Six digit serial numbers date from the 70s, covering '71 through '80. Seven digit serial numbers date from the 80s, covering the period '81 through '90. The first digit gives the year. Yours is a seven digit, starting 7, making it a 1987.

There weren't many models in the XRB series, but what ones were manufactured appeared between '87 and '89. To the best of my knowledge these were manufactured in Japan, although Aria did move a large portion of its production to Korean at this time, '87 onwards. Edited February 15, 2010 by noelk27. I think I'm right in thinking if the neck plate doesn't read Made In Japan, then it's Korean. Matsumoku stopped building Aria Pro (or anything else) in 1987, and I would expect that economic conditions would have meant that only the higher-end Arias would have continued being Japanese-made.

Apropos of nothing, early Matsumoku serials, eg on the 'Steel Adjustable Neck' plates, appear to be random & not dateable. Early (pre 75-ish) set & through-neck instruments appear not to have serial numbers at all. [url='Aria Archive pages[/url] [i]imply[/i] that these are Korean. There's also a poor quality [url='Catalogue Scan[/url] here. As Jon rightly states, 1987 marks the end of the Matsumoku plant - although precisely [i]when[/i] it actually closed seems to be rather elusive (it was ownedby Singer & they were having financial difficulties.) Exactly what got made where in this transitional year is open to debate. I used to own a Korean-built Magna Series 5 string & it shared several design features with your XRB - notably the 'conventional' pickups, 'bent tin' bridge & the small dot markers.

I don't see any string trees, does your headstock have a backwards slant as well? Also, is the neck painted or clear coated?

The nearest thing to the XRB in the [url='Catalogue[/url] are the RSB/Straycat models which have a very different flavour - pointy horns, soapbar pickups, die cast bridges, larger dot markers etc. - all of which shout Matsumoku. My money's on yours being a 1987 Korean-built example.

Aria Pro II Guitars. Serial Number Info. Note: Japanese models ONLY! Way those of you contributing are made well aware of our appreciation and gratitude! The serial is 02006145 it says made in japan and adjustable steel neck on the. At least for Aria guitars made by Matsumoku, the serial number.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='746452' date='Feb 15 2010, 08:20 PM'][url='Aria Archive pages[/url] [i]imply[/i] that these are Korean. There's also a poor quality [url='Catalogue Scan[/url] here.

As Jon rightly states, 1987 marks the end of the Matsumoku plant - although precisely [i]when[/i] it actually closed seems to be rather elusive (it was ownedby Singer & they were having financial difficulties.) Exactly what got made where in this transitional year is open to debate. I used to own a Korean-built Magna Series 5 string & it shared several design features with your XRB - notably the 'conventional' pickups, 'bent tin' bridge & the small dot markers. I don't see any string trees, does your headstock have a backwards slant as well? Also, is the neck painted or clear coated? The nearest thing to the XRB in the [url='Catalogue[/url] are the RSB/Straycat models which have a very different flavour - pointy horns, soapbar pickups, die cast bridges, larger dot markers etc. - all of which shout Matsumoku.

My money's on yours being a 1987 Korean-built example. Pete[/quote] thanks pete some really good info there well its certainly lacking the 'made in japan' stamp on the scratchplate,no string trees, the neck does slant back, and the neck is painted in the same finish as the body.by the sounds of it Kim Jong-il may have played a part in its construction. I have something that is near identical, but rather than XRB it has (had.) SLB2A Electronics (how and why can I still remember that?!) - switchgear is the same as yours. Mine's more of a slab body and the truss-rod adjustment's under a triangular-ish cover at the headstock end of the neck.

Oh, and mine's currently in pieces and the body's down to bare ply. I had it de-fretted years ago (as an experiment, you understand, but it played very nicely) and am just waiting for the opportunity to put it all back together. I bought mine new as a first bass when I was 15, so I guess we're looking at 88/89. Doesn't it fly?

The legend of zelda twilight princess rom german gamecube roms. Thanks for the pics! No problem waldemar, i must admit i quite like the sound of it (bar the odd crackle) but im not so keen on the look of it, i have owned it for about 2 years after a guy i was working with at the the time overheard that i played bass and wanted to shift it, i just brought it for a change with no idea what it was worth on a whim! With that in mind (and the fact that it mainly sits in its case doing nothing) i was thinking of putting it up for sale, what would be a fair price for something like this?seems a shame for it to sit around and not be played, and im sure someone out there is a fan of these (apart from yourself of course). I think I paid around £180 for mine back then.