Asher Knock-off

Asa Brosius · Post by **Asa Brosius** » 29 Nov 2009 1:16 pm

Does anyone have any experience with these guitars?

Link to auction on eBay.

Asa

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 29 Nov 2009 5:10 pm

Actually......it reminds me more of the CLEARWATER lap steels (from Europe).....in that they both have a pair of P-90's, along with the Weiss shape.

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 29 Nov 2009 8:23 pm

At that price its obviously an import.
Some things that stick out to me in no particular order.
Those badass style bridges make for very high action, probably why they use a big chunk of wood for the nut.
The bridge pickup looks like its as high as it would go without the bottom showing.
The body wood "linden" is just another name for basswood. Not a deal breaker tone wise, but unless it has a thick hard poly finish, it will dent easy.
No angle to the headstock so if if you lower the action with a new nut and bridge, your probably going to need to install string tree's.
All that said, for $299 shipped, it does not sound like a horrible deal.
A real Asher Jr is double the price, but would be a much better guitar.

Roman Sonnleitner · Post by **Roman Sonnleitner** » 30 Nov 2009 2:36 am

I wonder why they put strap lugs on it?

Fontaine Burnett · Post by **Fontaine Burnett** » 30 Nov 2009 5:00 am

Yup! Stephen is right. This is just like the Clearwater I owned except for the bridge on the Clearwater is a more simple steel angle instead of the badass style here. Actually it's more of a copy of the Chandler lap steel than an Asher. I just got rid of mine (not because it was bad) because a friend of mine who is just getting into lap steel was looking for an inexpensive and good sounding steel to learn on. I've got a few other lap steels that I play more frequently so I decided to let it go...It's a really good steel for the money.

FB

Darrell Urbien · Post by **Darrell Urbien** » 29 Jun 2010 7:19 pm

How 'bout these?

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 29 Jun 2010 7:59 pm

Unless Bill Asher is in on this deal, I say file it under "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Which of course has been the case for Martin dreadnoughts, Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Strats and Teles, for decades.

Haven't seen too much of that sort of thing in the lap steel/non-pedal world. Though over the years there have been builders doing interpretations of Stringmasters and Oahus.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 29 Jun 2010 8:03 pm

Roman Sonnleitner wrote:I wonder why they put strap lugs on it?

We call them strap "buttons" here Roman, and I have definitely noticed that there is an increasing interest in playing lap steel standing up with a strap instead of always seated over the past several years, or more.