Sound

I'm still mistified by this banjo because it's a wild beast to tame; for some time I tried without success to figure out how to handle it until I learned to coax a tasteful tone. This banjo has lots of punch and cutting power, and you don't really need to play hard to make the notes jump out. Its most impressive feature is a cannonball 4th string, amazing thing for a raised head banjo whose tone ring is backed by a multi-ply maple rim drilled for bracket shoes instead of a three-ply rim / one-piece flange combination: all the sweetness and the 'throat' formants of the best archtop tone are there, along with the right amount of depth. Head tension plays a key rule; at about F the instrument starts to open up and you can already hear the low string growl, but at the same time a hollow, echoey ring tends to peek through your playing and up the neck the clarity diminishes to a blunt, unsympathetic tone. At a shade below C, the other extreme for practical purposes, sweetness increases furthermore but all of the low end and part of the volume is lost. The right tension lies in the middle, between A# and B, where the tone is consistently good down and up the neck. The instrument, heavier than average, benefits from a thin head (I suspect that a 5-Star, somewhat firmer than a .007 Remo, would further improve the tone), and must be fitted with a stout, solid bridge.

Lots of «sweet spots» and many shades of sound shifting the right hand up and down, and this alone is surprising. When played right over the edge of the fingerboard the sound is rather hollow and the maximum sweetness is obtained picking over the tone ring edge instead. Changing tailpiece height brought no noticeable changes in tone, but it shouldn't be left without tension at all if it's to control overtones effectively.

Definitely not too good near the bridge. Playing at less than 1" from it doesn't make for a more piercing sound since the tone becomes too harsh, stinging and brittle.

Sound Rating

8

Appearance

Flashy for sure. Someone might as well be seriously annoyed by its snazzy red/yellow sunburst on white maple along with gold plating (I am, but I don't mind too much either). Maple throughout, three-piece neck with checkerboard purfling beneath cream binding. Maple multy-ply rim (too bad, but I've heard many a Gold Star or even earlier Ibanez with more or less the same configuration and sound-wise there was nothing to regret). Flamed maple resonator with checkerboard and cream binding on sidewall's top and bottom and twin purfling rings on the back. Thin, high gloss polyurethane finish, well laid and excellently polished. This alone sets this banjo apart from many mass-produced 'cheapies', although I don't go mad for the transparent red/yellow sunburst à la RB 800 on natural white maple: I wish they had put on a more sober hue (e.g. amber, sienna, dark tobacco sunburst) or left the white maple as it was altogether. In my banjo I found a small finishing flaw in the resonator side where a hardened drop of lacquer overlaps the cream binding which ends up being covered in a haze of red pigment, but with no damage. It can be easlily sanded and polished.

Neck and rim wood is AA-grade, and resonator's is AAA-grade: you can feel it alive and vibrant. The excellent finishing work contributes to this «real thing» feeling. The rim is the only wooden part with clear finish. Slender profile neck, rosewood fretboard inlaid in pearl from the first fret with baroque motives loosely based on the 'wreath' pattern, but on the black-veneered peghead the gorgeous inlay work is celluloid... The gold plating is definitely the low point on this instrument. At the time of purchase it was already oxidized or badly worn throughout; on armrest, tension hoop, brackets, bracket shoes' tips, tailpiece, even on the tuning pegs, the shiny gold faded to a dull patina, decidedly not up to par with aged nickel plating look. Only the flange along with resonator lugs, bracket band, and tone ring, show no signs of wear. Another oddity is two misplaced position markers, with the "Country Joe" block at 22nd fret while the actual position inlay, with corresponding side dot, is at 21st. The latter is a common occurrence of many Asian banjos, and I suspect that while at the factory they apparently do know very well what goes where, perhaps these errors are intentional (i. e. on Gold Tone, Epiphone masterclones and other imports) in order to make their instruments almost identical to the American made ones to the eye of the casual buyer yet easily recognisable to the expert's. Why? Maybe to make their sojourn by the subsequent buyers a very short one... Maybe I'm particularly malicious today :-P

Appearance Rating

8

Customer Service

Does it ever exist? :-)) I never found any Aria website. Overseas Asian factories and their catalogs change year after year, often dropping their top of the line or introducing models that in the course of the previous season were in production by another maker or, more probabily, sold under another name. It's wiser to sort such instruments by construction patterns and choice of hardware rather than by brand name.

What's the age of this banjo? Early seventies, as the previous owner claims my B-800 to be made in 1971, or early eighties as reported in an old datasheet I found on the web? Who was the official dealer? The only sure thing is that it was made in Japan, as the small label behind the headstock said, thus long before production cost forced manufacturers to move their plants in Korea and subsequently in China (new Arias are made in China, but the logo has since then changed too). This makes my instrument at least 26-27 years old.

All in all, who cares? It's only an almond-eyed hunk of wood and metal, not a 'real' banjo made in its homeland... Dig?

Customer Service

1

Overall Comments

Definitely a good banjo, bearing in mind that it's rather awkward to approach: unlike many small-sounding archtops, it doesn't forgive at all sloppy picking. As I said, a wild beast with lots of character and shades but also most demanding for the right hand. This banjo has a rather limited setup range so that it's difficult - although not at all impossible - to change its basic voice. Being not too dry by nature, an optimal setup is required in order to achieve a good note separation without losing expression.

This banjo has been a wise purchase on my part, almost without knowing. When I bought it I've been called for some theatre work; my main flathead was taken down for various repairs, mainly the lag bolt assembly, and this instrument crossed my path in a shaft of luck.

Being a relic of the past as well as a nice piece of craftmanship I wouldn't certainly be happy it was stolen, but all in all it's not my main instrument. I simply happen to love archtop tone, which is supposed to be treblier, less bold and maybe less 'masculine' than flathead's, but also less tubby and much sweeter. I just happened to buy this banjo right when I needed one ready to play.

Maybe one day I will sell it, but only if someone will show me a well-made archtop Japanese banjo of the same value, with a good tone ring, that proves better than mine... A I said, mine may feel gnarly and a bit uneducated until one learns how to coax the best tone out of it, but it has the depth and the sheer power I did not hear in instruments of much more noble strain. I admit that the only other archtops that I've ever played were a 1980's top tension Hopf of futuristic design and four or five original Gold Stars of the same period. I remember one of them as being somewhat cleaner than my Aria albeit less powerful.

Overall Rating

8