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Topic: Asher Ben Harper Model |
Jay L. Taylor
From:
Greer SC 29651
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Posted 25 Jan 2002 10:13 am |
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| Has any had the opportunity to a play one of these guitar? If so are they worth $2400 dollars. Also do you guys think the 25 inch scale makes a huge difference in tone. |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2002 10:43 am
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I hear these guitars are "Bewitched" 
Sorry, I couldn't resist. (Asher is Elizabeth Montgomery's son) |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2002 12:52 pm
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What do they look like? 
Erv |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Alan Barley
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 25 Jan 2002 4:13 pm
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Jay, check out www.guitartraditions.com. Guitar Traditions is Bill Asher's company in California. He has alot of info on the Ben Harper model. I have two of his. The first one is the standard Ben Harper model made out of koa wood with hollow chambers in the body. It has two stacked single coil pickups that Bill wires himself. It also has a brass bridge. It has great sustain and the notes are very thick sounding with a strong hint of acoustic tone thrown in. I was immediately taken by the bigness of the sound when first playing it. The second one,called the Dual Sonic, is one of four prototypes Bill made for Ben Harper. The body has totally hollow side wings (like a Gibson 335), made out of swamp ash with a figured redwood top. This guitar has a Asher single coil at the neck position, a 50's Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup at the bridge, and a Baggs piezo under-saddle pickup at the bridge. The switching allows you to get the fat Rickenbacker sound, the sweet Asher single coil sound, or a acoustic sound. Its tone rivals and may even be sweeter than the Ben Harper. Both guitars scream when you run them through a cranked guitar amp. Here is a very long link to a French Ben Harper web site with great info on these two guitars:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/swer/english.guitars.asher.html
I am extremely happy with these guitars, and Bill and his assistant Randy have been great to work with, plus the guitars are built with impeccable craftsmanship. I also own a 57 D-8 Stringmaster, a Sierra 8 string lap steel and a '53 National Dynamic and each one is great in its own regard but the Ashers really nail the fat acoustic/electric vibe. Hope this helps.
Alan[This message was edited by Alan Barley on 25 January 2002 at 05:19 PM.] [This message was edited by Alan Barley on 25 January 2002 at 05:20 PM.] |
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nick allen
From:
France
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Posted 30 Jan 2002 1:13 am
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I seem to recall Forumite Dan Tyack saying he loved his. Greg Leisz had 2 on stage when I saw him with Bill Frisell. Sounded good to me! 
Nick |
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Olli Haavisto
From:
Jarvenpaa,Finland
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Posted 30 Jan 2002 4:52 am
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It´s a GREAT instrument!Ry Cooder style slide sound and Lindleyish weissenborn-with-a-Sunrise tone in one guitar; plus more. I`ve wired mine with a piezo undersaddle pick-up so that I can send a combination of the neck p/u and the piezo to an acoustic pre amp and the regular output to an amp simultaneously.Sounds huge...
The price,BTW was 1700 when I got mine in May last year.
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Olli Haavisto
Polar steeler
Finland
[This message was edited by Olli Haavisto on 30 January 2002 at 08:05 AM.] |
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Jay L. Taylor
From:
Greer SC 29651
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Posted 30 Jan 2002 5:18 pm
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Thanks guys for all your responses. Now if I can figure out how to get the money to pay for it.
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Greg Simmons
From:
where the buffalo (used to) roam AND the Mojave
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Posted 30 Jan 2002 6:01 pm
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Olli; that's a pretty good price; I see on the website that they list for $2200 now.
If you go to:
http://www.thdelectronics.com/sounds/index.html
there are some clips of Dan Tyack playing through a THD Univalve amp, not sure which might be him using his Asher guitar though...
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Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net
[This message was edited by Greg Simmons on 30 January 2002 at 06:02 PM.] |
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