Asher Electro Hawaiian review

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 31 Aug 2004 6:06 pm

Ladies and gentlemen, meet 'Lizzy':

Here's my review, keep in mind that it's only two days since she arrived:

Appearance and craftmanship:
Absolutely beautiful, and it's very hard to find any flaws, no matter how small, or signs of any less than the best craftmanship. Only thing is that the nut could have been better cut, I have to put on some extra pressure to catch all the strings at the first fret. But the guitar is 1 - 1,5 years old, and I can't know if it was like this when it left Ashers shop.

Acoustic properties and playability:
When I play it unplugged it just sings like a bird,- very nice tone and great sustain. The action is surprisingly low, it's not possible to use my Beard capo on it, don't know if this is a regular feature on these lap steels. Maybe I'll have my local luthier put on a slightly taller nut, it just needs a 3-4 millimeters extra...
But again,- the acoustic properties of this guitar is amazing!

Pickups
According to Rick Aiello who was kind enough to check the horseshoe before shipping the guitar on to me, this one is as 'good as they get'. Took me a little work to find the 'sweet spot', but a little experimenting took care of that. Great sound, and never having played a horseshoe pickup before I have to say I'm impressed (and almost scared) by how well it reacts to the dynamics of my playing. Almost a little unforgiving, and I realize I have some serious practising ahead of me....

The neck pickup did not impress me,- very dark and not a good match for the bright horseshoe, IMHO. On its own it sounds almost like a typical 'jazz' pickup with all the treble rolled off, and I don't find that very useful in a lap steel, but that's a matter of personal taste. Combined with the horseshoe it's another story, together they create a very sweet and almost 'acoustic' sound,- very nice! (And for all I know that could be the whole purpose of the neck pickup..)

The piezo pickup is the only thing with this guitar that is a downer. There's almost no output from strings 1 and 6, and while this is not an unusual problem with under-saddle pickups, I'm a bit surprised that it passed the quality control.
I know this can be fixed, and I'll hand it over to my local luthier so he can see to that there is good contact all the way to the edges of the saddle. From the preamp that is laying loose inside the control cavity (I'll probably bypass the preamp and use an external one instead, I don't like the idea of an unsecured preamp and battery in the control cavity with the other pots), it looks as if it's a Pick-up The World "Stealth" piezo, I'm not sure but it looks like it.

So was it worth it?
Yeah, I think it was. I know I could have bougth 2-4 other good lap steels for the price of 'Lizzy', but there's something about the beauty, craftmanship and 'exclusiveness' of such an instrument that makes it worth it. Now I only have to find a good insurance.......

Steinar

------------------
www.gregertsen.com

[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 31 August 2004 at 07:08 PM.]

Travis Bernhardt · Post by **Travis Bernhardt** » 31 Aug 2004 7:34 pm

Sound clips?

-Travis

Ron Bednar · Post by **Ron Bednar** » 31 Aug 2004 8:22 pm

Good show Steinar, congrats! I second Travis's request...how's about some sound clips?

Anita Merritt · Post by **Anita Merritt** » 31 Aug 2004 8:37 pm

Thanks for the thorough review, Steinar. Lizzy's a real beauty, but we'd expect nothing less from an Asher. Did you name all your guitars, or just this very special one?

I third the motion for sound clips!

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 31 Aug 2004 11:10 pm

Hi Steinar,

The string spacing on the Asher is wider than on a typical acoustic steel string. I had two custom made lapsteels built inspired by my Asher Ben Harper . After trying a few piezos we decided to use a Shadow pick up designed for classical gtr . Good string balance,good output and very reasonably priced . I don`t think any piezo designed for steel string acoustic will work . Try the Shadow Classical , at about 30 euros they are a steal .
What tuning are are you planning on using ?

------------------
Olli Haavisto
Polar steeler
Finland

[This message was edited by Olli Haavisto on 01 September 2004 at 12:12 AM.]

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 1 Sep 2004 12:15 am

I must admit that I really know nothing about your P/U under the bridge-saddle, except that when Martin P/U's were installed under the bridge of flat-top Rhythm-guitars, it was always recommended that the bridge-saddle be cut into halves, with a reverse v-notch[6-5-4^3-2-1] on the bottom-surface, where they join. This allows the saddle to make better contact with both halves of the P/U.

