While at a recent (back in October) car show put on by the national (international?) car club that I belong to, a friend had a surprise for me. I finally had the opportunity to meet my friend Ken in person. He and I had talked many times before via the internet and have much in common beyond just the marque of car we are both fans of.
When I finally got the chance to meet him and shake his hand, he tells me 'come over to my car before you leave, I have something for you'. I promised to do just that. Before I left, I made it a point to stop by his car and he pulled out a mandolin case from the back of his car. To say I was surprised is a gross understatement. He then said 'Its just a case' and grinned at me.
As I opened the case, I found a beautiful 2 point Aria mandolin inside. Ken me that he remembered that I played mandolin and since he did not play it anymore, he wanted me to have it. He also commented that maybe someday my son would play it. I know he is right about the last part!
Ken is a generous guy. He is always helping people on the car forum where we both regularly participate, and I know that he is like that in real life as well. That day, I must have shook his hand a million times and said thank you every time as well.
When I got it home, I cleaned up the case and glued down some of the vinyl. I then went to work on the Aria. I set the action the way I like it, and restrung it. I also polished it up and brought it to a wonderful shine. I also polished out the pickguard and glued it back in place.
The results are absolutely wonderful. It has great tone, plays well and I play it every evening after work.
I did some digging and found that the instrument is likely to be 35 -40 years old based on all the documentation I could find on the web. Below is a link to a catalog page from that era.
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