Aristides Guitars

[Andromalia]

Does anyone know how arium guitars will age? Will the resins degrade or the glass-like porous structures break down over time? We're like 10 years into the latest Aristides reincarnation at this point, so if it's a problem, it's not a super-fast problem, or maybe it has happened in those guitars but isn't overly apparent (the exoskeleton seems to maintain)?

Carbon fiber stuff in the car world seems to hold up well enough, and Parker phenolic fingerboards have stood the test of time. Now Arium specifically, we can't know yet. But logic would have it, that it should be more resilient than wood unless you pour some chemicals on it.

 

[diagrammatiks]

I mean it’s only got to last the 6.5 months you’re gonna hold on to the guitar for anyway. Just have fun with it.

 

[Mathemagician]

I mean it’s only got to last the 6.5 months you’re gonna hold on to the guitar for anyway. Just have fun with it.

This is some fucking facts. I’m just biding my time until someone with a white one with black fretboard & hardware needs to fire-sale theirs to fund the latest exclusive set of pickups/amp/magical guitars.

And when it happens I’ll obviously have just remodeled/repaired something in my house.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I mean it’s only got to last the 1.5 months you’re gonna hold on to the guitar for anyway. Just have fun with it.

ftfty lol

 

[Avedas]

I mean it’s only got to last the 6.5 months you’re gonna hold on to the guitar for anyway. Just have fun with it.

That's generous. How many times have people posted a NGD here just to say at the end of the post that it's for sale lmao

 

[prlgmnr]

I think we've had people saying stuff will be going up for sale before they've even got it.

 

[rifftrauma]

I'm still debating on having one built. What color did you go with?

I contacted Pascal a few days ago and damn, he responded 1 minute after I emailed them lol. I couldn't believe how fast he was at responding and helping me with my questions. I asked for a custom layout and he said no problem with no additional cost.

I went with the anthracite, they're trying to keep that color in stock. I didn't want to have to wait through another build for a couple of small changes. If I end up digging the 070 I might sell it and have them complete an actual build for me.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Does anyone know how arium guitars will age? Will the resins degrade or the glass-like porous structures break down over time? We're like 10 years into the latest Aristides reincarnation at this point, so if it's a problem, it's not a super-fast problem, or maybe it has happened in those guitars but isn't overly apparent (the exoskeleton seems to maintain)?

This is super adecdotal at this point, but my older axes from them are 8 years old IIRC, and there's nothing perceivable regarding any changes. They've all been gigged hard, so there's that in their favour, but I'd expect a really long time before ANY kind of change, and not really a structurally compromising one at that. I mean, if my Les Paul has survived since 1968 with a thin ass finish on rather porous wood, I wouldn't expect a resin such as this to develop odd self-destructive defects. Your reference to the exoskeleton is relevant, though: from what I've seen in the rather rare Catalyst axes, one common issue was screws chewing the arium as there wasn't really anything like this kind of shell, and arium IS quite easy to drill through.

 

[narad]

This is super adecdotal at this point, but my older axes from them are 8 years old IIRC, and there's nothing perceivable regarding any changes. They've all been gigged hard, so there's that in their favour, but I'd expect a really long time before ANY kind of change, and not really a structurally compromising one at that. I mean, if my Les Paul has survived since 1968 with a thin ass finish on rather porous wood, I wouldn't expect a resin such as this to develop odd self-destructive defects.

Yea, that's what kind of has me wondering though. Nature has a way of finding incredibly stable structures, and there's a certain resilience to natural materials that we often don't find in our attempts to simulate them. If some moisture comes and goes in a guitar, it's not the end of the world, but I'm curious if the same is true for Arium over many years.

And like if you smash through some part of it, is it repairable or just easier to cast a whole new one?

But if you get 10+ years out of a $3.5k guitar, and that's your only one, that's probably something you can write-off. For all these guys buying 5+ Aristides though, I have to wonder if there's any understanding of how they'll age 20, 30 years out.

The bit about the exoskeleton is interesting. I wonder if they've updated the shell since the Catalyst days though - quite a while ago.

 

[Fred the Shred]

To be honest, and my memory is kind of vague, Catalysts didn't really have an exoskeleton, and whatever was covering the body was quite definitely not nearly as resilient. Breaking Arium is yet to be seen (mostly because that does imply somehow managing to wreck a bunch of layers of carbon and glass fiber), but I can't see that being an easy repair job as you'd need to glue the thing back together, since I doubt you can just toss the defunct guitar back in the mold and fill the damaged bit with the resin and curing additives.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Yea, that's what kind of has me wondering though. Nature has a way of finding incredibly stable structures, and there's a certain resilience to natural materials that we often don't find in our attempts to simulate them. If some moisture comes and goes in a guitar, it's not the end of the world, but I'm curious if the same is true for Arium over many years.

And like if you smash through some part of it, is it repairable or just easier to cast a whole new one?

But if you get 10+ years out of a $3.5k guitar, and that's your only one, that's probably something you can write-off. For all these guys buying 5+ Aristides though, I have to wonder if there's any understanding of how they'll age 20, 30 years out.

The bit about the exoskeleton is interesting. I wonder if they've updated the shell since the Catalyst days though - quite a while ago.

I think for non-touring schlubs (like most of us on this site) the aristides will last basically forever if you don't do something dumb like try to run it over or pull a pete townshend. If you didn't watch the aristides factory tour video they talked with timo somers and showed off his first pink 060 that he's been touring with for the past couple of years. The finish and body looked to be in pretty good shape.

