NGD - everything you ever wanted to know about the Aria STG-004 Deluxe...

...but were afraid to ask!

It arrived today in a nice hard case, in almost perfect condition - the plastic was still on the pickguard and the back of the tuners. The strings were old and needed a lot of coaxing/prodding to remove but a fresh set of D'addario 9s, action lowered from the slide-worthy level it was at, and off we go!

So, facts as far as I know: HSS (staggered poles on the single coils), vintage trem (set flat against the body), standard strat VTT dials, standard scale length, radius unknown. Alder body, satin-finished maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets. This is the Deluxe version, which doesn't seem to be a current model. The obvious differences from the current standard version are the solid black with tortoiseshell colour scheme, the matt chrome hardware (very nice) and the active electronics. That toggle switch is a three-way - the up position taps the bridge humbucker, middle is both coils (which also affects the bridge + middle position) and down is an active mid boost. And I don't know if it's a deluxe feature but I've never seen such a beautifully figured neck on all the (admittedly cheap) guitars I've ever owned.

I've tested it in a limited fashion, using my pedal board through hi-fi speakers (it gets a proper test through a Hot Rod Deluxe on Thursday). Loads of variety with that five way switch and the toggle - I make it 14 different settings without touching the tone controls. Bell-like cleans, from rounded at the neck to biting at the bridge when tapped. The humbucker gives a nice thick grunt whilst retaining clarity. And that mid boost - perfect for solos. A real kick in output and at just the right frequencies to stand out from the band. I was expecting something quite tame and polite but these pickups are hotter than my excellent Korean Squier tele.

It's one-in, one-out, so a couple of weeks of testing follow before I decide to keep the strat or the tele - but early tests indicate this could be the strat that finally manges to win my heart.

The one possible downside is that although only the mid boost is active, no battery = no sound at all. Fortunately, as I also have an active bass, I tend to have a spare 9v battery on me most of the time and the battery compartment pops out rather than screws in, so it's not the end of the world. That's something I might look at getting rewired one day so that only the boost requires the battery (if such a thing is possible).

Woah! That is a beautifully figured neck! Congrats! :)

Woah! That is a beautifully figured neck! Congrats! :)

Thanks! The pic doesn't quite do it justice - it's the sort of wood I'd expect to see on the top of a guitar under a transparent finish, not hidden away at the back. I'll have to be careful when playing it live that I don't spend the whole time staring down at the neck!

After a couple of days of playing mostly unplugged, tonight I plugged it into a fender Hot Rod Deluxe, mic'd up and blasting out through a good PA system. It would be an understatement to say that it coped okay! About the only criticism I could level at it is that when using the wah at its treble extreme with the single coils, much squealing ensues. In fairness I've had the same with my tele, it was easily sorted by switching to the humbucker and I rarely use wah anyway.

I've got feeler guages and a steel ruler on the way to help with setting it up properly. I'll do the same with my tele to copare them fairly but if I'm forced to choose between them (which I am), then the Aria is a clear favourite so far. In direct sound comparison with the tele it managed to outpower it and delivered both a much rawer rock sound from the bridge humbucker and a clearer, smoother mellow neck tone (with lots of variety inbetween). I think I did well with this purchase - in fairness, I did with my tele as well.

After a setup this beaut is playing so much better, with a nice low buzz-free action. I played it live on Sunday and got lots of positive comments. The PA guy offered the opinion that this was the easiest guitar of mine to mix - it just sounded good without having to work at it.

I've got this desire now to get the white version as well, which came with a kind of black/silver pearloid scratchplate. Then swap the scratchplates over - black/silver and white/tort.... mmmmmmm!

Wow, sexy neck!

Nice!

That's a very very nice guitar, man.

The guitar is still going well. I saw a non-deluxe version on eBay at a low price and managed to snap it up as the only bidder. Very nice translucent blue finish (see picture for the two side by side). The big difference to the deluxe version is a plain maple neck and no active mid boost - the toggle switch is just a 2-way coil tap. The pickups are slightly different, with non-staggered poles, but it sounds pretty similar to the deluxe. I bought it to set up and sell on but it reinforced how good these guitars are when they've had a quick set up.