SB Elite II

Mark says, “I thought you may be interested in the bass I have just bought. It is beautiful. I have never owned an SB before and this has really amazed me. The playability and feel is outstanding. My 4 year old daughter's response to the smooth wood back was to touch it and kiss it! It really does provoke an emotional response, a beautiful guitar.”

Agreed Mark, these basses are works of art. May your daughter grow up to appreciate its playability too!

Mark adds that he is puzzled by the extra knob on the bass. “This is no bodge job,” he insists, “I am pretty sure it is factory fitted. The electrics are (highly!) active. The tonal range is incredible and the output wicked. The little box (preamp) has 'Bartolini TBIBT Buffered Input Bass Treble Tone Control' on it.”

Interesting! I am only guessing, but my suspicion is that the Bartolini unit is an aftermarket fitting which required the fitting of an extra pot. Professional luthiers can do such jobs so well that the alteration becomes imperceptible.

2) Someone sent this in labelled SB-800, but I'm not sure. Comparing it to Aria's official SB-800 photo on this site, that one has chrome-plated hardware and the knobs seem to be in slightly different locations. The bridge also looks slightly different.

Given that the hardware looks to be gold-plated, this bass is an SB Elite II.

3) David Thomas of Wales put the cat among the pigeons. He reckons this bass of his is an SB Elite, but says the scale length of this bass is some 40mm shorter than usual!

Chris Candelaria from the USA has come to the rescue. In 1985 he bought an Elite II and remembers that the catalogue offered a short scale option.

Chris adds, “I believe there was also a slightly different body style availble for the short scale. The cutaways were shallower and the horns were of equal length I think.”

That would be interesting to see. Does anyone out there have one?

4) After a long wait, another reader has sent in photos of an Elite II.

Mikey O'Donohue of Ireland was in touch about a bass he'd seen. He writes, “Just thought that I would drop you a line to let you know that I ended up buying the Aria SB bass! Based on the pictures on your website, I think that it is an Elite II. I bought it for 465 Euros.”

“The bass is in very good condition with only two small chips,” he continues. “The neck was a little bowed but I replaced the heavy guage strings with some Rotosound medium gauges and this seems to have sorted the problem. No need for any truss rod adjustment. The bass sounds fantastic and I'm already thinking about getting another one if I can!”

5) Jason Arthur of Korea had an Elite II finished in black.

Referring to the Elites above, he says, “I think most of the ones you have currently on the site are post-Matsumoku judging by their non-recessed output jacks. The one I have is an '85 model, in very nice condition. I actually sold it on eBay a few weeks ago but the buyer hasn't come through with the money yet. A part of me hopes he doesn't because it's a really nice bass and I think it sold for less than it's worth!.”

Jason has kindly allowed me to use photos from his Photobucket site. On this site you will find many photos of his other lovely basses!

Some slight tarnishing on the machine heads is common. It is a good idea to wipe gold-plating clean after each use, as the tiniest droplets of sweat can attack the finish.

6) Miles Harding from England has an Elite II which he says he hasn't played for about 10 years.

He bought it in 1989 and put it up for sale on eBay, where it went for £.....

7) Eero Martin from Finland is an enthusiastic collector of fine basses. He has nine SBs!!

Among them is this Elite II in red. Eero, or Errol as he calls himself, points out that it has no serial number.

He bought this bass on eBay. He says it wasn't cheap and he loves it because, in his words, it is so “neutral”. Errol reckons the absence of a serial number means it is a post-Matsumoku instrument, as are most of the basses on this page. Jason's (5) with the recessed jack-socket and the teardrop selector switch is a Matsumoku bass.

A photo of Eero playing a 5-string Warwick Corvete LTD 2004. The bass was made for him in Germany.

8) Andy Peal of the USA has an Elite II in pearl white finish. This instrument was purchased in 1989 in Detroit.

Andy tells us, “Played regularly until 1994, until packed in a closet for quite a few years. Pulled it out of the closet in Sep, 2007.”

Quite right too. Made to be played!

9) James McGurk from Northern Ireland owns an Elite II in red. James says, “Got my bass in 1991, the same year it was made according to the factory pre-check tag which came with it. It looks like an Elite II which according to Aria's stats was discontinued by 1988.”

True, James. However Aria's archive information is not all that reliable as several readers have noted with other models.

James continues, “Passive electrics, no model name on headstock - plain brass truss cover. I would never, ever part with this bass, even now 16 years later and sitting alongside a 1979 Rick 4001, a Dean Rhapsody 12-string, a Takamine Semi acoustic and a Custom 8 string Wishbass. My SB is still my number one choice of bass, an absolute joy to play!”

James later wrote to update me - “Since we last spoke I've managed to get a hold of a lovely fretless SB1000, an original model from the early 80's in virtually mint condition. The only drawback is that in the past the pickup has died, but it has been replaced by a fantastic EMG soapbar which sounds fantastic. I'll have to get you some photos of it, it was an absolute bargain for £236 off eBay!!”

Now that really does sound like a bargain, James!

10) At last a reader has sent in photos of a fretless Elite II. These came from Michael Christiansen of Denmark.

Michael actually wrote to ask if I could help him with a circuit diagram for the inside of his bass. Hope you managed to fix it, Michael!

Dear reader, with your help we now have photos of Elite IIs in many finishes. If you own one which is in some way different from those above I would love to see photos of it.