As you have already determined, getting a positive model ID on this Bass will be difficult. Judging from the heavy, chrome plated control cavity cover I would say the Bass was made sometime between 1964-1968. Unfortunately, the pot codes are no help. The code does not appear to be from an American producer (big surprise} and to my knowledge, there is no published index of Japanese pot codes in English.
Contributing to the difficulty of obtaining a positive ID is the lack of 1960's Japanese Electric Guitar literature. I've searched for this literature every day for 8 years and my meager collection speaks to the difficulty of obtaining this stuff.
In 1996 Michael Wright published a 2 part series on the history of Aria guitars in Vintage Guitar magazine. I'll dig out my old copies when I get a chance and see if he describes a Bass like yours in his article.Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:44 pm
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