From The Ashe’s
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From The Ashe’s
Sounds so mysterious, doesn’t it? But, it is from the Ashe’s that this guitar rose. Come on, say it with me…
It is Alive! …and totally gorgeous.
What?…
We are actually talking about Sean Ashe and his Axe—the Ande he played at the NAMM Show performances. Let’s look in depth at what it is and why he chose it.
Editor’s Note: You can view details and pictures from that performance in the last edition of Guitar Tales by clicking here.
Sean elicited the services of his Guardian Angel for NAMM Show play.
Let’s get down to the heart of the matter, shall we:
Angel is our 24 fret guitar with a gorgeous exotic wood-topped body, while the word “Guardian” in the name denotes the presence of pickguard styling.
So then, Guardian Angel is an awesomely-gorgeous and exotic, 24 fret, jet-fast playing guitar identified by its distinguished pickguard styling.
Sean specced out his “Guardian” with a Flame Maple top and Basswood-backed body. He chose Basswood for its even tonal attributes and innate ability to focus a humbucker’s ample midrange.
When we asked Sean why he chose an all-Caramel Maple neck, he replied, “With Caramel Maple I can chew on it but it doesn’t get stuck to my teeth.”
“Okay then…,” we explained, “Yes, we do tend to name many of our options after food but it doesn’t mean you are to actually place them into your mouth. We choose those names to exemplify color choices.” He laughed and assured us that he chose Caramel Maple for its “caramel colored” look and for the liveliness and tonal control that an all-maple neck presents.
HF-series pickups occupy the neck and bridge position—HF1 and HF2 respectively, while an SC2 in the middle is a perfect, full-bodied single coil foil. He says, “I love how these pickups take the already amazingly rich acoustic properties of Anderson Guitar tone and filter it to make a super sweet guitar sound even sweeter—for any style of music. And splitting Anderson humbuckers is better than anything this side of the Milky Way (not the chocolate bar—but the galaxy). The best. The split sounds are so good. I like them as much, and sometimes more, than real single coils—so surprising from a full humbucker.”
Controlling these superlative coils comes from Anderson’s 5-Way, Add-Bridge with Splitter switching system. Sean continues, “Even the Volume and Tone Controls are super usable. I can change gain in a really desirable way with just a twist of the Volume knob. And the Tone control works so well that if I happen to plug into a brighter amp, I can immediately roll my tones to suit.”
The bridge selected is our Recessed Floating Tremolo - Locking Saddles. Affectionately known as “Baby Floyd” to many of our players. This is the very best way to float a vintage-sized tremolo bridge and have it work super-well.
Sean expounds, “Yeah, I selected the “Baby Floyd” for this Guardian Angel. I love this bridge! I chose it because I wanted a superior, full-floating, vintage-sized bridge without being trapped by the locking nut, and yet still be able to have full range of expression and in-tune reliability.”
“I want to make it clear that it is not better than the Anderson Vintage Tremolo bridge—just different—and does add the ability to have more extreme tremolo movement and expression and still have a bridge that is basically vintage-sized at your picking hand. I can’t even express how much I love this bridge—especially with the Anderson arm modification—so nice.”
Red Alert, Red Alert, everyone set (visual) phasers to…
Stun!
Yes, responsibility for this Guardian Angel’s stunning good looks firmly rests on the shoulders of its flame maple top that has been garnished with a beautiful Satin Ginger Burst finish. Sean actually inspired the origination of the color when he asked us to do the shade on his first maple-topped Angel in 2014. And now for this Guardian, he opted for a gorgeous Satin version to bring out its softer shine.
Thank you Sean.
And even more fun: Just completed and pictured in Anderson Guitarworks Final Assembly, Guardian Angel being run through one of its many test plays with Anderson’s own Iain at the helm. Iain is an amazing guy and one of the illustrious Final Assemblers here at Anderson Guitarworks.
GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS:
