Up for sale, a 1980's Aria Pro II model FA-70VS archtop guitar in exceptional, 100% original condition and in perfect working order. Clearly inspired by Gibson's Super 400 model, this Aria was manufactured at the Matsumoku factory in Japan, where the early (and now quite sought after) import Epiphone guitars were being built at the time. Analogous to Epiphone's "Emperor" and "Joe Pass Emperor II" models in many respects, this Aria features the same quality construction and electronics. In terms of cosmetic appearance, the Aria FA-70 really outshines the competition, with a rich Vintage Sunburst finish, ornate tailpiece, elongated peghead, and split block fingerboard inlays.The body features a full 3 1/2" body depth, with a generous 16 1/4" lower bout, and 11 3/4" upper bout with Ventian cutaway to allow easy access to the higher frets. This fully hollow body has a warm, round acoustic tone that translates well through the stock humbuckers, delivering everything from great cut and bloom in the bridge position to round and complex tones ideal for Jazz when switching to the neck pickup. Professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, this Aria has been freshly restrung with 11-50 roundwound strings and dialed in for low, comfortable action.The maple neck has a fairly slender C profile that still has some substance and roundness in the shoulders, with a rosewood fretboard and original medium jumbo fretwire. The scale length is a full 24 3/4", which will feel familiar and intuitive to any Gibson enthusiast, as will the nut width, which measures 1 11/16" for easy chording and accurate lead work. The original frets are virtually flawless, with perfectly rounded crowns and no notable wear. The guitar plays cleanly up the neck with no buzzing or dead spots, and the neck is straight with a truss rod that is responsive. Aria spared no expense with the cosmetic accents, and the neck features five-ply binding on both the fretboard and headstock, with the aforementioned split pearloid block inlays on the fretboard which mirror those seen on a Gibson Super 400. On the headstock, the original Aria branded gold tuners are intact and turn smoothly with very clean plating and good tuning stability.The electronics all work as they should, with individual Volume and Tone controls for each pickup, and original ridged gold speed knobs that provide a great grip. Other features include the ornate L5/Super 400-style gold tailpiece, and rosewood bridge with a compensated saddle for ideal intonation. The tortoise pickguard has a very distinctive swirly yellow and orange pattern produced by the Matsumoku factory in the '80s, and the original gold foil label noting the model name (with "VS" suffix for "Vintage Sunburst") is still intact on the neck heel.Cosmetically, this guitar has been extremely well cared for over the decades and is stunningly clean, with a vibrant and unfaded finish. Aside from a few faint finish scratches mostly relegated to the back, and light wear on the edges of the pickup covers and tailpiece, this vintage archtop is as clean as they come!It should also be noted that while the vast majority of FA-70 models on the market are from later Korean-made production runs, we've found the features of this model to be consistent with earlier Matsumoku production methods and hardware choices, comparable to early Japanese Epiphones and PE prefix Aria archtops.A hardshell case is included.