new guitar: Ashton resonator

[shawlie]

For a while now, I was thinking of getting another guitar - I love my Larrivee OM, but wanted something different for a little variation. Not another OM, but something a little more "simple" sounding - I was considering a parlor.

Saw on-line that a store a little way away had a couple, and thought I'd go look at the LAG parlor. When my wife and I got there, it seemed they were re-modeling the place, they had maybe seven to ten steel-strings on display, none parlor sized.

A guy who was working there was playing a resonator and as we were about to leave, he hung it back on the wall. I had been also thinking of a resonator for a while, and thought I'd try it. I liked it - it was not very expensive, and happily I got to buy it.

It's an Ashton, I never heard of the brand. Looking around on-line, Ashton seems to have a model with a built-in tuner and you get an extra nut and saddle (for lap-steel), but I just got the guitar with no extra things. There's no model name or number on it, just "Ashton" on the headstock.

The action is high-ish, but I guess that's good if you plan to play slide (but I don't). Not sure if you can lower it, but with a capo it plays ok. The nut is not very wide (I am used to my Larrivee), but again, capoed up a little, there's a little more room. It has a single cone, spider bridge, and I really like the looks of it.

I recorded a few quick things on it (capo first fret). A short blues in C (been writing in for a few days now, not quite right), a short verse of Blind Boy Fuller's "Meat Shakin' Woman" and a really quick ragtime-blues progression. I really like the sound - again, I was looking for something a little different than the Larrivee. I think this will get played a lot - it's a lot of fun.

Ashton resonator

And a photo, of course:



Ah, a new guitar. What a nice day.