Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Pierre

Stratologist
It should have come with sunglasses. But I was prepared.

Tl'dr; it's an Aristides, it's quite different from their other models, it's cool in its own right, and the pickup + guitar's natural loudness mean it a LOUD mother with a huge sound. New patches required on all my amps.

This is Aristides 'other' model; their 020. It's a double-cut, and in typical Aristides fashion, it's its own thing.
It's not comparable to their other models, other than the brand. Thankfully, the brand in this case is the main talking point, but at this stage most folks will know what Aristides are about:
* They offer three models; superstrat (6, 7, 8, straight or fanned-frets), that double-cut (020, straight-scale only) and a 5-string bass)
* These guitars don't use wood AT ALL. The body is molded with their proprietary Arium material, with other various layers, and their fingerboard is Richlite
* The options you have are mostly around the hardware, electronics, fret-size etc... but, as the guitars molded into existence, there is no option available around fingerboard radius, neck joint (which, by the way, doesn't exist), general shape, output jack position etc...

The 020 has fewer options since no tremolo is available.
However, I want to say Aristides were EVEN MORE ACCOMMODATING than usual to me for this build.
* They did the custom inlay (I'm French, Paris born-and-bred; so the Aristides symbol, naturally, made this guitar's nickname... PARISTIDES :D)
* The guitar sports so damn fetching aluminium pickup rings... Oh my...
* They did my very specific electronics; it involves a blower switch (Bridge pickup straight to the output), but switched in position vs. the standard 3-way toggle. Hence the most close-by toggle is a 2-way which gives me choice between full power and a preset tone of my choice. There's also a coil split on the volume pickup
* The bridge is in the black nickel finish

For pickups I went with the Lundgrens Black Heavens. I've never had Lundgrens so it was a great opportunity to try. And the Black Heavens because I wasn't quite feeling going full-blast with M6s on this. I feel these could be a good compromise.

They sound very, very big. I'm going to have to re-do all my patches for sure.

Otherwise... what else.
Well the guitar feels quite different from their other models, as expected. Notably, it has more of a 'hollow' vibe in the tone. Acoustically, it's quite louder than my fanned-fret 060 but there's also other differences, so it may not hold in all situations.

The Richlite fingerboard here is more marbled than previously. I love it. I prefer streaky ebony over the jetblack stuff, so this has me very happy indeed.

The nice pictures were taken by the fine folks of Aristides. The terrible ones are mine.
51335003_2277245759214930_7902151633163780096_n.jpg51712411_1189543731215194_3811266898008473600_n.jpg51574551_1140881812752877_2364316506457636864_n.jpgIMG_20190218_182143978 (Large).jpgIMG_20190218_182202034 (Large).jpgIMG_20190218_182214583 (Large).jpgIMG_20190218_200108433 (Large).jpg
 

Attachments

  • 51571772_805478426451868_6377771773064118272_n.jpg
    51571772_805478426451868_6377771773064118272_n.jpg
    70.4 KB · Views: 0
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Wow, like a speedboat!
I haven't played an Aristides yet, but love the concept. We don't encounter those here in Florida. I'd love a headless design, too.
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Lol...I get annoyed everytime I encounter posts about this particular brand. How do you even pronunciate it? Clue: 'Pesticide'? 'Archimedes'? Lol....
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Lol...I get annoyed everytime I encounter posts about this particular brand. How do you even pronunciate it? Clue: 'Pesticide'? 'Archimedes'? Lol....

ARR-ee-steed-ees.
I am non-native in English so my syllables pronunciation may be off but I think that's how it is :D (note: it's a Dutch name, I just mean that I never learnt how to pronounce English by the syllable. Hence every word I have seen written but never heard spoken, I will speak with an accent).

And yep, I went with a discreet one this time... :D
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Our forum member Orpheo works for them, so I am sure he knows a lot about them.
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Sweet freaking pair Pierre!!!!!

Love the sparkle.
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Wow. I have to say that I really like that silver/black one...it is so, so sexy.

Some details?
Cost?
Weight?
Where can I find out more info? Website?
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Yeah I saw this one in the shop and I loved the ideas. The 020 with richlite boards are rock machines.
 
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

Wow. I have to say that I really like that silver/black one...it is so, so sexy.

Some details?
Cost?
Weight?
Where can I find out more info? Website?

Oh! I guess those aren't as common on here as on some of the other forums.
This is an Aristides; it's a Dutch-made, composite-materials guitar. There not a single piece/gram of wood on this guitar. You can find more info at https://aristidesinstruments.com/story.

This is their O2O model, with specs in https://aristidesinstruments.com/guitar/aristides-020.
As for costs, I'd rather not say for this particular piece (their finish options get quite expensive and it has custom inlay + electronics :) ), but most of the options' costs are on the website at https://aristidesinstruments.com/how-to-order.

I don't have a way of measuring how much my guitars weigh; I'd say this one is certainly not on the 'heavy' side of thing, though I typically have feather-weight guitars so I would classify it as medium-weight.

The Internet is full of fanboy groups, and some are downright toxic. I typically view companies as them providing a product, and me giving them money in exchange if I like it. I don't normally buy into this 'family' thing some companies are marketing themselves as.
But I do make the one exception for Aristides (outside of individual luthiers I deal with); I've constantly and consistently been treated, as have so many, as a person, as a friend, and gotten incredible service and responses from them. I have nothing but great things to say, and it's been a great experience for me to play their guitars, spec them out, go to the factory, go to NAMM through them, meet tons of fellow brand fans and in general, having an excellent time.
 
Last edited:
Re: Well it's... shiny. NGD!

almost all aristides 6 string guitars are approximately 3.5 to 3.8kg tops. If memory serves.
 
Back
Top