Aria Sinsonido silent practice/travel guitar (my review of)
thomas
practice/travel guitar, akin to the Soloette or the
Frameworks. The model I have is nylon string, with a
"cut-away". I paid $250 for the Aria brand new, while
the Soloette is more than twice that, at around $700,
and the Frameworks is about $2000. For a photo, see:
The Aria design is licensed from the Soloette people. It
looks very close to the Soloette, and supposedly uses
similar electronics. I have not had the opportunity to
play either the Soloette or the Frameworks, so I can't
compare them. My understanding is that the wire frame on
the Soloette is bent to give the simulation of body depth.
The Aria's frame, meanwhile, is all in one flat plane. It
might be possible to bend the Aria frame to emulate the
Soloette, but I have found no need for that. The guitar
is comfortable for me to hold the way it is. It's extremely
light weight.
The Aria does what it is supposed to. It plays very quietly.
It comes with a set of cheap folding headphones. Listening
through the headphones, if you turn the guitar's tone control
down, you get a usable electric nylon sound. Turn it up, and
you get something much brighter, closer to a steel string sound.
The neck feels good, and the guitar plays very well. The
bridge height is adjustable. My only complaint here is that
the neck is more narrow than the standard classical neck, and
the action is lower than a standard classical. The action can
be changed, of course, fairly easily. But for someone who wants
this guitar to keep up his classical chops, the narrow neck could
be a problem. Of course, the narrow neck will be an attractive
feature for some players, but a negative for classical purists.
It might be that the non-cutaway model has a wider neck. That is
how Soloette and Frameworks handle their different models.
Unfortunately, Aria's web site does not give the dimensions.
BTW, if you want to research Arias on Google, don't click
on this url while on your work computer:
I bought this guitar because it is cheap enough to leave in my
office at work overnight, and to carry on plane trips. For these
purposes, it functions very well, and I am well satisfied with
the purchase.
What is frustrating, though, is that the Sinsonido is so close
to being something you could gig with, but not quite. I plugged
it into an Acoustic Research Coda R amp, which is a hi-fi
combo amp for bassists and acoustic guitarists. I have not
found a combination of settings that gives me a consistent
tone throughout the guitar's range. If I get the bass strings
sounding good, the trebles suffer, and vice versa. The problem
is a lack of balance in volume between basses and trebles.
I don't notice it so much through the headphones--just through
the Coda.
Perhaps with some EQing and processing, I could get a giggable
sound out of it, but that would defeat the purpose of using a cheap,
portable instrument. I haven't yet tried it through a guitar amp
with tubes, which would probably be more forgiving than the Coda.
I would guess that the steel string Sinsonido might be more
balanced than the nylon.
I don't see a way to adjust the distance from pickup to strings
to overcome this problem. The bridge is a metal cylinder, like
a lipstick tube, with microphone elements inside. So the pickup
elements would seem to be at a constant distance from the strings.
I would like to move the treble strings closer to the pickup, and
the bass strings away, but I don't see any easy way to accomplish
that. I haven't dismantled the bridge assembly, and don't intend
to anytime in the near future. It might be possible to modify this
baby into a well-balanced, giggable machine, but mine did not come
that way from the factory. (If any Soloette or Aria owners know how
to make this kind of string-to-pickup adjustment, please inform me.)
The big frustration is that if I could overcome the balance
problem, there are some sounds in this guitar that are good
enough to use on certain types of gigs. I could see it being
very useful for folks who play in very loud bands but who
still want to get a sound closer to an acoustic guitar.
If I could adjust the bridge so as to optimize the good
sounds across the guitar's entire range, I might even take
it to a solo restaurant gig.
The Aria does sound good enough through the headphones to practice
with in a hotel room or in my office during breaks from work. So I
do intend to keep it. But now I crave a Frameworks, although there
is no way I could justify dropping 2000 ducats on a two by four
plank, and I certainly wouldn't leave something that expensive
unattended in my office. But they do play and sound very good,
as evidenced by the sound clips on the Frameworks web page. The
sound clips on the Soloette page, OTOH, are not as impressive.
They might possibly sound just slightly better than the Aria,
but not much. Not enough for me to justify a price more than
twice as high.
As a silent practice or travel guitar, I can recommend the
Sinsonido, with the one caution about neck width on the model
I own. As a giggable guitar, it doesn't cut the mustard in
stock form from the factory.
Evan Pyle
the depth of a classical guitar, and quite well. pull out your classical and
do some careful measurements and you'll see what I mean.
But I found the plugged in sound hopeless...
"thomas" <tomb...@jhu.edu> wrote in message
news:7d424f23.04052...@posting.google.com...
Richard Boyle
which has a standard width classical neck and the bent frame to
simulate the depth of the body. I find it perfect for silent practice,
which is the only reason I bought it.
