The original Gibson V had a broken headstock. It was sent to Hamer for repair and while there Michael asked for the black/white harlequin look when the guitar was refinished. That's the story I was told when I worked at Hamer in the late 80's. A friend of mine had a V like this featured only his wasn't an Aria it was was a Cort if I remember right. I wonder if he still has it?
I worked in a local small town music store for a few months. We got several Aria Pro II’s in and they were excellent guitars. Wish we had gotten one of these in the store!
You don’t see too many of the Aria ones with the traditional V shape - definitely spotted a lot more of the Greco version. Crazy how quick the Japanese manufacturers were making fantastic copies of legendary guitars that you could not find anywhere else. I sold my Greco MSV-650 a couple of years back, but this Aria feels like a slightly better player to me. And a real bonus that the previous owner put Duncan’s in it.
That’s a sweet looking Aria Pro II “V.” Michael Schenker is on my top 5 guitarists list. Yngwie Malmsteen played one back when he was in Alacatrazz, except he put in single coil pickups, because he wanted the Fender Stratocaster tone, if I remember correctly. It looked like he set them up so he could slide the pick ups forwards or backwards to get the right tone on each pick up, then lock them in. Did I see 164K Ohms on one of the potentiometers, in your Schenker “V” ?🎸🤘🏼👍
Cheers Jaime! Here, if you ever need any guitar played on a tune, just lemme know. I do other stuff apart from the Heavy Metal! Although, I can do that if required, that's obv no an issue, lol!
I remember having an aria catalogue when I was teenager and lusting over the blood splatter explorer. I knew full well I couldn’t pull it off but I’m still a little gutted I didn’t say ‘to hell with it’.
It's interesting how much a color or in this case the contrast of both the vintage white and black,can do to the overall look. I'm not a V shape guy but somehow that one works for me. I'm a sucker for white guitars specially if the fretboard is nice and dark really like the contrast.
i would try swapping the tone control capacitor to a0.001uF (103) as it really proves useful for Schenker's rolled off tone sound.Think itmay have been Hamer who turned him onto that as they did it on their guitars.
Yeah, I think there is an interview on RUclips with one of the Hamer guys talking about Michael bringing his V's in for repair them being refinished in the b&w for him.
100% that! I took my Greco MSV to 1 gig - we were doing a couple of UFO tunes. Needless to say after my rather unfaithful rendition of Only You Can Rock Me, it stayed at home thereafter. You turn up with one of these, people expect Michael Schenker. Sadly all they got that night was closer to Michael Spencer.
Right up there with taking out a VH Frankenstein! Schenker was jaw dropping live, saw him several time with MSG, never with UFO sadly and still kick myself for not seeing the classic line up touring the Walk on Water album mid 90's...and what a record that was too @@DunsysGuitarWorld
@@ianchappell2907yeah, I love the EVH guitars - and I would love to get one. But I would be red carded within 5 minutes at a gig if someone said “here mate, gonnie play Eruption?”. I didn’t see Michael with UFO until 1998, I think. Possibly wasn’t the best time to witness that, but I saw MSG 3 times in the early 80’s. It was a pretty cool time as I could see UFO with Tonka (I love that era of UFO), but also see Michael. And he still sounds fantastic these days.
