Aria Pro Integra - the bass that won't die

[davidpike]

This is my Aria Pro II IGB-SPT. I bought it in '92, mainly because Billy Gould of Faith No More played one.

It has been used and abused over the years. It has been thrown in and out of the back seat of the car, it's been dropped, bumped and knocked. The neck was replaced as the original was warped (thanks to the ever patient Nick at Kingfisher Music in Wycombe).

I have replaced the electronics more than once - it currently boasts a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder (the bridge pickup is actually an empty cover). It sits around in the open, and I use it to casually plink when I have five minutes. The body has holes drilled in it from an ill-advised and poorly executed attempt to mount a scratchplate.

By rights, it ought to go to the tip. But I decided to clean it up. I adjusted the nut to lower the action and gave it a new set of flatwounds (probably doubling its value, by the way). No one would ever want to buy it, but I wouldn't sell it anyway. All my other basses were several times the cost, and I don't enjoy them as much as this. It plays lovely and it sounds epic.

Have you had a similar beast?