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Old Made in Japan Bass


Adee
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There was a query about a very similar looking bass a little while ago.

Bassassin reckoned that one was an Aria A200. I'll see if I can dig up the post.

Edit - Must have been on BT. I can't even find it cached in Google. I did find a picture on the net though.

[attachment=825:Arai_for...0_90__lb.jpg]

Edited by Musky
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Thanks for that its helped kick start my search i've found the following possible names

CLEARSOUND
KINOR
ARIA
LORI
KAWAI

Possible all made and re-badged under various names in one
of the Japanese factories late 60's or early 70's

Not sure if I should clear it up and keep or sell at the moment !

If anyone has any further info please let me know

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[quote name='Adee' post='20725' date='Jun 20 2007, 01:06 PM']Thanks for that its helped kick start my search i've found the following possible names

CLEARSOUND
KINOR
ARIA
LORI
KAWAI

Possible all made and re-badged under various names in one
of the Japanese factories late 60's or early 70's

Not sure if I should clear it up and keep or sell at the moment !

If anyone has any further info please let me know[/quote]

Aria were made by Matsumoku so you might fancy checking out [url="http://www.matsumoku.org"]http://www.matsumoku.org[/url]

Kawai were AFAIK an entirely different company with their own production facilities, and would quite happily rebadge their instruments with anything an importer wanted. So while I've never heard of any of the other companies, if Kawai were knocking out similar looking basses it's quite likely they were also sold under other names.

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Bloody hell, I go away for a day & you lot just fall to pieces! :huh:

This look familiar?

[url="http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/bass/a-100_200.html[/url]

Quite possible it wasn't marketed as an Aria in the UK - although the one in the scan is unbranded, so it may have been. No telling really (but I'll make an educated guess) where it was built - prior to 1975, there's no proven connection between Aria & Matsumoku, ands IMO this bass isn't Matsumoku.

Aria probably sourced their instruments from a variety of different factories prior to settling with "Uncle Mat" around 1975 - and this Burns-wannabe will have been from one of them. A factory called Moridaira were known for using that 6-screw neckplate (ever wondered where MusicMan pinched the idea? :huh: ) so I'd speculate it was from there. Moridaira was one of the less well-known builders, and probably best-known for their own Morris brand. They're still going now, building high-end acoustics.

As far as brands are concerned, I've seen this sort of thing with Audition & Top Twenty (Woolies own brand! :) ) on the head - I don't think any of the names Adee listed (apart from Kawai & Aria) were UK brands. Kay is also a possibility - I have a Moridaira - built Kay Precision copy (anyone want to buy it ?), which suggests Kay may have sourced other models from there.

I really wouldn't want to stick my neck out about value - but this is identical to the Aria on the Matsumoku site, and looks original and complete, which is really unusual for an instrument of this ilk/era. Vintage Arias don't attract the Ebay idiots the way Ibanez do, but they're getting there. A good ad, with all the searchable buzzwords in the title, good photos & a well-timed listing would probably see this thing into 3 figures. [i]Probably[/i]. :huh:

Jon.

Edited by Bassassin
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Cheers Guys

Superb response as usual, just goes to show what a fantastic place this is

I'm going to carefully clean it up, its in great complete condition for a 30+year old bass
Not sure what I'll do with it, probably sell it and put the proceeds into something I will use !

Thanks again
Ade

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  • 12 years later...

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