The two worst things about it(easily changed) as it comes are the
headphones and strings.
A decent set of strings will make a big improvement to the sound.
A pair of lightweight headphones with a single wire coming off the
left ear so the cord will hang down out of the way of the guitars
frame are far nicer to use than what comes supplied. I usually
practice without any headphones, however, as it makes me try to play
louder.
Skip Moy
solo and group gigs going through a p.a. and an Acoustic Image/RE cabinet.
No problem with tone balance. The instrument being what it is, sounds pretty
good when amplified. I find the neck profile to be very comfortable and the
pickup is balanced and sensative enough to play either fingle style or with
a pick. A lot of guitarist friends have also tried this model and all of
them love the feel of the neck. It allows the archtop player to change over
back and forth without too much stress. Most important no worries about
feedback or tonal problems. The soloette can sound decent through many
guitar and even keyboard amps in a pinch.
I have tried the Aria model out on several occasions ,both in a store, and
on a gig, while the unit looks similar to the Soloette, the feel of the
neck, and the pickup tone is totally different. I have been informed by the
makers of the Soloette that the Aria model was really designed for practice
and was never intended to be used for playing out, this probably accounts
for the price differences.
Nevertheless with both gtrs the coolest things are that no one knows that it
is a guitar when its in the case, and being able to take it anywhere - even
on a full plane or a mini bus as carry on.
Skip
"thomas" <tomb...@jhu.edu> wrote in message
news:7d424f23.04052...@posting.google.com...
Miguel Marcos
is a practice/travel guitar. The fact that you can disassemble the
frame is very appealing but it is a byproduct. The original intent of
the design was to produce a great amplified acoustic tone (and with no
feedback). The designer spent 15 years building traditional classical
guitars before embarking on this thing. It's a mistake to consider it
a travel/practice guitar.
Miguel
tomb...@jhu.edu (thomas) wrote in message news:<7d424f23.04052...@posting.google.com>...
thomas
> The way the text below is written one would infer that the Frameworks
> is a practice/travel guitar. The fact that you can disassemble the
> frame is very appealing but it is a byproduct. The original intent of
> the design was to produce a great amplified acoustic tone (and with no
> feedback). The designer spent 15 years building traditional classical
> guitars before embarking on this thing. It's a mistake to consider it
> a travel/practice guitar.
The Frameworks is very comparable in design and construction to
the Aria and Soloette. The major design difference is in the
electronics. From the clips on the Frameworks web page, I have
to agree that it gets a great amplified tone, miles ahead of
either Aria or Soloette.
But really, who would choose a solid block of wood over a
nice resonating box, if you are playing where you want to
be?
JD
> mma...@yahoo.com (Miguel Marcos) wrote in message
> news:<3defe929.04060...@posting.google.com>...
>> The way the text below is written one would infer that the Frameworks
>> is a practice/travel guitar. The fact that you can disassemble the
>> frame is very appealing but it is a byproduct. The original intent of
>> the design was to produce a great amplified acoustic tone (and with
>> no
>> feedback). The designer spent 15 years building traditional classical
>> guitars before embarking on this thing. It's a mistake to consider it
>> a travel/practice guitar.
>
> The Frameworks is very comparable in design and construction to
> the Aria and Soloette. The major design difference is in the
> electronics. From the clips on the Frameworks web page, I have
> to agree that it gets a great amplified tone, miles ahead of
> either Aria or Soloette.
>
> But really, who would choose a solid block of wood over a
> nice resonating box, if you are playing where you want to
> be?
>
>
which he runs through a VG-88 and a Bose tower. Coming from a guy who used
to play a Sahlin and a Laskin it makes sense in his situation to use the
Frameworks. It's far more stable and he can duplicate his sound anywhere he
plays without suffering the changes that moving a guitar around a lot can
generate. Not exactly my choice aesthetically but it's a well made
instrument.
JD
Miguel Marcos
down to preference. In any case, however, the Frameworks is designed
to be played amplified and *only* amplified, so a fair tone comparison
would only be to amplified guitars, traditional or otherwise
(certainly not silent practice guitars; silent practice guitars have
their own specific use and value).
I have an Ovation steel string which I pretty much like, the amplified
tone much nicer than the straight tone. From the recordings I've
heard, I would prefer the Frameworks tone, without a doubt. Muthspiel
uses a Frameworks. There's another Austrian, Rainer Falk, who uses a
Frameworks. I've heard clips of both on the Frameworks site, and I
thought the sound was great. I corresponded briefly with Falk about
the guitar and he loves it and recommends it without hesitation.
Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to try one out. A nice
reason to visit Germany...
Miguel
tomb...@jhu.edu (thomas) wrote in message news:<7d424f23.04060...@posting.google.com>...