Frequently Asked Questions

Aristides instruments are made out of a proprietary material called Arium. Research on Arium began in 1995, when a team of scientists at Technical University Delft sought to study the structural & acoustic properties of premium woods & develop a material that combines all of their strengths but with even more resonance, sustain, & durability. You can learn more on our Story page.

Aristides guitars begin their life in a mold, where a dedicated luthier spends 8 hours carefully layering topcoats, glass fibre, carbon, & more to build a rigid exoskeleton before Arium is carefully distributed throughout for perfect composition of a resonant “core.” This one-piece construction contributes to the extreme sustain, consistency, & durability of Aristides instruments, but that is only the beginning. Once the curing process is finished, an intense amount of labor by our skilled guitar builders is required to deliver a complete instrument including precision sanding, routing, fretwork, finishing, & much more. You can learn more on our Production Process page.

All Aristides guitars are proudly made in The Netherlands at our dedicated facility in Haarlem, just outside of Amsterdam.

We pride ourselves on making exceptional guitars, which also happen to have the benefits of our proprietary material & construction method. You will feel right at home with our comfortable C-shaped neck & sleek body contours, but you’ll notice a difference when you hear the balanced sustain, feel the amazing fret access of our near non-existent neck “heel,” & realize you haven’t had to adjust your guitar in months! Arium’s tone is based on dampening as few frequencies as possible for a very full & balanced sound that produces big lows that are tight & present highs that aren’t icy. Aristides are not really comparable to carbon, aluminum, acrylic, or other composite guitars. Our customers describe the sound as “wood but more.”

Over 15 years! Though research on Arium began in 1995 & some early experimentation was done with Arium instruments over the years, Aristides was founded in 2007 & has exclusively produced guitars made from Arium to the highest standards ever since.

One of the key benefits of Aristides guitars is increased sustain. This is due to the proprietary material Arium, the one-piece exoskeleton + core construction, & the attention to detail we take when crafting our guitars. Customers often tell us “it’s like I don’t have to work for sustain anymore.” You will also notice a very balanced sound when notes ring across the entire fretboard, rather than a single high or low resonance dominating the sound.

Aristides guitars are nearly unaffected by shifts in climate. We say “nearly” because while our instruments are much more durable than wood guitars, some situations can still be pretty extreme. The truss rod will rarely require minor adjustments due to prolonged temperature shifts, the fretboard is resistant to major shrinkage/expansion & fret sprout, & the guitars are even resilient to being knocked around in their cases on planes or in trailers. That being said, please take as much care of your Aristides as possible, as you would with any other beloved instrument, & it will serve you well for years to come.

Not if you order an EverTune! Jokes aside, while our guitars have fantastic tuning stability, you will still have to occasionally tune up throughout your playing sessions like any other guitar. Stability, as always, relies on a proper setup & quality strings.

Maintaining your Aristides is the same as any other guitar – you just won’t have to do it as often! Aristides guitars do have truss rods for neck relief adjustment, & you can adjust other setup specifications as normal on the hardware itself. We simply recommend wiping your guitar with a microfiber cloth after playing to preserve your hardware. If your Aristides is seeing heavy stage use & you notice it getting a little dirty, we prefer Dunlop Formula 65 Cleaner & Polish to clean the body. Regular usage of a fretboard conditioner such as Dunlop Formula 65 Fingerboard 02 Deep Conditioner during string changes is recommended to keep your playing surface smooth.

Aristides guitars weigh a normal amount, generally 6.8-8.8lbs depending on string number, finish, & hardware choices. However, our ergonomic headless guitars are purposefully designed to be lightweight. Aristides H/0 models can weigh as little as 5.3 pounds!

Aristides Raw guitars receive their color directly on the exoskeleton during the construction process. The surface is then treated with a special nano-coating to seal the instrument for durability & playability. This allows for both a lower cost & a shorter lead time! A model name ending in ‘R’ (e.g. 070SR) denotes a Raw finish. Check out our Finishing Process page to learn more.