A bargain middle scale bass

ARIA Cardinal Series Bass series from the early 80's includes CSB-300, CSB-380, CSB-450 and Deluxe models with 300 model featuring the most simple matte finish, 380 having transparent gloss color finishes showing wood grain and 450's being the fanciest with some sort of carved top. Deluxe model had two pickups and all the rest one. The CSB series bodies were made from scrap ash wood blocks glued together which didn't look really nice but allowed the price to be low and surprisingly the sound of the basses was still pretty decent. All CSB basses featured medium 32" scale, master volume and tone knobs. The neck joined the small body around 18th fret so it appears pretty long. It was relatively wide at the nut but was not getting as wide as most other basses remaining almost straight all the way. The high mass cast bridges had narrow string spacing and were Aria's own designs that I admit are quite good.

Deluxe basses had a different sound from the rest of the series due to different pickup configuration, but all the rest sound more or less the same, only the finishes were different and 450 having a different (but similar looking) pickup model. That pickup is a large unit that's a rather distant relative of Precision split humbucker. It has a very high output and located somewhere between the P and Stingray's positions, which results in a sound that indeed resembles both. It's sharper and more burpy than P but more mellow than Stingray. Tone knob works wonders and you can have many shades of that sound - from cutting funky tone to dark Motown.

My 1982 380 is a very nice bass and it is highly playable. For the price it's a steal. I admit it's not as universal as my Fender Jazz and will not sound good on any amp and with any preamp. However its direct signal is good enough without any EQ applied. You have basses like Thunderbird that you really need a premp to shape the signal into something, but this little bass is more in the Fender camp - you can use the direct signal and get away with it. The body is smaller and lighter than P or J but it's ash which is one of the best options for bass so it sounds good.

The two problems of these basses are ergonomics and the neck. The body has short upper horn so it's not balancing good on a strap and not comfortable to play compared to Fenders. Of course compared to Steinbergers or Some BC Riches it's very comfy. The neck problem is based on the fact that the neck is not supported up to the very last frets. This puts a lot of tension on the truss rod and I've heard of CSB basses that are not possible to set up because the neck is curved. Mine is okay and truss rod functions but I still cannot get the action as low as I would like to.

One noteable user of CSB-380 was Kim Deal during the early Pixies' years. The other one is myself. I may recommend it to players with smaller hands as it's a bit smaller overall, girls may enjoy it. Also Les Claypool fans should take notice of this bass. His main basses today feature 32" scale and P pickup around the same position as CSB's, so they sound relatively similar. You can have your Claypool on budget with bonus Pixies with CSB and that's pretty good for the price.