Aria FA-71 - anyone play one?

[JohnSammers]

Guys - I bought one for £275 with a gator hardcore about 5 years ago and the fella selling had it beautifully setup but couldn't get on with it. I'm not a jazzer as such (never done a jazz gig) but because of this guitar I am more and more loving it. I've been playing 40 years (we won't mention hours as there have been some lean years) and have around 40 guitars and this is without a doubt one of my faves. I have bought other Korean made jazz boxes (a Greg Bennet Samick, a Peerless, a Epiphone Joe Pass, and although I have set them all up as well, they sound like semi-acoustics and this sounds like a jazz guitar.

All i needed do was adjust the pup, which was in contact with my body. If you want a jazz box and don't want to pay an arm and a leg, find an old one, set it up properly and you won't be disappointed........well, I'm certainly not!

[jazz.fred]

Hi Raq,

Could you (or any other forum member) offer me an opinion of the performance characteristics of the Bartolini pickups? I am considering a future p/u upgrade to my Peerless Monarch 16.

Thanks.

[GRS]

I came back to a full archtop after many years without.

Archtops are not a versatile axe and feedback easily. But for straight up jazz, can't beat it.

I found an Aria FA-71 a few years ago in a shop. Made in Korea. Real nice neck. I wasn't shopping for an archtop but I bought it cause it was a real solid guitar for the $ and I missed having one around. Good build quality .

I set the action pretty low with flatwounds and minimal buzzing. So I will chime in, a real nice archtop. Gonna assume the pickup could be upgraded and I might look into that. Acoustic its quiet of course but sounds good and clean. This is a good way to test an archtop as it lives in the acoustic world really...

[DRS]

I had an FA 71.
Price was great $500 cdn.
Perfectly made and set up. Great fretwork. Plays very well and looks great. I liked the 25 1/2" scale,
The stock pickup was weak. I installed a Benedetto. An improvement but it really needs a big set-in humbucker like a Classic 57. The problem is that it is a plywood guitar with a fairly weak acoustic sound so you need that big pup power. It's got a decent tone but much like many Asian copies. It feeds back like a mofo at gig volumes if you are not careful of how close to your amp you are. Tape on the F holes solves this.

[JosephDraper]

He talks about his Aria and explains some of his technique

[GRS]

Great player. Gotta love a guy who can play with his thumb ala Wes. You get the great tone with the thumb and fingers. Benson does this and Jeff Beck, the Strat tonemeister as well. Interesting what Jim said about Wes having a double jointed thumb!
I loved Jims economy of movement with his chord melody. So fluid. Reminds me of another Jim. Im left handed as well and Ive always thought that playing a guitar the normal way is better for lefties. My good hand is doing all the fretboard computing.
His feedback fix is pretty slick looking, I think Im gonna try engineering something like that. Maybe get some thin, black plexi-glass type stuff.

[pingu]

Doug's Plugs - hand-made f-hole covers to eliminate feedback in your archtop guitar

[GRS]

Doug's Plugs - hand-made f-hole covers to eliminate feedback in your archtop guitar

Good stuff,thanx..

[digger]

Another one with an FA-71 here. I love this guitar. If ever I get to a stage where I might need to gig it (highly unlikely) then Doug's Plugs might well get an order from me, too!

[garybaldy]

I started a NGD thread on this but thought I'd add a pic here.

[GuyBoden]

He talks about his Aria and explains some of his technique

I ordered the Blonde Aria FA-71 after seeing Jim Mullen play it at a few gigs, maybe 25 years ago, I didn't keep it and can't remember how it sounded, but it didn't make me sound like Jim Mullen.