How about some mid 80s Japan guitars

david moon

Attempting the Blues
In the mid 80s, after producing many Gibson and Fender copies (and getting sued, thus the "lawsuit era") the Japanese makers came out with some original designs.

One was the Cardinal Series by Aria Pro II. This included a range of guitars and basses.

The bodies were double cutaway and slightly offset like fender.

The "horns" of the cutaways were sharp more like an SG

The tuners were 3 x 3

The bridges were Fenderish and I am not aware that any model offered a tremelo bridge.

The guitars offered a 3-way swtch with 2 humbuckers, but also a coil tap and a phase switch

The basses had a similar body shape, a single humbucking pickup

So here's a bass

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aria-Pro-I...355239?hash=item3da62396a7:g:SuMAAOSwB4Je-qf4

I bought one just like this on ebay last week for $325 plus shipping

and here's some links to the whole thing ( as Biden would say)

vupload_2020-7-4_20-49-28.png
 

aleclee

Tribe of One
80's Arias are great guitars. Still have a TS400 that I got in '82.

b95aa17098106758d0e85959b7227713.jpg

fb49653bfe270875d8e0c18c8df014f0.jpg
 

Doodlebug

Blues Newbie
Back in 1985 I bought a Squire Stratocaster from my friend for £10!
He'd got it as a birthday present but was lazy and didn't want to learn.
In the next two years I played it to death, learning all the first position and barre chords. Eventually I managed to wear out the maple fingerboard and frets and didn't realise you could have them repaired.
I went on to buy an acoustic and didn't touch the Stratocaster again.
Now I hear they fetch good money but unfortunately when I got a place of my own I threw her in the skip because she was unplayable........ If only I'd kept her and had her repaired!
 

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david moon

Attempting the Blues
In the mid 80s, after producing many Gibson and Fender copies (and getting sued, thus the "lawsuit era") the Japanese makers came out with some original designs.

One was the Cardinal Series by Aria Pro II. This included a range of guitars and basses.

The bodies were double cutaway and slightly offset like fender.

The "horns" of the cutaways were sharp more like an SG

The tuners were 3 x 3

The bridges were Fenderish and I am not aware that any model offered a tremelo bridge.

The guitars offered a 3-way swtch with 2 humbuckers, but also a coil tap and a phase switch

The basses had a similar body shape, a single humbucking pickup

So here's a bass

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aria-Pro-I...355239?hash=item3da62396a7:g:SuMAAOSwB4Je-qf4

I bought one just like this on ebay last week for $325 plus shipping

and here's some links to the whole thing ( as Biden would say)

vView attachment 12030
well I don't know what happened at the end of the post. I think I was trying to link to search results on ebay. Maybe this works

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1311.R2.TR2.TRC0.A0.H0.Xaria+cardinal.TRS0&_nkw=aria+pro+ii+cardinal&_sacat=0

You can always just go on ebay and put 'aria pro 2 cardinal" or "aria pro II cardinal" in the search bar
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
a lot of these instruments are listed "from Japan". often with "free shipping" but it's clear the shipping is built into the offerring price. I don't have any personal experience with these Japanese sellers, just a little wary if there were issues about the condition, damage in transit, customs.
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
80's Arias are great guitars. Still have a TS400 that I got in '82.

b95aa17098106758d0e85959b7227713.jpg

fb49653bfe270875d8e0c18c8df014f0.jpg
The same headstock is on the Cardinal series. I never liked it- it doesn't really complement the body shape.But it does give 3 x 3 tuners ( or 2 x 2 on the basses)
 

Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
upload_2020-7-5_20-48-6.pngupload_2020-7-5_20-48-36.png
The double cutaway is a 1981 Ibanez Artist A100 in Antique Violin finish, my first electric guitar.
The Strat is a 1983 Ibanez Roadstar II au natural.(50th Anniversary American Deluxe Strat photobomb)
Nothing original here, just great copies of great American guitars.
 
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