Aria @ Davis GMC

Can you still get good guitars at reasonable prices today? Of course you can. These Aria Pro II guitars are now available at Davis GMC.

The 714 is a good HSS guitar to own if you require a repertoire of tones for contemporary music; rock, blues & cleans, the AE200 can handle these with ease. When I tried this one out, I'm more impressed with the single coils; very strong note definition. A quick check revealed them to be sporting Alnico 5 magnets so that explains things. 

The MAC here is a D600, meaning - it sports a fixed bridge. I believe the D600 neck is quite the highlight of this instrument. Feels sturdy as heck & very comfortable to handle but don't expect a Wizard kind of profile as this is not an Ibanez. Nevertheless, it is as appealing as the Ibanez (& maybe some LTDs) in this price range.

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Re-string: ARIA Pro II TA-TR1

This came in for a re-string & set up yesterday - Aria Pro II TA TR1. This has to be one of the best value for money instrument that is much overlooked. While we drift with Epiphone when it comes to affordable semi-acoustic guitars, the TA TR1 is the standard to beat in this price bracket. It's simply well made. My only beef here is the nut - it's not glued to the wood. When you remove all strings at once, dropping out from the instrument is inevitable. The unplugged tone is bright, quite expected from a smaller bodied semi with a satin finish. With that said, it responded well to EQ tweaks at the amp, going from raunchy, punk tones to warm, rounded-top-end jazz staples, the TA TR1 hold its own when it comes to tone. To top it all off, it comes with a very well made Mojo bag. Available at Davis GMC (List: $650).