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Fretless Aria Pro II ZZB


Metalmoore
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I bought this bass off of Delberthot earlier this year and due to my lack of money and about to move away from my parent’s house I need to sell it. It's a great bass but I can’t seem to get along with a fretless.
Here are pictures I got from Delberthot and a description he used for it when I bought it off of him.


Finished in blue-black sunburst, this particular bass was built in 1983 going by Aria's website and features:

*Gold Hardware
*GB7 tuners rumoured to have been made by Gotoh with Aria's name on them
*Alder body
*Maple neck with rosewood fretboard
*2 double coil pickups with volume, tone and 3 position pickup selector

Before I go any further I am going to let you know about something unusual but which absolutely suits this bass: It has been professionally defretted at some point in its life prior to me owning it. Its been done really well as the fretlines have been filled with something very close to the colour of the rosewood board but there have been small white fret markers slotted into the fret board nearest the top to make it easier to see where you should be playing.

Designed as a rock bass, this is one clear, articulate, punchy bass and the fretless angle to me gives it a sound similar to Tony Franklin. There are a surprising amount of sounds to be gained from the simple control layout from deep bassy tones to classic fretless Jazz bass honk.

Anyone who's ever owned a pointy bass knows that they tend to pick up more dings and dents than a more conventional shaped bass and this is no exception. Luckily the majority of the marks are either on the back or the edges where no one can really see them and they have been touched up with black paint to match the black of the edges as closely as possible.

The gold plating on the tuners has started to bubble slightly as all gold hardware does, even £3000 basses do this eventually. The bridge shows some tarnishing and the gold has worn off on part of the neck plate, presumably due to rubbing against the owner when playing.

Everything is original except the input jack as I had to replace it due to it being a bit crackly. Everything on this bass works perfectly. The previous owner also moved the front strap button from the neck plate to where the top horn would be on a normal bass to help balance the bass.

The bass could easily be refretted by a professional or by yourself if you are confident enough.

These basses were made between 1982 and 1987 so this one is one of the first being made in 1983. Unfortunately, there is no way of dating the bass down to the week or month as this didn't occur at Aria until much later.

And finally, this bass was made at the now legendary Matsumoku factory in Japan, home of some of the finest Japanese basses in the world and something like this is going to continue to appreciate in value due to the connection to this factory.

This bass comes with its original branded case which is very slim as far as bass cases go. It has a few marks on it but then a case is meant to protect what's inside it when in transit. All hinges and catches work perfectly.


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Edited by Metalmoore
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Well blow me down... I have never seen another one... I also own one of these, and its also been defretted at some point!!! Blimey... small world! Hearin' ya loud and clear on the dings, mine has loads. Must get it out and give it a play sometime, in the meantime have a free bump!
In fact here is a picture of mine to add to the Aria love. Cool basses!

[attachment=56557:Washburn..._Pro_II2.JPG]

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[quote name='Stag' post='924570' date='Aug 14 2010, 12:41 AM']Well blow me down... I have never seen another one... I also own one of these, and its also been defretted at some point!!! Blimey... small world! Hearin' ya loud and clear on the dings, mine has loads. Must get it out and give it a play sometime, in the meantime have a free bump!
In fact here is a picture of mine to add to the Aria love. Cool basses!

[attachment=56557:Washburn..._Pro_II2.JPG][/quote]



Sorry to nick the thread, but love the Washburn.
Wish I'd never sold mine when I allegedly grew up and moved to Fenders!

Bump anyway.

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[quote name='karlfer' post='924627' date='Aug 14 2010, 07:13 AM']Sorry to nick the thread, but love the Washburn.
Wish I'd never sold mine when I allegedly grew up and moved to Fenders!

Bump anyway.[/quote]

Sold my Washboard B20 when I "grew up" & moved to Aria Pro 2s! Not a ZZB though. :)

'Nother bump.

J.

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Oooh, can I play? Had the ZZB-Custom (rinky-dink half-black, half-white one, same as the one used by Rick Mayall in Bad News*) AND a B20-8 string. I was such a metalhead...

Anyhoo, 'nother bump for a genuinely unusual bass - I would have said unique, but BC, as we've seen above, is a place where anything's possible...



* I was completely unaware of the irony at the time... :)

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I would gladly take that sexy jazz of yours off your hands gafbass, I think my jazz would like a passive twin.
Hopefully this sells soonish, as I will be moving to the isle of man at the end of september and need the cash and it's gonna be difficult gettin my stuff across seeing as I have 4 basses (two of which are for sale and one is fit for a project requiring a refin) and a electric guitar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

sir that is one of the top two fretless 80's aria pro II basses on the for sale forum based in glasgow, you need to sell yours more urgently than me so I'm pretty sure your one is way way better too! bump

Edited by LukeFRC
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  • 3 months later...
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