http://www.dickert.ca/Toledo/toledoguitarpage.htmemanon313 wrote: I've seen those over here branded as Aria Diamonds. Never played one but the last one I saw was in a seedy pawn shop & it had "Rhythm Rick" painted on the pickguard. I find it amusing that it's called a Toledo--of course there's the city in Spain, but here in my part of the world we have Toledo, Ohio, which is like Detroit's little brother. There's a White Stripes song that I forget the title of where Jack is singing "She's sending me to Toledo" which is a joke around these parts because it's not exactly a place people vacation. Some call it "Toileto". Once upon a time I played in a band down there. It's a cool guitar & I hope it works out for you--life's too short for everyone to play cheap Strats.
"All I can tell you is that these "Toledo" guitars were made by Aria Guitars of Japan under contract for the Canadian Conservatory of Music, a music school chain based in Toronto with braches all across Canada. The School went to Aria to supply them with playable and good value instrument that would be marketed to their own students. Everyone who has contacted this site has always commented on how well these guitars played, a testament to the roll of these guitars. The Conservatory imported Toledo branded Aria guitars through most of the 60's and early 70's. Any Toledo brand guitars found outside of Canada have been brought there buy their owners."
http://www.iqui.de/diamond/Diamond.htm
the body is very similar but not identical; the neck is different; pickguard is different and there is a switch which I believe is for rhythm/lead circuit like the jazzmasters... I like UC-2's neck better...
note: I still don't know which model is my Toledo... it's clearly the same as the Univox UC-2, but I think it's impossible to know the actual "Toledo" model name... guess they don't even gave her a name. let's call it Toledo UC-2 then...