26 replies to this topic

[Bigred1951]

I am interested in buying a used PAN guitar, c.early '70's. It is a hollow body or semi-hollow body (not sure what to call it) and seems to be in good condition, but is unstrung at the moment.. Fellow I know has been sitting on it for a few years. Beautiful color, sort of re/orange (sunburst?). I have been trying to research it on the internet and I know they are made by Aria. Any one on here have any knowledge or familiarity with this guitar? It was/is made in Japan I believe.:

[allthumbs]

I assume it is an acoustic? I took a peek and it is not listed in any aria reviews. I suspect that it is known by another name. Is there a label in the sound hole with more information

[allthumbs]

There is no record of a Pan made by Aria in the 70s that I could find. They used two letters or number designations or combinations of the two.May have been made for a third party maker who slapped their own label on it.

[Bigred1951]

Per my research, Aria guitars wer made by Arai company in Japan. Pan was also one of their labels. Sort of like Squier is by Fender, Epiphone by Gibson etc.
It is a hollow-body, or semi-hollow body electric. Unfortunately I don't have access to it now so I'll have to see if I can get more info. It somewhat resembles an Aria model FA70 that can be found on the following link.
[URL="http://www.ariausa.com/series/FA70/fa70.html"]

[allthumbs]

I figured it must be something like that. I have seen that done before. Glad you found some info. let us know how it plays when you get strings on it.

[marleyman]

I need help from you guys. I have a Pan by Aria guitar. It used to belong to my mom and she bought in the early 1970's. It says it is model number 9600 and is in good condition. The body has no scratches on it and the fretboard is still very playable. It also has all original parts. I was wondering if anybody knew how much this guitar could be worth? I'm just wondering? Thanks

[allthumbs]

You would have to email the company most likely. I doubt it would have much value over it's purchase price unless there is a nostalgia market.

[jeffery4629]

Hi, I have a Pan electric hollow body guitar ( not for sale though)
and after some exhaustive digging I found that it is a " P 23 " by Pan/Aria and was made in 1967. Mine is in physically good shape but the pickups are dead and the wiring is beyond salvage. If you get any more info about Pan's or websites for info, I would appreciate knowing.

[dennb]

Pan Guitars were made by Aria in Japan for the Canadian market. Made for Simpson of Simpson/Sears. Trying to do research on Arias is next to impossible. I collect old aria's I have had as many as 11 of them at once. I have a 9032 acoustic that I bought in '66 second hand. Any internet research you do will not date this model back that far. I do know that when I lived in Toronto in the early 70's the simpsons store sold Pan's as their house brand as sears sold Silvertone. To be honest I never liked Pans and the only one I ever baought was a G copy gretch copy with a preamp built in with a phase shifter...overdrive and just about every other effect known to man at the time. IMO Pans were mediocre at best.

[emenence]

Is this thread dead yet? was goog'ln for "pan" guitars and came across this forum. I my self own a pan "lp copie" Pan.. I will post pics tomarrow. But for info, I'v got nothin. I just know how she plays:yes:

[starsailor]

Hi emenence, The threads stay on here so they never die, good one to bring back to life, interested in seeing your pictures and welcome to the forum.

Here are some links to the Aria Archives, the Pan guitars were as has been mentioned sold through Simpsons/Sears and they aren't the most collectable At the moment, there must be loads of them around but people don't mention them that much, I suppose they're hiding in Attics or got thrown away, if you like the way they play and they're reliable best to keep them, it's all about having a guitar you like playing and although they're not highly collectable they are still a curiosity as you don't see people playing them much these days, wouldn't mind having one myself.

ariaguitars_international


ariaguitars_international


ariaguitars_international

Cheers

Chris

[emenence]