Apparently around 94-95 when Walk on Water came out with the classic line up, Schenker was on form and the gigs were good, great album if you've never checked it out, also on Spotify there's a live album from that tour Werewolves of London and you can hear he was playing well. Saw UFO through the 80's with Tonka, TWTWATI is still a fantastic piece of work with Profession of Violence ending it brilliantly, what a solo!@@DunsysGuitarWorld
You dont seriously believe that is a 1981 vintage guitar? In that condition with all the hardware looking like 2023 shiny? Without 43 years of patina and use wear? With frets that look like they have never been played, but rubbed with a bit of citric acid to make them look a bit frosty and "old"... 🤔 I bought an ACTUAL Aria Pro2 flying V in 1982, from a friend, it was a 1980 or 1981 vintage. Yours looks like a decent enough modern Chinese copy of a 1981 Aria V, with a "Schenker style" paint job. If you are trying to convince us that is a 43 year old guitar, you have to get past these; 1. Frets never played 2. Fretboard never played 3. Paint looking like new (never been played) 4. Someone put new hardware on it 5. Chinese style paint practices in internal cavities 6. No original Aria logo on headstock etc etc
Hi mate, to answer your questions: I believe that only the Aria Pro II FV-800, in 1981-1982, had the Aria inlay on the headstock. These were 80,000 yen. The lower models like the FV-550 (55,000 yen) only had the logo on the truss rod cover. The FV-800 was a copy of a 50's V, the FV-550's were copies of 60's V's. I've never seen the earlier 1981/1982, more accurate, MSV in an Aria catalog (they appeared as part of the XX series in 1984 with the newer Aria headstock shape are aren't really copies of Michael's originals). But I had a very similar Greco MSV-650 from 1981. I would guess (and it's just a guess) that the Aria was the same price and could have been referred to as an Aria Pro II MSV-650 (being 65,000 yen). Condition wise, this guitar is certainly in the top 5 of the 30 or 40 Japanese guitars that I've owned. Although the 1981 Greco EGF-850 I have looks like it's brand new, apart from one ding on the bottom near the jack socket. Generally speaking, Japanese guitars of this vintage are played hard and the climate doesn't help in terms of wearing away at the hardware (I've had to change a few bridges on guitars as they were completely seized up and falling to pieces). There are no major marks on the frets and the board isn't dented either, but it has been played as the frets feel to me lower than any new guitar I have. I've worked on a couple of Chibson style guitars and, decent though they are, they are not of the build quality of this V. Construction wise this guitar has a screw in the tenon, from inside the neck pickup route. That is very much a sign of a Matsumoku built guitar from the late 1970's into the early 1980's. I've never see any modern Chinese maker copy this kind of thing. Mainly because they're probably more interested in getting a historically accurate Gibson style tenon. The routes themselves are very much Matsumoku style. This guitar has a 6 digit serial number. Which I believe Aria used for their V's in 1981. The first 3 numbers are pretty hard to make out (they seem to have gone to using yellow ink on their 7 digit serial numbers headstocks into 1982), but the last 3 are "113". I think the first 3 are either "101", or "103". But it does look like a leading "1", which is indicative of a 1981 Aria Pro II guitar. I filmed some stuff this morning and will link to a video below which should show some of the slight dings on the guitar (which my original video didn't pick up), the paintwork yellowing from the original white and the serial number. I'll also post a link to another 1981 Aria Pro II MSV, which shows the Matsumoku neck tenon, the routes (and the paint in them) and which only has the Aria logo on the truss rod cover. In short, I do think that this is a 1981 guitar. One that's in very good condition for its age. Could I be wrong? Of course I could. But if I am, then it's a genuine mistake on my part. I've posted over 700 video's - a lot of them featuring vintage Japanese instruments - and I've never knowingly misrepresented any of them. Anyways, hope that explains things. If you have an early 1980's Aria V, with a headstock inlay, then you have a very nice, pretty rare and valuable guitar. Thanks for checking out the video and for commenting. My video link (hopefully it works!): ruclips.net/video/4sFx12Kyip0/видео.html
The last picture in this Reverb listing shows another 1981 Aria Pro II MSV, with the Matsumoku tenon screw and the routes with paint in them: reverb.com/uk/item/1370138-aria-pro-ii-flying-v-1981-black-white-mij-made-in-japan-1981-michael-schenker-series
@@DunsysGuitarWorld Thank you for taking the time to post such a comprehensive reply. If the frets are lower than standard then it may have been levelled and recrowned, heck I do that to my old guitars. 🙂 I will stand corrected, it seems you might have an original 1981 V that has been well cared for. Normally when I see old guitars they are in a noticeably worse condition. Things like the metal bridge, tuner bodies etc have fine corrosion UNDER the chrome, showing as tiny bumps and bubbles. Maybe yours has some hardware replaced with new hardware or is simply been in a very low corrosion environment for decades lol, we dont really have low corrosion environments here in north east Australia where I am, it chews metal up. Also, a signature guitar might be likely to be carefully stored and maintained by the owner rather than played, which could account for low wear and good condition. I apologise for my hasty words and wish you the best with your classic guitar. 🙂 Alas, I no longer have that flying V, it had action higher than I liked and was no good for sitting playing so (from memory) I swapped it for a big bag of weed in about '84 (and alas again I no longer have the big bag of weed) 😎
@@wizrom3046 Absolutely not a problem at all! I'm honestly more than happy to answer any questions that anyone has. This one arrived from Japan in a very nice fitted Epiphone V case, so I think that the previous owner was a very careful one. I think it was well protected from the humid atmosphere as well - like you say some of the guitars from this era, from this area of the world, are almost beyond help in terms of trying to save the hardware. No need to apologise for anything, apart from maybe no longer owning that fine guitar (or the big bag of smoke - but I'm sure that that went to a good use, lol!).
Aria Pro II's, and everything coming from the Matsumoku Factory from 1975 to 1986, are great instruments !!
