Hi,

here are a few pics of the bass:

http://nl.tinypic.com/r/n50nr9/5

http://nl.tinypic.com/r/2w1t8qa/5

http://nl.tinypic.com/r/1zxrzgo/5

http://nl.tinypic.com/r/jq4xfc/5

http://nl.tinypic.com/r/jq4xfc/5

Thanks for any info/details …

Hey Mescal, welcome.

I very very nearly linked you to your own thread on the Matsumoku Forum 😳

Pics would be good if you have them.

Hi,

I don’t know if this thread is still active, but, I have a similar question.

I have a Gibson copy right handed short scale bass, it is a Gibson SG copy.

It says “Diamond” on the headstock and has “Made in Japan” on the back.

I can’t seem to find any info on this bass, except that Aria used to make basses under the name “Diamond”.

I stumbled across this forum thread and thought that you’ve might been talking about the same bass I have.

The pics don’t work for me, so I can’t check if it’s the same bass guitar.

I could upload some pics.

I got mine some 15 years ago, it was in pretty bad shape then and got worse over the years. I didn’t sound good so I didn’t play it very much. It’s been gathering dust since I bought a music man some 13 years ago.

I’ve had it revised just now, so the frets have been scraped (or how do you call that), the neck has been straightened and the electronics have been cleaned, and now it play and sounds like a charm (as a matter of fact, it never sounded as good as now).

So eeuuuhhm, quite some info, so don’t know if this is the right place/thread; but some info would be appreciated.

As said, I can post some pics up.

Thanks

I owned this EXACT bass for about 3 years, but the right handed model. It was stuck onto a friend’s wall as a decoration and I took it down and restrung it. It is personally my favorite bass. The neck is very thin and the whole thing plays and sounds like a dream. There is so much low end to this thing for it being such a light instrument.

Unfortunately, I had brought it in to get setup and have a vintage Gibson Eb-0 pickup installed in it, and it was stolen out of the back of the music shop along with 4 or 5 other instruments. Apparently a heroin addict had robbed a string of store in the same area and pawned everything at a few near by pawn shops. 🙁

It is an amazingly cheap japanese SG ripoff, but it really really is a find.

If anyone knows where to buy another one of these, please let me know and shoot me an email. I would buy it in an instant.

Tim, your line looks pretty similar to the para I quoted above from a website. That and the other link I put up gives a reasonable idea of its parentage.

Unfortunately, because I don’t do Myspace, I can’t view those pics of the Arita 😥

Man, this is annoying…I’ve found one line of text that says in 60’s Japan ‘Aria also supplied guitars and components for guitars branded Arita…’

The bass is lovely by the way, if it was built for ‘normal’ people I’d want it lots!

If you could manage to post up a pic or two, especially of the headstock, that would help. Even if I can’t find more info, I’d be interested in your bass as a lefty myself.

EDIT: There is a “sticky” at the top of the main guitar section on how to post pics up to Guitarsite. Meantime, I have found references to Arita;
http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toynfo.pl?guitarsindex
and note this particular bit from the section on 60s Japanese guitars:
[quote]Arai/Aria
In my opinion Arai produced some of the highest quality instruments coming out of Japan in the late 60’s to early 70’s. Their guitars were sold under the brand names of Arai, Arai Diamond, Aria, and Diamond. Arai also supplied guitars and components for guitars branded Arita, Bruno, Conrad, Domino, Lyle, Maxi-Tone, Orpheous, Pan, Univox and others. [/quote]

Arai/Aria Japanese guitars were made at Matsumoko but yours may predate that. The “steel adjustable neck” claim is more typical of 60s guitars, as they were commonplace by the 70s, and the Gibson EB range is not mentioned as one of the types offered by Arai-Matsumoko. have a look at this link for a little history:
http://www.matsumoku.org/arai_matsumoku.html