In the late 1970s, domestic guitar companies were in the midst of a copy war. In order to meet the contradictory condition of differentiating themselves while making the same products, they were striving for differentiation from other companies.

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Amidst this, DiMarzio emerged as the pioneer of replacement pickups, sweeping through the Japanese electric guitar scene like guns spreading from Tanegashima to the mainland during the Warring States period. The belief that a guitar would sound good as long as it had quality pickups led ignorant young guitarists to idolize DiMarzio. The strategy of Aria Pro II, or Arai Trading, was likely based on the idea that even weak infantry could become strong if armed with guns. While other companies exclusively equipped their high-end models with these pickups, Aria Pro II countered by equipping lower-grade models and began selling them under the DiMarzio Powered Series label.

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A guitar equipped with three DiMarzio FS-1 pickups was priced at an astonishing 50,000 yen. According to the Aria Pro II catalog of the time, the price of an FS-1 was 10,000 yen each, totaling 30,000 yen for three pickups, meaning the cost of the pickups was higher than other components. In the same series, the LS-500D, which mounted two DiMarzio Dual Sound pickups (17,000 yen each), had a retail price of 50,000 yen. Such pricing would have been impossible without the ability to reduce costs through bulk purchasing.

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The body is made of a 4-piece center, which indicates some cost-cutting in manufacturing, but there don’t seem to be any other areas where costs could be reduced. The craftsmanship is, as expected, from Matsumoku. The weight is 3.19 kg (including strings), making it extremely lightweight. (Updated on August 17, 2016)