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August 25, 2006
Friday Guitar Blogging - Copy Cat
Not long ago I was at a friend's house for practice, and he let me try out his guitar during rehearsal.
It's a Les Paul, only it isn't. It feels, looks, and plays like a Les Paul (though, surprise, the 2nd string stays in tune a little better), but the name on the headstock is Aria.
Yep, that's right, it's a 1970s Japanese copy of one of the world's most famous guitar brands. This one is finished in a gorgeous cherry sunburst. Several Japanese companies got the fire sued out of them for making and selling these and other illicit knockoffs. No, that's what I used to think, before I read this piece about Ibanez and Gibson. Interesting. (It also cleared up why a Japanese company would have a name like "Ibanez," which you, dear reader, doubtless recognize as having a rather Iberian lingual heritage.)
This Aria is in need of some help, in terms of a new pickup switch and maybe a good cleaning, but overall it plays and sounds great.
By the way, playing a Les Paul copy on Patsy Cline songs was interesting. The common impulse upon picking up a Les Paul is to play something by, say, Jimmy Page (or maybe that's just me). But all one has to do is remember the instrument's namesake, and playing clean, high countermelodies with maybe a touch of echo on comes quite naturally. Of course, as soon as we took our first break, I had to stomp on some pedals and make it wail.
Guitar Blogging | By joe lance | 03:31 PM