Hey chris thanks for quick reply man and thank you for all the usefull info posted much appreciated bro!! Yeah, you can tell the quality isnt as good as an actual gibson, but this is the best guitar I have owned so far IMHO.. have owned schecter c-1(ehh) fender am tele, Charvel(toothpaste) and I still own my MIM strat(picd). But this Pan hits my spot and plays soo nice i dont get it...if it was a sears guitar, why dose it play beter than most 500$ guitars ive owned and played withhaha But on with pics:

these pics are *old* tooken about a year ago, since then i have replaced all the tuners, pickups, with tail and new bridge, oh and new pots>(a'mess!):
[IMG]http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae113/koji4g64/046.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae113/koji4g64/045.jpg[/IMG]
and this is my strat:)
[IMG]http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae113/koji4g64/047-2.jpg[/IMG]
iam at work right now so if and when i get back home i will post up to date pics!

I hate flash!!!

[starsailor]

Thanks for the pics. emanence, appreciated, you look after your guitars well, a lot of the Made in Japan guitars were well made I think that's what scared the big guys there are bad ones but yours sounds like one of the best ones, they made them cheaper and the hardware was a bit hit and miss but they still had an eye for detail, Aria do pride themselves on their quality so do try to keep standards high. great photos. that Strats a beauty too.

Cheers

Chris

[emenence]

Yeah Chris I kinda figured that they ARE somthing considering it blows my strat away haha. As far as hardware, deff. feels vintage and not cheap, this thing is very heavy and all the cream bindings and other tid bits feel real and well assembled for the age!.. but here are some more up to date pics of her if your further more interested, along with ne one else. I will post a video soon of what she sounds like...
I HAVEnt GOTN AROUND TO SCREWING DOWN THE BRIDGE PICKUP BASE YET TOO BUSY KEEPIN HER BUSY:D
[IMG]http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae113/koji4g64/CIMG2497.jpg[/IMG]

[starsailor]

Thanks for the new pictures emenence, be great if you can post a video of you playing, if you post it over in members recordings you'll get plenty of listeners, have you got a youtube site ?
Good to see these old MIJ guitars being kept, I haven't seen many for sale here the collectors jump on them pretty quick, so good to see yours, hope you had a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year:winkthumb:

Cheers

Chris

[kev wright]

My pan guitar says its model # P-23. I've got no information on it but mine is mint condition and its all original parts.heres a couple of pictures:  Photo0444.jpg   132.73K   8 downloads

 Photo0445.jpg   113.32K   12 downloads

 Photo0447.jpg   96.23K   7 downloads

[dburns99]

Seeing as we're sharing, I thought I'd post a few of my Pan guitar. I bought it used from a music store 30 yrs ago when I was 17 ( you do the math). It still plays as beautifully as the day I bought it. It's a little worn around the edges but still sounds as warm and rich as any ES 335 I've ever heard.

Attached Files

•  DSCF0001.jpg   256.14K   7 downloads
•  DSCF0003.jpg   273.27K   5 downloads
•  DSCF0004.jpg   251.99K   6 downloads
•  DSCF0005.jpg   246.2K   5 downloads
•  DSCF0002.jpg   280.4K   7 downloads

[Suz]

dburns99, on 27 February 2010 - 03:05 PM, said:

Seeing as we're sharing, I thought I'd post a few of my Pan guitar. I bought it used from a music store 30 yrs ago when I was 17 ( you do the math). It still plays as beautifully as the day I bought it. It's a little worn around the edges but still sounds as warm and rich as any ES 335 I've ever heard.

[Suz]

I've had my lovely narrow-necked Pan guitar since early '70's - since I was 17, as well. It's the only guitar I've ever bought. I've played others, but I keep coming back to my own. While a friend of mine bought a Fender, I was more content with my Pan.

[allthumbs]

Suz, on 03 August 2010 - 01:42 AM, said:

I've had my lovely narrow-necked Pan guitar since early '70's - since I was 17, as well. It's the only guitar I've ever bought. I've played others, but I keep coming back to my own. While a friend of mine bought a Fender, I was more content with my Pan.

Some guitars become like family. I feel that way about my Norman guitar. I could buy better but, I have had it for 30 years or so. It's family