Aria Pro II Cardinal Series CS-250 1983

  • Sale
  • Regular price $600.00


Here at EMS, we love old cheap 80's Japanese rippers like this one. Apparently, so did Kurt Cobain back in the day. Fun bit of trivia for you: this guitar here is the same model as the one that Kurt played on Nirvana's summer 1990 tour, and famously smashed on stage the last day of the tour in Seattle on September 22, 1990.

This fella is packed with a surprising amount of features for a guitar of its kind. There's a plethora of tone options to be explored between the 2 volume and 2 tone knobs, the 3-way pickup selector switch, the coil tapping switch, AND the phase switch. Likely more than Kurt ever needed to utilize for Nirvana's music, but its good to have options in case you ever need them.

In addition to the electronics, the 3 piece maple D-profile neck measures 0.771" at the 1st fret and 0.960" at the 12th, the rosewood fretboard has a 12" radius, a nut width of 1.703", and the original Protomatic IV humbuckers are rated at 10.93k in the neck and 11.33k in the bridge. It appears that at some point in its life the bridge was routed, possibly for a floating trem, but was then plugged later.

This guitar has seen its fair share of play (though obviously not nearly the abuse that Kurt's Aria endured) and shows a few cosmetic nicks and dings here and there on the body and neck, but is overall in excellent playing condition. It comes with the original chipboard case, which also appears to have been thrown around a good bit (see pictures). Our techs here at EMS have given it a fresh setup and fret level to ensure that it will play immaculately. It'll ship lightning fast to your door, ready to rip (or smash).

Feel free to give us a call with any questions you may have about it!