Aria Guitar Serial Number Check
Aria guitars emerged on the music scene in 1958, with the first electric models appearing five years later. With such a large number of years in production, owners of Aria guitars often want to know what year their guitar was made. Manufacturers included a few clues to help you decide when your Aria was 'born.'
Locate the serial number on your guitar. If you cannot locate a serial number, chances are your guitar was manufactured before the mid-1970s. Serial numbers will be found on a plate bolted to the back of the guitar's neck on electric models or inside the body of an acoustic model.
Look at the first number of your serial number if one exists. Through 1987, Aria guitars serial numbers represented the year of manufacturer as either the first one or first two digits of the serial number. For example, a guitar made in 1978 might have the first two digits of 78 or the first digit of 8.
Determine whether your guitar's first two digits are 81 or higher. If the digits are 81 or higher, you can likely pinpoint the week the guitar was made. Guitars in this era included the year and week of manufacture as the first four digits. For example, a guitar made in the 10th week of 1988 would have the first four digits of 8810.
Warning
Remember that dating Aria guitars is not a science. For information on Aria guitars, email info@ariauk.com.
It was made well. I ended up trading it and some other stuf for a Gretsch 6120.
http://www.ariausa.com/archives/intro.html
THE ARIA PRO II HISTORY VAULT
Aria Guitars
Arai and Company, founded in 1953 in Japan by Shiro Arai, began marketing Aria brand acoustic guitars in 1960, and began manufacturing its own acoustic guitars in 1964, followed by 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 primarily (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. What follows is a listing of the Aria guitars we've been able to trace through this history. Obviously, this is not inclusive, and you should always take the dates as advisory, at best. Also, this whole listing is primarily related to the American market, but could also reflect dates and models from other markets as well.
Dating Aria Guitars
Dating Aria guitars is a mix of fair precision and historical triangulation. The early guitars did not contain serial numbers, so you have to go by the rough historical outlines here. There are no pot codes. In the mid-'70s serial numbers began to be used. At least for Aria guitars made by Matsumoku, the serial number contains the year of manufacture in the first one or two digits (Y##### or YY####). Thus, a guitar from 1979 might begin with 79####. One from 1981 might begin with 1#####. The scheme becomes less sure after 1987. Some Korean- made guitars use a serial number with year and week indicated in the first four digits (YYWW####). Thus 9628#### would be from the 28th week of 1996. However, this is not the case on all guitars, and some have serial numbers which are not date-coded.
Archive information and research created by Michael Wright
The Different Strummer