I bought this, because of what it could be?

[Steve Hudson]

SO i recently ordered an asher lap steel, the hawaiian jr in antique white. Its currently on backorder with GC, but oh well ill wait i guess. lol

Anyway, so i wa doing alot of research on asher lap steels, seeing the more expensive beautiful woods used onthe high end ones, etc, and i came across alisting on Guitar centers website under thier used gear.

It simply said Miscellaneous lap steel , lap steel"

( yup twice) But i studied it and damn it, its the same body design etc of an asher, double humbucker, the body style etc even the headstock, look like an asher. Its got what appears to be a striped maple type top on it. and it was listed for 300 bucks. so intrigued i bought it, knowing i can always return it to the store easily .

Some things dont fit for an asher, like the nut looks wrong, and the back has an obvious plate missing where it covered the through string holes. Asher doesnt seem to use that type of through string bridge.

Did anyone even bother making asher lap steel knock offs?


What do you think it is? a knock off? weird lost soul? or we will never truly know?......












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[George Piburn]

That is an El Cheepo Asian Import.

No where close to an Asher beyond the basic shape.

[Steve Hudson]

That is an El Cheepo Asian Import.

No where close to an Asher beyond the basic shape.

it is weird that someone would take the time to do a knockoff of a lap steel , ive never seen a knockoff lap steel before. and i couldnt find one except for cheap rogues, on alieexpress or wish, seems weird especially with the full binding and body top, but im certainly interested to see what it looks like up close.

[George Piburn]

Sorry to rain on your parade some,

In the early 2000's I was in bed with China factories for about 12 years, and sold a few hundred of these and others of what you are calling Knockoff's. They are not.

That shape is not an exclusive Asher design but a common shape that was flooded on the open market in those years by a great number of Asian Builders.

Asher took that basic shape up to his superior quality standards. The shape is basically taken from century old Weissenbourne (Spelling?) general shape of a hollow neck acoustic.

Around the turn of the century, China opened up access to the internet allowing a lot of guitar companies to approach USA EU and other markets. This shape is among the many that were being pitched at that time to GeorgeBoards and many others.

Things like edge banding and Fretboard banding are quite common on Asian Imports and those various factories are experts on adding those particular items to electric instruments.

I'm certain you will get your 300 bucks worth, hopefully everything will be lined up and intonate.

Asher makes his own Import Knockoff's of his actual high end instruments. Called Jr's. Even those are graded up to his quality control. As well Quite popular.

[Steve Hudson]

Sorry to rain on your parade some,

In the early 2000's I was in bed with China factories for about 12 years, and sold a few hundred of these and others of what you are calling Knockoff's. They are not.

That shape is not an exclusive Asher design but a common shape that was flooded on the open market in those years by a great number of Asian Builders.

Asher took that basic shape up to his superior quality standards. The shape is basically taken from century old Weissenbourne (Spelling?) general shape of a hollow neck acoustic.

Around the turn of the century, China opened up access to the internet allowing a lot of guitar companies to approach USA EU and other markets. This shape is among the many that were being pitched at that time to GeorgeBoards and many others.

Things like edge banding and Fretboard banding are quite common on Asian Imports and those various factories are experts on adding those particular items to electric instruments.

I'm certain you will get your 300 bucks worth, hopefully everything will be lined up and intonate.

Asher makes his own Import Knockoff's of his actual high end instruments. Called Jr's. Even those are graded up to his quality control. As well Quite popular.

Awesome ty sir, so nice to have the information, this forums has never ceased to provide great information.

I figure ill look at it, then return it if its not something i want as a fun backup to play with.
Many thanks!