Aria Pro II

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Aria Pro II was a Japanese guitar brand. Aria Pro II guitars where manufactured by the Japanese company Arai and Company, founded in 1953 Shiro Arai. Arai and Company contracted musical instrument manufacturing Matsumoku to actually build the guitars. Arai and Company along with Matsumoku started building acoustic guitars in 1964, and then electrics in 1966, using Arai, Aria, Aria Diamond, and Diamond brand names. The Aria brand name was changed to Aria Pro II in late 1975, though this has been used mostly, but not exclusively, for electric guitars. All guitars were made in Japan until 1988, when production of less expensive models was switched to Korea. In the mid-1990s a few models were made in the United States.

[edit] Guitars

Aria Pro II did some copies of famous American guitars like the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul though it also did it own style of guitars. In the 70s and early 80s the company came into its own in the United States with a series of high end professional instruments. The company had many professional endorsements such as Herb Ellis, Mike Biggs, Neal Schon, Rod Stewart Band, Jerry Reed, and many more. The guitars were distributed at this point by Tillman Distributors in Charlotte NC. With the input from various artists and from the founders of Tillman Distributors, Joe Tillman, Dean Tillman and Jerry Tillman, the Aria Pro II guitars made a real mark in the industry during that time. Many of the models are still sought after by collectors and players alike.

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