Strat-style Electric Guitar all-white | Legend by AriaProII | Guitar Repair and Restoration | Mark P
- Mark Pickard (ピカード・マーク)
- Oct 2, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2019
I recently finished repairing and restoring this all-white Stratocaster-type electric guitar. It's a Legend by AriaProII (Aria Pro II) Stratocaster copy that was probably made in China (MIC) but it might have been made in Korea (MIK).
Of course I do think guitars made in the USA and Japan are the best made guitars in the world. In fact, I own several guitars that were made in America and made in Japan (MIJ). However, I have played a lot of guitars and basses that were made in China, Korea, Indonesia and elsewhere. And, to be honest, a lot of those guitars play very well in my opinion. Do you have a preference regarding where an electric guitar was made? If so please leave a comment below.
I do not mind where this guitar was made. All I care about is how good this guitar looks, how good this guitar feels in my hands when I play it, and how good this guitar sounds when I plug it into an amp and play it. Oh, I also care about the amount of money I had to play to buy and to fix it or to modify it, and this guitar was a bargain. What is the most important factor for you when deciding on which guitar to purchase? Please let me know in the comments below because I am curious about other guitarists.
Originally I found this electric guitar labelled as junk in a local secondhand/thrift store (or recycle shop) near my home in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. I really had to clean this guitar up because it was filthy. I also had to do some repairs because this guitar was not playing well nor did it make any sound good.
By looking at the photo gallery below you can see this this Strat-style electric guitar is all white: white finish, white pickguard, white pickups covers, white control knobs, and a white tip on the 5-way switch. However, the guitar's hardware is chrome including the tremolo bridge, the output jack, and the tuning machines. Plus this particular electric guitar has what appears to me to be a rosewood fretboard.
The most significant repair or repairs I had to make to this particular electric guitar included replacing all three of the potentiometers (or pots), the capacitor (or cap), the 5-way pickup selector switch, the output jack, and all three of the white control knobs. The ceramic pickups all worked fine. However, the pots and the cap are vital to all electric guitars because those electronic components control the volume and the tone of the guitar's sound.
Certainly the hardest part of this repair job was cleanly soldering all of the electrical wires between the three single-coil pickups, the 5-way switch, the potentiometers, the capacitor, and the output jack. Doing all of this soldering is very time-consuming to get it all done properly and nicely. I also decided to shield the electronics of this electric guitar to help reduce exterior noise.
Cleaning this electric guitar was also very time-consuming. The guitar's white finish was rather dull and kind of aged (yellowish) when I originally bought it. However, I spent a lot of time carefully wet-sanding the topcoat. After that I used a mild compound and then buffed the finish with a polish. In the end the white finish on this electric guitar shinned nicely.
The frets were slightly worn so levelled the frets, crowned them, and polished them. I also had to treat the fretboard with a fretboard lubricant because the rosewood was extremely dried out. I spend some time smoothing out the back of the guitar neck so that it would feel better when playing. To make this guitar even more attractive I decided to sand off the logo from the headstock. I think it looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing now. What do you think? Please leave a comment.
I also had to spend a lot of time cleaning and then polish the guitar's hardware especially the tremolo system, which also works as the bridge.I did put on a fresh set of extra light gauge electric guitar strings and gave this guitar a setup. There are still some minor dents and scratches on the finish but nothing very noticeable. However, I am happy with the results my hard work because I think this guitar looks really nice.
Decades ago I recall seeing photographs and film of the legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix performing in 1969 at the Woodstock music festival in New York State. He played a white Fender Stratocaster. However, Jimi Hendrix played left-handed, but his Stratocaster was right-handed. Basically, he had flipped his guitar over and, I suppose, readjusted the string saddles as well as the guitar's nut.
Ever since seeing Jimi Hendrix performance at Woodstock I have longed to own a white Fender Stratocaster. Even more so I long to find a left-handed white Strat and flip it over so I play right-handed. After all, I am right-handed and play right-handed.
One day I hope to find a left-handed all-white Stratocaster either and authentic Fender (USA or Japan) or possibly made by another brand. I am certainly attracted to the guitars made in Japan by FujiGen (FGN or FujiGen Gakki) because they produce some of the best if not the best electric guitars in the world. When I find that all-white left-handed electric guitar I will convert it to play right-handed.
Until that time comes, if ever, I will enjoy playing this guitar.
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