2010 Asher Ultra Tone T Deluxe

To me, this Asher Ultra Tone T Deluxe looks like the sort of guitar that would have resulted from a late 50s collaboration between Fender and Gibson. The body silhouette and pickup arrangement are definitely inspired by the Telecaster, but the pickups themselves, the headstock and body wood all have more of a Gibson vibe. The pickups are Asher’s own T-Blades, which he has custom wound by Pete Biltoft, and the single blade rather than separate pole pieces look like they were inspired by Gibson classic Charlie Christian pickups. The body is made from korina, a great sounding but relatively scarce wood that Gibson used on the original Flying Vs and Explorers.

The basic pickup controls are very simple–volume, tone, three-way selector switch–but Asher has added an interesting twist to this classic setup: A Stellartone ToneStyler. This device is a 16-position pot that cycle through a series of capacitors that roll off the high frequencies without affecting the mid range frequencies. Ever since we ran an interview with Bill Asher in Issue 30 I’ve wanted to get my hands on one of his standard guitars. (I’ve played a few of his lap steels and I really liked them.) So I was pleased that I actually got to play this guitar the other day and I was very impressed with the playability and the way the ToneStyler sounded. I was able to get a huge ranges of tones out of the guitar. I’m not sure that I would want to try and find a particular setting on stage in a hurry, but in the studio I think it would be really useful. This Ultra Tone T Deluxe is priced at $2995 and it’s hanging on the wall at Gryphon Stringed Instruments.