Aria: XL Standard

Yesterday's catch: Aria XL Standard.

Simple headstock design, very much in the Kramer vein. The Fretboard markers are blatant Jackson duplicates, no hiding that.

The neck profile for both the XL Standard & Deluxe is that slim, shred-worthy spec. In fact, it's slimmer than Ibanez's pre-2011 Wizard II make.

The neck heel is a little beveled to give excess to the upper frets but in use, it didn't help much. Nevertheless, upper fret reaches are not very restrictive.

What's this? A sumptuous neck binding for $195? Upon closer inspection, it's faux binding.

But for $195, the manufacturer had included a coil split switch- now this is value-for-money. Thumbs up!

I'm definitely happy with the bridge saddles; despite being the vintage/ traditional type, the action adjustment screws do not protrude to jab the picking hand palm while in play.

The Aria guitars are currently the value-for-money instruments we should consider if we are shopping on a strict budget. Many of us are battling past, repulsive Aria QC episodes in the midst of short-listing the current generation of Aria makes. These are definitely beyond your past nightmares, in fact, the manufacturer wouldn't be foolish to let QC issues dampen the business especially when the technology to create good, affordable guitars are now available.