About the Builder (from Wikipedia):
Aria was formed in Japan in 1953 by Shiro Arai as Arai and Company. They began retailing acoustic guitars in 1960, although the company didn't actually start manufacturing their own until 1964. Aria arranged for Matsumoku, the musical instrument maker, to build the guitars for them under contract. Arai and Matsumoku started building acoustic guitars in 1964, and then electric guitars in 1966, using Arai, Aria, Aria Diamond, Diamond, and much less frequently, Arita brand names. The Aria brand name was changed to Aria Pro II in late 1975, though this has been used mostly (but not exclusively) for electric guitars and basses. All guitars were made in Japan until 1988.
About the Guitar:
This Aria Pro II bass has been customised for Randy with Dimarzio pickups, custom artwork (front, and back) and a Kahler whammy bar setup. It's pretty cool, and most definitely one of a kind. Randy had this bass since his first album "Funk Me Tender"and it can be seen in action on the Hot Lick video: Randy Coven: Ultimate Lead Bass Guitar from the early '90.
Here an excerpt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDEgrVtrpkA.
Randy recalls how he came to this instrument:
This bass was given to Randy around 1085 in stock form. DiMarzio was kind enough to give him pickups to check out. So the single stock pickup was replaced and a Kahler Whammy installed. Randy and Joe Jem were hanging out together and at one occasion Joe took the bass apart to install the hardware and also painted Funk Me on the back with his signature airbrush style. Later on a Tattoo artist did the chopper artwork on the front.
A nice piece of Rock 'n' Roll history!