Michael schenker is the best my favorite guitarist very unique
The original Gibson V had a broken headstock. It was sent to Hamer for repair and while there Michael asked for the black/white harlequin look when the guitar was refinished.
That's the story I was told when I worked at Hamer in the late 80's.
A friend of mine had a V like this featured only his wasn't an Aria it was was a Cort if I remember right. I wonder if he still has it?
It was broken in the ulster Hall in Belfast in 1986 by my pals trying to grab it from him onstage 😁
Excellent info - yeah, I saw a video clip of one of the Hamer guys talking about repairing Michael's V.
I worked in a local small town music store for a few months. We got several Aria Pro II’s in and they were excellent guitars.
Wish we had gotten one of these in the store!
You don’t see too many of the Aria ones with the traditional V shape - definitely spotted a lot more of the Greco version. Crazy how quick the Japanese manufacturers were making fantastic copies of legendary guitars that you could not find anywhere else. I sold my Greco MSV-650 a couple of years back, but this Aria feels like a slightly better player to me. And a real bonus that the previous owner put Duncan’s in it.
Beautiful instrument! I love Japanese guitars from 80s. Great sound! Cheers Dunsy!🍻🎸🎸🤘
That’s a sweet looking Aria Pro II “V.” Michael Schenker is on my top 5 guitarists list. Yngwie Malmsteen played one back when he was in Alacatrazz, except he put in single coil pickups, because he wanted the Fender Stratocaster tone, if I remember correctly. It looked like he set them up so he could slide the pick ups forwards or backwards to get the right tone on each pick up, then lock them in. Did I see 164K Ohms on one of the potentiometers, in your Schenker “V” ?🎸🤘🏼👍
Forgot to mention, the previous owner of my V was Watto (who took over from Ken) in Black Rose.
I picked one up a couple of years ago, plays better than my Gibson. I put Duncan's in it🎵🎶
Nice playing and tone, sounds like the man himself
To kind Sir, too kind! Thanks a lot for checking out the video, much appreciated.
Iconic guitar! Can’t beat a black and white finish, unless you like other colours …
I could photoshop it onto pics from the roaring 20’s and it would fit in seamlessly. In fact I might make a video of me doing that!
@@DunsysGuitarWorld The way the white is turning cream gives it something of a Guinness vibe, which only adds to the appeal for me!
You’re too modest, Dunsy!!! Great playing. Magnificent axe.
I'll admit to there being more than 1 take on each of these musical segments, lol!
I had an Aria Pro II CS 400 that I bought new in 82, and sold a few years later. What a bone head, wish I still had it.
I still fancy getting one of the CS Series. Only played one, but it was a nice guitar.
Awesome informative vid again man, dug it!
Thanks buddy, appreciate you checking it out.
Love to get my hands on a Gibson or Dean Michael Schenker Flying V
Killer guitar Dunsy!!! 🖤🤍🖤🤍⚡⚡⚡🎶🙌
Cheers Jaime! Here, if you ever need any guitar played on a tune, just lemme know. I do other stuff apart from the Heavy Metal! Although, I can do that if required, that's obv no an issue, lol!
Good work.
I had a Bradley Schenker V just like this circa 1984 I got out of the Music Emporium catalog for $249
Another great video, with Flying V history and demo too. I sent you a message on Facebook about knock-off Flying Vs.
@dunseysguitarworld I sent you a follow up DM
Brilliant! My Ibanez V was a natural finish back in the day, but that didn't stop me from throwing Schenker shapes for all I was worth 😅
Damn, was it one of the Rocket Roll ones? Man, those are crazy expensive guitars these days.
Yep, that's pretty much the one, it was old when I had it😮😢 DOH! Wish I'd looked in the crystal ball before letting that one go!
I remember having an aria catalogue when I was teenager and lusting over the blood splatter explorer. I knew full well I couldn’t pull it off but I’m still a little gutted I didn’t say ‘to hell with it’.
Remember even Andy McCoy was pictured with the black and white one? I think it was meant to look like a dairy cow hide.
Love that you have the Starz albums on display, Dunsy!
All classics! Hope you're well, Sir.
Nice video! And nice Eastern Dark-shirt too! 😀
Thank ya! Long Live the New Flesh 👌
Beautiful guitar
Class in a Heavy Metal glass 🤘
It's interesting how much a color or in this case the contrast of both the vintage white and black,can do to the overall look.
I'm not a V shape guy but somehow that one works for me.
I'm a sucker for white guitars specially if the fretboard is nice and dark really like the contrast.
Yeah, totally classic unique look. Legendary, even.
