180 is extremely well made, and superbly playable. It is comparable to an ES 350. It is my main play out guitar. Fantastic, even tone. Not for sale. MUCH more guitar than the PE 175HE.
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Mine is not quite as mint as yours, but it is in excellent shape:
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Nice. Thanks for posting. Thats a nice shot too.
I noticed yours doesn't have the original bridge but it does have a nicer looking tail piece. The whit bit in the middle looks really good. I think mine has work off.
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The guy I bought it from put the Gibson bridge on. He has the original somewhere, he says... (been 10 years though).
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Lol, yeh might have to scrub that one then. Actually you dint need to change it and even if you did, They are available as far as I'm aware.
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That's roughly $2200 US. I find it interesting that it was just 2 years ago on this forum a Brit went on and on about how any Japanese L5 wasn't worth more than $500-$600, and if you spent more than that you paid too much. Hammertone, Hammertime was his name. Obviously he didn't speak for everyone.
Originally Posted by GoergeBenson
That $2200 figure is slightly less than I paid for my mint version. However, it was but 2 years later that I located a Ibanez 2460 on this side of the pond for $1600. I passed on it, but I'd eventually like to own another if or when a guitar becomes available at a price less than $2k.
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$2200 is a lotta cake for one of those.
as I said the two PE-180's I have were $600 and $900
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That's like saying you bought an L5 for $2k in 1964. One can't find a PE-180 or Ibanez 2460 in decent condition today for what you paid, although wouldn't it be nice if that were the case. Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Actually the guy before me paid £1,500 and I payed £1,300.
Some guitars are market dependant. In the U:K these l5 type Japanese copies do really well. The U:S has slowly caught up and in some models exceeded.
Compare this next to an Ibanez 2460 and its very good value.
All they l5's of this era go for around £1250 depending on the model.
Consider that Es-175 sell for about £1750-£200 which is about $3,000 up you can then see that, when you convert back to US dollars english guitars are a little more expensive but to us, they are still fair value.
And I bet you wouldn't buy on now for $600-900. more like $1,750 and up.
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ok, but the $900 one was just last year
bought a 2460 @ a guitar show last year for just a bit more
of course wintermoon [sorry mr. bop, couldn't resist] did sell it for almost triple that recently ;^)
btw, if you paid 2k for an L-5 in '64 you were paying over double what a new one would cost
besides, there are great deals if you really look.
I seem to recall someone around here buying a newer L-5 recently for a song, y'know?
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Prices go up and down. It isn't useful to compare prices from different eras. I once bought a mint 65 Strat for $275. In those days a 175 was a $400 guitar all day long. I paid very little for me 180...wouldn't happen again.
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btw, it seems that over half of these mid to late 70's models I've seen for sale have cracked binding, or binding whose shade has darkened very deeply. I've seen nitro archtops from the 30's with binding that has fared better. What's up with the binding thing? Is it something they were using in the poly, or simply a poor quality of binding...I recently observed a real D'Aquisto that even though produced in the late 80's the guitar was in for a binding job.
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Actually i've always found the binding to be perfect. The ones coming out of Japan seem to suffer the most. Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
Ive had Dozens of Japanese guitars from the 70's and never had a single cracked or shrunk piece of binding. Maybe our weather is more stable? who knows.
Guild are the worst!
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The L-1000 was a 70s guitar by Matsumoku with a (laminated) spruce top. It is the same as the Memphis EL300, the Bradley, and several other names--it was Aria Pro II's top of the line guitar. It was the same as Greco's L-100, I believe, at the time. The L-1000 came with the open-book headstock and the Gibson split-diamond inlay. When Gibson protested, Matsumoku switched to a simple curve for the headstock and a different headstock inlay--the guitar also became the PE-180:
I think the Greco in question is an 80s guitar. Nice.Last edited by Greentone; 09-06-2014 at 11:09 AM.
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Yes, I think so.
But I like the finish and the look more than the look of a PE 180. And both go for the same price. Actually there are several PE180 in Germany, france and Great Britain for sale, all of these are in Ice Tea Burst finish.
the natural (all maple ?) greco is nice. But the seller claims that it is a super real series, but to me it is end of 80'ies, it has a serial number F88xxx and an open "O" Letter in the Greco headstock. so it is a Mint collection series only.
Further, he claims it has an ebony fretboard. When I saw the pics in his ad in France , I remember that I saw the guitar somewhere else...in this forum :-) And the guy here in the forum who got this instrument, he was sending it back to USA apparently....because of a bad odour issue....now I wonder if I should go to France to see and buy it or not ! Is the price correct , or should I go for a Lawsuit Ibanez L5?Last edited by dafonky; 09-06-2014 at 12:02 PM.
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The PE-180 was my first big jazz box in the early 80's and it still is my main work horse.
It proves to be a very versatile guitar too. I also even use it for occasional wild old school R&B gigs and it works like a charm. I did replace the original pups for Alnico II Burstbuckers though and never regretted it.
Several years ago I decided to try some humbucker sized single coils in it but I never got the sound I wanted.
Humbuckers work best in the Aria.
I do like the acoustics. Very warm and articulate. For strings I like to use .013 Chromes combined with heavier Ernie Ball High E and B solid strings like a .014 or .015 for the E.
Besides the Aria I occasionally play a totally different beast, a Gibson ES-300.Last edited by Joe Vanilla; 01-26-2015 at 04:18 PM.
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