Howard Roberts/Neil LeVang's Aria Prototype

[wintermoon]

Howard Alden played a Howard Roberts model for some years, then fell in with George Van Eps and got Benedetto to build him a 7-string similar to it, with an oval hole, and played that for many years. I think he may have retired it recently, but I'd bet he still has it even though he's been playing a newer Benedetto lately. I had thought the blonde HR was a Gibson, but looking at videos more closely, it appears to be an Epiphone.

It's a Gibson Howard Roberts, the Benedetto is sold.

[Litterick]

Howard Alden's Howard Roberts, with an account of its origin:

In 1964 Howard Roberts joined Epi with a unique, oval-hole archtop electric with a floating, Johnny Smith-style pickup. The oval hole was Roberts' idea. He liked to hear his guitar acoustically, even though he was playing it amplified, but on a conventional f-hole archtop, the pickguard covered up one soundhole and the player's arm covered the other. The oval hole solved his problem. A fancier, gold-plated version was added in 1965 and christened the Howard Roberts Custom. (Walter Carter. Epiphone. The Complete History, p.68).

On Vintage Guitar, a different account:

Chicago Musical Instruments, Gibson’s parent company, called on product designer and clinician Andy Nelson to head the Epiphone line. In 1962, Nelson contacted a very receptive Howard about endorsing an Epi. The two traded ideas and sketched a concept Nelson sent to the suits at C.M.I., who in turn passed it along to the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, where Epiphones were being built.

Many months later, I saw a memo from C.M.I., announcing a new Epiphone Howard Roberts model. It was nothing like our drawings; it was more like a Gibson L-4 (16? wide, sharp cutaway, carved spruce top) body with an oval soundhole and a Gibson humbucking pickup mounted on the end of the fingerboard. The neck had a notched block inlay on the rosewood fingerboard and Epiphone’s ‘tree of life’ inlay on the peghead. It was a beautiful instrument, no matter who designed it. I later heard through the grapevine that Ted McCarty, Gibson’s president, contacted Howard and got him to agree to the changes that became the Epiphone (and later Gibson) Howard Roberts model. The Kalamazoo factory was busy building a variety of models, and a unique new one would have created an additional burden. So they used the slow-selling L-4 as a base. It was easier to modify and they could use existing tooling rather than create a new guitar.

[sgosnell]

Alden's HR is a weird looking guitar, to me. The headstock looks like an old Epiphone, tree of life and all, but it does appear to have the Gibson logo. I'm far from an expert here, all I know is what I see on the interwebz.

[Woody Sound]

Neil was awesome! As I youngster, in our Polish holiday gatherings in Black Rock NY we were all glued to the tv watching LW. I couldn't wait for them to feature him a few times. Always a class act and flawless.

[wintermoon]

Aldens HR looks normal to me except missing the tailpiece insert and the master volume

[va3ux]

Alden's HR is a weird looking guitar, to me. The headstock looks like an old Epiphone, tree of life and all, but it does appear to have the Gibson logo. I'm far from an expert here, all I know is what I see on the interwebz.

If you do a Google search you'll see that the 70's version of this guitar produced by Gibson have exactly that headstock. I guess Gibson decided to keep certain aspects of the original Epiphone design.

[monk]

Mark,
What a cool story! I own an Aria Pro II PE-185 that was MIJ in 1979. Very few were made and it's a very fine instrument. I bought it new in 1980. Sadly, when I was at GIT in 1982 it never occurred to me to ask Howard about the guitar because I thought that it was just one of the many Japanese "copies" that were so prevalent at the time. I had no idea that he actually had anything to do with the guitar until years later.

[va3ux]

Here's my mid to late 70's Japanese copy.

[wintermoon]

Mark,
What a cool story! I own an Aria Pro II PE-185 that was MIJ in 1979. Very few were made and it's a very fine instrument. I bought it new in 1980. Sadly, when I was at GIT in 1982 it never occurred to me to ask Howard about the guitar because I thought that it was just one of the many Japanese "copies" that were so prevalent at the time. I had no idea that he actually had anything to do with the guitar until years later.

came down from the mountain Monk?
long time no.........

[citizenk74]

Here's my mid to late 70's Japanese copy.

Superb! How's it sound?

[va3ux]

Superb! How's it sound?

To me it sounds great. I mean it isn't anything that you haven't heard before. But it has it's own sound and character - slightly towards the brighter side and less of the really dark sound you might get with perhaps an ES165. But no problem getting a nice smooth mellow sound out of it. And it plays nicely.

I needed this guitar like I needed a hole in the head. But the HR design is so unique and unusual that I just had to grab this one when it came up. I'd love to have an original Gibson version but they've gotten too pricey. So this Japanese version is good enough for me.

[monk]

Hi wintermoon,
Yes, it has been awhile. One of those situations where life demanded I direct my attention to other things.

[joedux]

[citizenk74]

[maxsmith]

I had an Epiphone Howard Roberts for a brief time - I loved playing it at home or on solo gigs with light amplification, but anything with drums or amplified bass and it would howl incessantly. Bummer, because, like the ES-175, it was a guitar I had lusted after in my youth, but just did not work for me.

As for Lawrence Welk, our extended family met for dinner at the grandparents nearly every Sunday in my childhood. The Welk show and The Wonderful World of Disney was a major element of my childhood entertainment, and I was fascinated by the big band. I wonder how many hip jazz guitarists here were initially inspired by “corny” music on TV - for me, it was Roy Clark on Hee Haw - every week I waited to see if he would be featured on that sunburst Byrdland… not that I even knew what it was, just a very cool looking guitar…

[guitarkabool]

I have the exact same guitar, and have been wondering for some time who made it.
Someone has changed the tail piece to a correct HR one and the tuners to Gibson deluxe. It also came in a Gibson case.

[va3ux]

I believe I heard that the Aria HR guitars were made in the Matsumoku factory (along with the same model made for Elektra and others).

Beautiful guitar BTW. Thanks for posting.