SWEET!!! CONGRATS
Classic V look!
i would try swapping the tone control capacitor to a0.001uF (103) as it really proves useful for Schenker's rolled off tone sound.Think itmay have been Hamer who turned him onto that as they did it on their guitars.
Hello from Brazil ☕️. Fantastic performance. 🎸🎸🎸👏🏼🎶🎶🎶🎸
Thanks!
Love it
Thanks!
Thought you would have donned your 80s pink spandex pants for this one Dunsy !
Probably unacceptable even if they had RUclips back in 1981 😂
👍🏻👍🏻
🤘🤘
Oh lord coming over there to jam......God damn .....did you say Paul Hamer?
Yeah, I think there is an interview on RUclips with one of the Hamer guys talking about Michael bringing his V's in for repair them being refinished in the b&w for him.
@DunsysGuitarWorld met Paul ages ago before he sold the company to the guy with the Scandinavian nsme?.....loved him some old style axes
That's a cool guitar!
Made me feel like a Rock God. For just over 2 minutes, then I had to sit back doon to recover 🤘😄
@@DunsysGuitarWorld rock the V then a cup of tea.
Need a big pair to have the nerve to take that to a pub gig 👍
100% that! I took my Greco MSV to 1 gig - we were doing a couple of UFO tunes. Needless to say after my rather unfaithful rendition of Only You Can Rock Me, it stayed at home thereafter. You turn up with one of these, people expect Michael Schenker. Sadly all they got that night was closer to Michael Spencer.
Right up there with taking out a VH Frankenstein! Schenker was jaw dropping live, saw him several time with MSG, never with UFO sadly and still kick myself for not seeing the classic line up touring the Walk on Water album mid 90's...and what a record that was too
@@DunsysGuitarWorld
@@ianchappell2907yeah, I love the EVH guitars - and I would love to get one. But I would be red carded within 5 minutes at a gig if someone said “here mate, gonnie play Eruption?”. I didn’t see Michael with UFO until 1998, I think. Possibly wasn’t the best time to witness that, but I saw MSG 3 times in the early 80’s. It was a pretty cool time as I could see UFO with Tonka (I love that era of UFO), but also see Michael. And he still sounds fantastic these days.
Apparently around 94-95 when Walk on Water came out with the classic line up, Schenker was on form and the gigs were good, great album if you've never checked it out, also on Spotify there's a live album from that tour Werewolves of London and you can hear he was playing well. Saw UFO through the 80's with Tonka, TWTWATI is still a fantastic piece of work with Profession of Violence ending it brilliantly, what a solo!@@DunsysGuitarWorld
Cool mate, Doctor Doctor, Rockbottom awesome.
Every now and them a flying V pops up and I check it out then pass on it , anyway great guitar enjoy!🤘
Thanks buddy, appreciate you checking it out 👍
Wasn't it Michael back in the day who had a Les Paul and Rudolph had the V and they swopped over for some reason?? The rest is history.
Not 100% sure, but I know that Gibson did a Rudolph V at one point. About time they did an MSV.
Or as my grandfather used say "2 parts, like the Kaiser's bum".
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Aria! *dribbles*
10:44 Kitchen scales? 🤔
A welcome change from my usual A minor pentatonic 👌
@@DunsysGuitarWorld 🤣👏
@derekclacton thanks buddy - the comedy keeps coming like a 2024 family friendly episode of the Benny Hill Show 🤩🥃👈
Will you be doing something with a Gold top, on that basis, Dunsy? 🤔😉
@@derekclactonspeeded up x 4 with Mrs Dunsy chasing me with a frying pan. Just like The Good Old Days. Actually, that was a different show, lol 😂
You dont seriously believe that is a 1981 vintage guitar?
In that condition with all the hardware looking like 2023 shiny?
Without 43 years of patina and use wear? With frets that look like they have never been played, but rubbed with a bit of citric acid to make them look a bit frosty and "old"... 🤔
I bought an ACTUAL Aria Pro2 flying V in 1982, from a friend, it was a 1980 or 1981 vintage. Yours looks like a decent enough modern Chinese copy of a 1981 Aria V, with a "Schenker style" paint job.
If you are trying to convince us that is a 43 year old guitar, you have to get past these;
1. Frets never played
2. Fretboard never played
3. Paint looking like new (never been played)
4. Someone put new hardware on it
5. Chinese style paint practices in internal cavities
6. No original Aria logo on headstock etc etc
Hi mate, to answer your questions:
I believe that only the Aria Pro II FV-800, in 1981-1982, had the Aria inlay on the headstock. These were 80,000 yen. The lower models like the FV-550 (55,000 yen) only had the logo on the truss rod cover. The FV-800 was a copy of a 50's V, the FV-550's were copies of 60's V's.
