Aria mm-10...Seriously

Joshl-m

Hi,
I mentioned recently that I am fairly new to playing GJ and had acquired an Aria mm-10 in spite of the bad reviews. I got an ok deal on it because it needed some work(and still does), so I wasn't planning on stringing it up until the spring when it would be nice enough to work outside. However, there were a few warmer days last week and I couldn't help myself.
I was planning on refinishing the guitar but I don't know if I can justify that kind of time investment on a guitar with no resale value. So, scratches and dings-a-plenty will stay. I made a new bone nut to replace the awful chewed up piece of plastic that had been there before. After that, I removed a lot of the bridge mass. The top of the bridge was shaped and compensated well enough but the rest of the bridge was a solid block of wood! It now has feet and is partially hollowed(I can keep going but will wait til the next time I change the strings). I shimmed the feet with pieces of mahogany veneer, they are supper easy to find. If you have a cigar shop near you, they probably have scads of them that they are just going to burn or throw away.
Anyways, the guitar is not bad considering it has an almost flat top. Not as crisp as the Ciganos but it will definitely pull off the GJ sound better than my dread or luthier built small jumbo. It's not 100% there in terms of the GJ sound, it's a little bass heavy but I am still enjoying it more than I thought I would. Every time I pick it up, I am surprised.
Do I regret getting it? No.
Do I wish I had another guitar? Well, really...what's life without one more guitar.
I managed to get a couple short videos on my lunch break but these were the only ones where the audio was ok. The guitar is so loud I couldn't get any rhythm samples on my phone.
Now, to start working on technique......

Buco

That was nice. The guitar sounds good.

Matteo

the rest of the bridge was a solid block of wood

I believe that's how the bridges on the early Selmer Maccaferris were constructed.

Joshl-m

Matteo wrote: »

the rest of the bridge was a solid block of wood

I believe that's how the bridges on the early Selmer Maccaferris were constructed.

Really!? That is definitely some food for thought. I was under the impression that they were always floating and/or hollow.

Matteo

Always floating, but in the beginning they weren't hollow and they didn't have two feet. Obviously, Selmer abandoned that design for the hollowed out bridge with two feet. And they must have seen some advantages with that for going through the trouble of doing it.

But I also suspect that modern guitars with the former kind of bridge design could be modeled after those early Selmer Maccaferris. So there could be a thought behind it, and not just negligence. And there may be other things that are done a bit differently on those guitars to make that kind of bridge work. But I don't know about that. Just speculating.

Joshl-m

I think, in this case, it is just part of why these guitars, as well as so many other asian imports, are so cheap. Major cost cutting in the final stages. Cheap hardware, crap finish, shoddy fret work. Fast and just enough to get it out the door and "playable" but not enjoyable.
For instance, the arias have a brown-ish stain on them but, it is actually a cheap colour coat applied after the poly is on the guitar. if you really wanted to you could scrape it off with your nail. Easy in the factory but it makes makes any kind of repair work super obvious.
I am doing a great job selling people on Arias, eh?
Really, they are fine if you know how to do a bit of work and have a super tight budget but the absolute beginner player should stay away.

ChrisMartin

I had one of these a while ago. It is worth the effort to strip the poly finish off the top and refinish either with shellac or a clear nitro spray can. This alone will liven up the sound a lot. Probably your bridge mods will help too. Tuners can be upgraded any time if they give trouble, and experimenting with string gauges and picks might help you find the 'sound' you want. Certainly can be made into a good useable GJ box for under $500.

ChrisMartin

Nice playing on the two videos, but maybe a concrete stairwell is not the ideal place to judge the sound of any guitar.

Joshl-m

Thanks Chris!
Yeah, the tuners definitely need to go.

t-bird

Agree with @Chris Martin - strip it and let the tone open up. I'm guessing it's not going to effect the value much at the price you paid?

Joshl-m

Yeah, you are right. I will probably do that in the summer. I have heard most pre-mixed shellacs are crap but Lee Valley has one that is sopped to be ok. Anyone have experience with that?