Ashton D25 Reviews 4

I have been playing guitar with this instrument for 4 months. prevoiusly i played the keyboard and drums.

i got it 4 months ago in the ashton starter pack at musos corner here in australia for $199. I got it because it was so cheap with all the accesories.

the guitar sounds great no matter where you play on the fretboard. i got mine in the tobacco sunburst finish and it looks great.

The ashton strings seem to wear out and go out of tune easily, but i fixed that by fitting on dean markly strings. i am also having the problem with the guitar strings sounding out of tune when the tuner says they are perfect

The guitar is very durable, i have dropped it once and it still sounds good. the pegs that keep the strings in the bridge arn't very durable, but their just plastic.

This guitar is great for someone starting out, ecspecially with the starter pack. but once you start to really develop as a player you will definatly want to move up to something better

kurt_cobain_rockz! rated this unit 4 on 2005-11-12.

A few months ago I was looking for an acoustic to start out on, after having a fair amount of keyboard and piano experience over the years. I was looking for something cheap which does the job. I had almost never played a guitar before, so I asked around about cheap beginner acoustics and ended up mail ordering the Ashton D25 from Allans Music Direct here in Australia for $175 AU.

The instrument I recieved by courier (rather fast I might add), was black, other choices at the time being natural and blue burst, but now there is a whole range of colours for this model. I was impressed with the appearance even for the low price. Although I don't have much of a basis for comparison, but from the horror stores I've heard about other guitars, this one tunes with little effort and after the strings are worn in it stays tuned for ages. Playing it, it has a nice sound. I'll say nice because its not offensive, and the sound is not as plain as I expected to get from a guitar this cheap. In fact, the range of tones is great, from low to high. Low E is fat, high E is sharp and clear.

There are a few niggly things which annoy me about the instrument, but at this price I'm certainly not complaining. The action seems rather high, but I don't know how different other guitars tend to be in this area. I get a bit of fret buzzing on the lower 2 strings, but this is easily fixed by propping them up at the bridge, or using a heavier gauge of string. I have also noticed that when the guitar is tuned accurately with an electronic tuner, the low E string fretted at 5 sounds higher in pitch than an open A. Now I don't know now normal this is, but this has proved to be a hassle with manual tuning. I could even be wrong about this, or it might be a simple flaw or just a common problem, but I suggest you try it out yourself.

There are a few tiny imperfections in the finish on the edges, but even still this is hardly something to complain about for a cheap guitar. The construction seems fairly solid.

If you are looking for a cheap guitar to begin on and you're not sure if you will even get into it, you probably won't want to get anything more expensive than this guitar, which seems to be fine for this purpose. If you are willing to go a little further with price then try something a little more higher quality. Also, even if you are a beginner, try it out in a shop first. Don't be afraid to ask for assistance and tell them that you are a beginner if this happens to be so, they will help you out. I don't think I can recommend this instrument to an experienced player, but its all about preference so theres no harm in giving it a try.

Trevor Johnson rated this unit 4 on 2002-10-15.

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