The Aria Ike Isaacs - A forgotten 1980's classic!

Hello Fretheads! A guitar to watch out for that is something of a forgotten classic so much so that I found it hard to track down a really clear picture of one is the Aria Ike Isaacs Signature Model The best ones are from the early 1980's as they were first available in 1981. They were designed around a concept of a classic semi acoustic design made to be lightweight and with a very comfortable neck. They sound great unplugged or amplified - try a Polytone or a small boutique 10 watt -20 watt combo. Sound wise they have a light touch with a fair bit of attack. Build wise a nice cutaway allows access to the upper frets with little real difficulty and the double binding is always a useful indicator. Perhaps the most important aspect on these early ones is the solid spruce top - no ply here, combine this with an Ebony board and you are into serious quality territory. "Champagne quality", and if you keep you're eyes peeled "for lemonade money". People simply do not know how to price these and I have seem them as high as £750 but as cheap as £350. Aim to pick one up for around £500 and you can't go wrong. The original model number was the somewhat dull TA1500 - don't you just love those Japanese product names? Only the Japanese could take a beautiful instrument and call it the TA1500! Nonetheless I see great things ahead price wise for shallow and deep semi solids and these Aria's are worth keeping your eye out for. Until next time Fretheads!