------------------
“Big John” Bechtel
(2)-Fender ’49–’50 T–8 Customs
Fender ’65 Reissue Twin-Reverb Custom™ 15”
click here
click here click here click here

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 1 Sep 2004 3:53 am

So you want sound clips, do you? Hm, I'll see if I can set up a backing track and record something, I've always found sound demos to be a bit pointless if they're not in a musical context/mix.
I only name the guitars where the name is very obvious, and usually that's the more special guitars, like this one. (My GeorgeBoards S8 is named 'Kaya' after the beautiful wood, and I also had a "Lapcaster" - still waiting for the Lapcaster II - that was named 'Wilma' after its obvious "Flintstone" appearance..

)

Olli and John,- thanks for the pickup advice! The PuTW "Stealth" is very long, I believe it has to be cut to fit in a regular guitar saddle. I once had one in my Superior Weissenborn without problems, and you won't find wider spacing than that (70mm at the bridge). But then,- I'm not SURE it's a PuTW in this one, I mailed Asher about this the same day I got the guitar, but haven't heard back from him yet.

One problem is that the saddle sits so tight in the bridge that I can't get it out without using 'excessive force', and I think I'll leave that to a professional. So I haven't been able to inspect the conditions under that saddle yet (it's a metal saddle, btw.), and don't know if it's a matter of a too short pickup or just uneven surfaces.
If I need to buy a new piezo I'll definitely consider the Shadow, nice price and if you say it works well then it sounds like a good option.

Steinar

PS,- Olli, I'll keep it in open-D tuning (with variations..).

------------------
www.gregertsen.com

[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 01 September 2004 at 04:56 AM.]

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 2 Sep 2004 11:41 am

Been trying to come up with some nice demos of Lizzy, but this is the first time since I quit smoking 5 months ago that sitting down in front of my studio PC has made the nicotine hunger kick in. Extremely annoying and if this had been a paid job I would probably have bought a pack of cigarettes just to get the job done........

Steinar

------------------
www.gregertsen.com

Tim Tweedale · Post by **Tim Tweedale** » 5 Sep 2004 8:35 am

Thank you for posting that comprehensive review, Steinar. This is why this forum is an invaluable resource: we get to see reviews of stuff that that are in depth, detailed and contain real balance between what's good and what's bad. In a world that is so filled with misinformation and half-truth, this is so important. Thank you again.

-Tim Tweedale

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 5 Sep 2004 8:45 am

Thanks Tim! Maybe it's time for a 'follow up' now that I've played the guitar for a week. This guitar is REALLY growing on me,- I'm getting used to the horseshoe (keep in mind that this was the first horseshoe equipped guitar I've ever owned) and I love the way it responds to the dynamics of my picking (no pickup I've ever played has come close to this). The neck pickup is making a lot more sense to me now, that dark 'jazz' sound is really handy at times, even if it's a far cry from what I usually think of as 'steel guitar'.

I only have two issues that bugs me,- the low action, I don't know if this is a regular 'feature' of the Ashers lap steels or if it is in order to fit the horseshoe (it is not possible to make a taller saddle without the strings almost touching the magnets). The other is the piezo pickup, which I can only describe as 'dysfunctional' the way it is now. I'll have to let my local luthier look into that and see if it can be fixed without replacing the piezo and/or the saddle.......

Steinar

------------------
www.gregertsen.com

[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 05 September 2004 at 09:49 AM.]

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 6 Sep 2004 6:53 am

no pickup I've ever played has come close to this

it is not possible to make a taller saddle without the strings almost touching the magnets

You can have an aluminum "shim" made to fit between the magnets and the mounting plate .... Shoe Lifts.

That way you won't have to mess around with the thumbnut aesthetics ...

If he grounded it using the standard Ricky method ... you might have to have your tech put an extension on ... but thats no biggie ...

------------------

HorseshoeMagnets

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 6 Sep 2004 7:10 am

Thanks Rick, I'll see what we can work out.
I hate the idea of being without this guitar for a week or so, but since it needs some extra attention to become 'perfect' I guess I don't have much of a choice.......

Steinar

------------------
www.gregertsen.com