 

[prlgmnr]

they talked with timo somers and showed off his first pink 060 that he's been touring with for the past couple of years. The finish and body looked to be in pretty good shape.

Though they did seem to also imply that they have a member of staff on hand purely to clean his bodily fluids off his instruments.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Not really, but they do have to clean that grime. My tech has to do the same to my guitars, really - nothing new here, as guitars will be abused on the road and be rather filthy after a while.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Though they did seem to also imply that they have a member of staff on hand purely to clean his bodily fluids off his instruments.

I mean if a guy that constantly sweats (and apparently has acidic sweat) all over his guitar/abuses it on tour says it holds up, then I'll take their word for it. I get grime on my guitars just from playing at home, so I wouldn't be worried about durability

 

[Jonathan20022]

Everyone here barre Fred is just playing these things in an Air Condition/Humidified jam room in their home, I think we can stop worrying about the wear and tear when guys are putting many times the amount of stress any of us bedroom players would ever put on the things

 

[LeviathanKiller]

It was pretty cool (no pun intended) to just leave the guitar in my car during the past weekend when it got both fairly cold and fairly hot and I just took it out of the soft case and played. I didn't need a tuner all weekend surprisingly.

I'm not done with wood guitars, but I'm definitely getting a Richlite fingerboard on my next build. That combined with stainless steel frets is like a slip-n-slide on your guitar. This is the true definition of a guitar playing like butter. It's unlike anything I've ever played before. I wasn't prepared for there to be such a difference even but apparently my fingers touch the board more than I previously thought.

 

[777timesgod]

It was pretty cool (no pun intended) to just leave the guitar in my car during the past weekend when it got both fairly cold and fairly hot and I just took it out of the soft case and played. I didn't need a tuner all weekend surprisingly.

I'm not done with wood guitars, but I'm definitely getting a Richlite fingerboard on my next build. That combined with stainless steel frets is like a slip-n-slide on your guitar. This is the true definition of a guitar playing like butter. It's unlike anything I've ever played before. I wasn't prepared for there to be such a difference even but apparently my fingers touch the board more than I previously thought.

It is better to avoid it, not just for the change in temperature for the guitar but for potential thieves who may break the window and get to it. Be careful there, whenever I leave as much as a pedal in my car, I put it under the seat to ensure that it is out of sight. A car that apparently does not have something of value inside is a smaller target.

I may try out a used Aristides that I saw on Ebay, during a trip that I am planning. I have been hearing so many great things about them. Seems that the name (Aristides = He who is of optimal origin) fits the gear.

 

[narad]

Everyone here barre Fred is just playing these things in an Air Condition/Humidified jam room in their home, I think we can stop worrying about the wear and tear when guys are putting many times the amount of stress any of us bedroom players would ever put on the things

We're talking the degradation of artificial materials in response to the environment over time, not like "wear and tear". Basically imagine that the inside of your guitar was structurally maintained by tiny iron poles and moisture was able to get in and out of it. Wouldn't really matter how active you are, it's just the nature of the materials. So I think it's worth understanding whether the arium is resistant against the types of humidity / vibrations / and simply changing pressures inside the exoskeleton over time.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Arium really doesn't "care" about humidity or temperature, and as such is not prone to breaking bonds over the natural changes in both, extreme as they may be (within reason: tossing it into a fire is not a great example of "temperature change" ). Vibration killing the bonds in most modern composites is highly improbable no matter what, given the resistance to traction on multiple vectors of the cured material. I'm not saying these will last eternally, but given that the far more vulnerable Catalysts are still around in functional order, I dare say it is very unlikely one of these guitars will ever give up the ghost due to natural degradation of its composite components during any of our lifetimes.

As for the amount of abuse my guitars take, it is true. Timo's, Ihsahn's, Mark's... there's plenty of these taking road abuse and holding their own consistently. Only a few get as disgustingly soiled as Timo's and my own, but alas, it's the nature of our sweat, not really wanting to be tearing them apart to clean them up mid-tour, etc., so whomever has the wonderful job of sorting them in between legs only needs elbow grease, patience, and up to date tetanus shots!

 

[Jonathan20022]

We're talking the degradation of artificial materials in response to the environment over time, not like "wear and tear". Basically imagine that the inside of your guitar was structurally maintained by tiny iron poles and moisture was able to get in and out of it. Wouldn't really matter how active you are, it's just the nature of the materials. So I think it's worth understanding whether the arium is resistant against the types of humidity / vibrations / and simply changing pressures inside the exoskeleton over time.

I mean, if we're trying to have some kind of scientific observation of the material literally degrading then you're going to need access to arium and experiment with it. Most resins are sturdy enough to last decades, and that's when they're exposed to the elements in the first place. So given that these are sealed pretty tightly, the only point of entry for humidity and moisture to affect the arium core would be, screw holes which are sealed as well 99% of the time? That and damage deep enough to crack poly/paint/carbon fibre/fiberglass to reveal the arium. At any point I think the best thing to compare it to is resin durability since carbon fibre/fiberglass is universally known and used for it's durable nature.

We only have a decade's worth of observation between the Catalysts and the OG Aristides, so only time will truly tell. I certainly don't feel like these will start to degrade, even on an observable level within our lifetime. So I guess my future immediate family will have to report to SSO on their findings when they pull my old guitars out of an attic