NGD! Glorious 80s Nostalgia

[Catalyst Collide]

HAPPY DAYS! Listen, I know it's ridiculous, but it's ridiculous in all the right ways. I also realize that some folks will want to post this in the "Some guitars are too ugly not to post" thread - totally fine with that. I still love it because it brings back some good memories.

I've been looking for this guitar for a long time, and hard core hunting for over a year. This Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe in black and red zebra stripe was my very first guitar. You can imagine how cool it looked on a 110lb 15 year old - I sold mine a million years ago during my senior year of high school. A few years back, nostalgia got the best of me - plus the desire for a good laugh - and I started looking for another one to hang on the wall. The challenge was that the one I had - with the paint job and weird floating tremolo - is incredibly rare. In the past year I've seen one come up online and it sold before I even had a chance to bid on it (and I have constant searches running everywhere). I got a tip yesterday that there was one in the background of a photo someone posted on facebook. A few emails later, plans where made and a 5 hour round trip drive was taken. She's now home with me, where she belongs. She'll get a full restring and setup soon - despite the fact that I'll never really play her, she deserves that at the very least. I couldn't be more stoked.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

that finish is rad

 

[NickS]

I think it looks pretty cool, if also a little ridiculous! Definitely a good display piece if nothing else.

 

[Soya]

I don't even like explorer shapes and I think that's fantastic.

 

[Leviathus]

Awesome! HNGD!

 

[budda]

Loud and proud.

 

[manu80]

Love it
Tiger/bengal guitars are dope

 

[Aliascent]

Aria ZZs are awewoaw guitars, so happy ngd !
Also that finish is cool, never seen one like that before.

 

[Andromalia]

One of my bandmates in high school had one of those (just black, though) and I always thought it was shit because he sounded awful. A few years later I learned he probably setup his metalzone in a non-proper way. It was those blessed times when I believed a distorsion pedal was a distorsion pedal.

 

[Mathemagician]

Muy fuego.

 

[Aliascent]

Aria ZZs are awewoaw guitars, so happy ngd !
Also that finish is cool, never seen one like that before.

This should read "awesome", not whatever autocorrect turned it into.

Quick question: how does it sound ? Most ZZ I've seen have other types of pickups, rarely rail pickups.

 

[Catalyst Collide]

Aria ZZs are awewoaw guitars, so happy ngd !
Also that finish is cool, never seen one like that before.

I honestly never realized how rare the finish was until I started looking for one. You can find a ZZ with typical paint jobs fairly easy - they're not abundant, but they're out there. The zebra is a different beast all together - they just don't come up often. The black and white is more common than the red and black. I've never seen the yellow in black that's in this ad:


I've also seen at least 4 different types of bridges: a fender style, a kahler style, a floyd rip off like mine, and a 4th that is like a mix between a fender style but with more heft and fine tuners. There is a surprising amount of variation for a guitar that didn't exist for long.

This should read "awesome", not whatever autocorrect turned it into.
Quick question: how does it sound ? Most ZZ I've seen have other types of pickups, rarely rail pickups.

Honestly - I haven't even plugged it in yet. The strings are old and dead, the bridge needs adjustment - it basically needs a full proper setup. The rail pickups were what came stock with this model - I can't imagine they sound amazing, but they might be passable...maybe. From the ad above you can see that both rail and non-rail pickups were available in stock models. Being the 80s, obviously a lot of folks swapped in super distortions or something similar - I've seen quite a few with those. Since they came out of the matsumoku factory, the overall build quality is good, but some of the component choices maybe not so much. The floyd knock off... well, I'm not a floyd guy and I hated this one even more because of how it locks at bridge. The locking nut is on the headstock behind the regular nut which is just dumb. I've seen a couple folks fix that by moving the locking nut to the proper location. Obviously, if it didn't have sentimental value to me it's not a guitar I would have purchased. It's also not a guitar I would recommend to someone if they were looking for an explorer style guitar UNLESS they could get it really cheap and it came with one of the other bridges.

One of my bandmates in high school had one of those (just black, though) and I always thought it was shit because he sounded awful. A few years later I learned he probably setup his metalzone in a non-proper way. It was those blessed times when I believed a distorsion pedal was a distorsion pedal.

The Metal Zone is a finicky lass, but I wouldn't be surprised if the pickups in this thing were also part of the problem.

 

[ThunderMoose]

When I read the title I knew I would like it...
I am glad to report that I was surprised in a good way. You have style!

 

[technomancer]

Looks good to me

 

[Rosal76]

I love that finish. Reminds me of Kerry King's old ESP V.

 

[77zark77]

I thought mine has a cool finish......before reading this thread. Thank you.

 

[BlackSG91]

You can now get a gig with Steel Panther.


;>)/

 

[Catalyst Collide]

I thought mine has a cool finish......before reading this thread. Thank you.

I really like that finish! Nick from Mutoid Man plays that in a bass form. Honestly, if the zebra didn't have sentimental meaning to me, I'd say I like one more. Thankfully there is plenty of room in the world for weirdly painted, pointy guitars.

 

[Catalyst Collide]

You can now get a gig with Steel Panther.


;>)/

If I had the chops to play any of that stuff I'd be squeezing into spandex right now.

 

[jephjacques]

owns