I've never seen the earlier 1981/1982, more accurate, MSV in an Aria catalog (they appeared as part of the XX series in 1984 with the newer Aria headstock shape are aren't really copies of Michael's originals). But I had a very similar Greco MSV-650 from 1981. I would guess (and it's just a guess) that the Aria was the same price and could have been referred to as an Aria Pro II MSV-650 (being 65,000 yen).
Condition wise, this guitar is certainly in the top 5 of the 30 or 40 Japanese guitars that I've owned. Although the 1981 Greco EGF-850 I have looks like it's brand new, apart from one ding on the bottom near the jack socket.
Generally speaking, Japanese guitars of this vintage are played hard and the climate doesn't help in terms of wearing away at the hardware (I've had to change a few bridges on guitars as they were completely seized up and falling to pieces).
There are no major marks on the frets and the board isn't dented either, but it has been played as the frets feel to me lower than any new guitar I have.
I've worked on a couple of Chibson style guitars and, decent though they are, they are not of the build quality of this V.
Construction wise this guitar has a screw in the tenon, from inside the neck pickup route. That is very much a sign of a Matsumoku built guitar from the late 1970's into the early 1980's. I've never see any modern Chinese maker copy this kind of thing. Mainly because they're probably more interested in getting a historically accurate Gibson style tenon. The routes themselves are very much Matsumoku style.
This guitar has a 6 digit serial number. Which I believe Aria used for their V's in 1981. The first 3 numbers are pretty hard to make out (they seem to have gone to using yellow ink on their 7 digit serial numbers headstocks into 1982), but the last 3 are "113". I think the first 3 are either "101", or "103". But it does look like a leading "1", which is indicative of a 1981 Aria Pro II guitar.
I filmed some stuff this morning and will link to a video below which should show some of the slight dings on the guitar (which my original video didn't pick up), the paintwork yellowing from the original white and the serial number.
I'll also post a link to another 1981 Aria Pro II MSV, which shows the Matsumoku neck tenon, the routes (and the paint in them) and which only has the Aria logo on the truss rod cover.
In short, I do think that this is a 1981 guitar. One that's in very good condition for its age. Could I be wrong? Of course I could. But if I am, then it's a genuine mistake on my part. I've posted over 700 video's - a lot of them featuring vintage Japanese instruments - and I've never knowingly misrepresented any of them.
Anyways, hope that explains things.
If you have an early 1980's Aria V, with a headstock inlay, then you have a very nice, pretty rare and valuable guitar.
Thanks for checking out the video and for commenting.
My video link (hopefully it works!): ruclips.net/video/4sFx12Kyip0/видео.html
The last picture in this Reverb listing shows another 1981 Aria Pro II MSV, with the Matsumoku tenon screw and the routes with paint in them: reverb.com/uk/item/1370138-aria-pro-ii-flying-v-1981-black-white-mij-made-in-japan-1981-michael-schenker-series
@@DunsysGuitarWorld Thank you for taking the time to post such a comprehensive reply.
If the frets are lower than standard then it may have been levelled and recrowned, heck I do that to my old guitars. 🙂
I will stand corrected, it seems you might have an original 1981 V that has been well cared for. Normally when I see old guitars they are in a noticeably worse condition. Things like the metal bridge, tuner bodies etc have fine corrosion UNDER the chrome, showing as tiny bumps and bubbles. Maybe yours has some hardware replaced with new hardware or is simply been in a very low corrosion environment for decades lol, we dont really have low corrosion environments here in north east Australia where I am, it chews metal up.
Also, a signature guitar might be likely to be carefully stored and maintained by the owner rather than played, which could account for low wear and good condition.
I apologise for my hasty words and wish you the best with your classic guitar. 🙂
Alas, I no longer have that flying V, it had action higher than I liked and was no good for sitting playing so (from memory) I swapped it for a big bag of weed in about '84 (and alas again I no longer have the big bag of weed) 😎
@@wizrom3046 Absolutely not a problem at all! I'm honestly more than happy to answer any questions that anyone has. This one arrived from Japan in a very nice fitted Epiphone V case, so I think that the previous owner was a very careful one. I think it was well protected from the humid atmosphere as well - like you say some of the guitars from this era, from this area of the world, are almost beyond help in terms of trying to save the hardware. No need to apologise for anything, apart from maybe no longer owning that fine guitar (or the big bag of smoke - but I'm sure that that went to a good use, lol!).