Aria TSB-550 (neck-through, medium-scale)

Jeroen · **Posted:** April 13th, 2021, 7:42 am

This lovely Aria Pro II ThorSound TSB-550 has been for sale for a while in Belgium. Beautiful bass, in great condition. I've tried contacting the seller, but he won't respond to my messages.
https://www.2dehands.be/a/muziek-en-ins ... ucher.html

Attachment:

Aria TSB550.jpg [ 116.95 KiB | Viewed 3617 times ]

fivebass52 · **Posted:** April 13th, 2021, 4:12 pm

A great looking bass....

Carmine · **Joined:** October 5th, 2008, 9:45 am **Posts:** 786

I have a TSB 650, and I love it- sounds great, very balanced and comfortable. Pretty rare in a lefty. Although medium scale never really caught on in a major way, at the time Aria was pretty serious about promoting it as a "best of both worlds" that they thought would gain momentum in the market.

Matt R. · **Posted:** April 13th, 2021, 8:15 pm

Carmine that thing looks killer!

Carmine · **Joined:** October 5th, 2008, 9:45 am **Posts:** 786

Thanks Matt! I give Aria and other Japanese builders props for coming up with some really well crafted and creative original bass designs back then- for 1981 this was pretty badass!

Jeroen · **Posted:** April 14th, 2021, 12:19 am

Carmine wrote:

I give Aria and other Japanese builders props for coming up with some really well crafted and creative original bass designs back then- for 1981 this was pretty badass!

Absolutely! I think these were all designed under the creative direction of Nobuaki Hayashi (aka H. Noble), who used to work at Matsumoku and now runs Atlansia. Very creative thinker and mad inventor, always coming up with problems for solutions nobody was waiting for in his Atlansia designs :lol:

. He started out in Matsumoku's sewing machine factory (!) where he designed the wooden cabinets for the sewing machines. When Matsumoku primarily became a musical instrument manufacturer, he became the chief designer and under his lead some iconic Matsumoku designs were conceived and built.

pjmuck · **Posted:** April 14th, 2021, 5:24 am

Very cool. Is that neck/headstock original???

Carmine · **Joined:** October 5th, 2008, 9:45 am **Posts:** 786

pjmuck wrote:

Very cool. Is that neck/headstock original???

In both the above basses, yes. TSB 550 (single pickup) and 650 (dual pickup) were both neck thru (TSB 400 was bolt on). For TSB basses, 1980 was the last year of the 4-in-line headstock. In 1981 Aria switched them over to 2+2 to match the rest of their bass line up... probably improved the balance as well.

pjmuck · **Posted:** April 14th, 2021, 8:04 am

Carmine wrote:

pjmuck wrote:

Very cool. Is that neck/headstock original???

In both the above basses, yes. TSB 550 (single pickup) and 650 (dual pickup) were both neck thru (TSB 400 was bolt on). For TSB basses, 1980 was the last year of the 4-in-line headstock. In 1981 Aria switched them over to 2+2 to match the rest of their bass line up.

Interesting. I've only seen the 2+2 design. Thanks for the info. Is the neck profile on the 4+1 the same as the 2+2s? These early 80's Aria Pros are pretty unique in that the neck profile and radius that I've encountered on the SB900 and SB1000s are relatively straight from nut to heel with virtually no taper or change in width or depth. Takes some getting used to, IMO.

LeftyBassist.com

Aria TSB-550 (neck-through, medium-scale)

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