Ashbury Ukulele
Ashbury are a UK firm who sell a wide range of instruments including a range of ukuleles. Their ukuleles are fairly inexpensive (but not the very cheapest) and very similar to other ukuleles out there (such as Oscar Schmidt). The range includes a resonator ukulele very similar to the Johnson resonator.
I have an Ashbury Koa Concert ukulele and it’s my favourite day to day ukulele and I play it far more than my other ukuleles. It’s very easy to play, the action is low and the fretboard smooth. It was my first ‘proper’ ukulele and I don’t think I could have made a better choice for a starter uke.
It should be pointed out that the koa wood is just a laminate – it’s not solid koa wood – and you wouldn’t expect it to be at this price.
On Video
Me playing my Ashbury Koa Concert Ukulele.
On Amazon UK
14 Comments
Hi I just wanted to say that I went to a ukulele jam a few weeks ago and a guy there was playing a Ashbury AU-60 Concert Ukulele made out of oak (laminate i imagine). I must say that this ukulele had such a nice sound to it I was quite blown away. not quite but even gave good sound this girl sitting next to him playing a Kanile soprano uke so I would agree these ukuleles are worth every penny and then some.
thats my two pence worth
I think some one would love one of these as a starter ukulele
vince
I’ve recently bought an AU60 oak, after trying to learn on a cheapo uke. My playing has come on in leaps and bounds,I would say that it is an excellent instrument for the serious beginner, and you won’t need to trade up as your playing improves. It seems well made, is a reasonable price, sounds great and comes with a fairly decent gig bag.
Recently bought an AU-24T tenor Ashbury uke in all solid Rosewood cherry (£179). It’s a lovely colour and has a really great tone and I love the understated style (‘A’ is my initial too, nice).
Build quality – or at least finishing – isn’t great though, with varnish drips, fading and bubbles everywhere, and i’ve had to do some work on the tuners straight away (like screwing them on properly). But those things aside, it’s a keeper just for the music, which is what its about. It takes a lot for me to look this far beyond physical quality, but I want this sound and fingers crossed it will last as the problems are with finishing rather than construction. Worth the risk.
It’s certainly enough to inspire me to play my way to a better one when the time comes, until then I’ve just decided to close my eyes and enjoy it with my ears.
So: looks (from a distance) and sounds really great, but somebody might wanna look at quality control.
oh, didn’t get a gig bag with it.
This is my second Ukulele and I gotta say, it sounds like Andy up above had a duffer – My Ashbury Koa-top Tenor (159 quid) came with the gig bag, tuners screwed on properly, and has withstood three months of furious fan strumming without any kind of damage to the instrument itself.
I spent a good few hours driving around and trying out 15 different Ukuleles and the sound on this one was unbeatable for the price. Stocked with Aquilas out of the box, the added length takes a little while to get used to if you`re making the leap from a soprano, but being a former bass player helped out with the fret spacing. It also helps that the instrument looks BEAUTIFUL!! I absolutely love it, and its made my Lanikai-friends jealous. Couldn`t recommend it enough.
well l bought a ashbury tenor ukulele and l am sorry if this goes against the grain but the preamp did not fit right it kept coming lose in fact there were only two screws holding it in the other two screws were just about and l mean just about touching the wood on the inside. l had to take it back to Johnny roadhouse in Manchester which they then changed it for the same model. l took it home but after a week l still could not get it to stay in tune. i changed the strings to see if that would make things better but no matter what l tried after play a couple of songs l had to re tune. the sound quality was ok but it never jumped at me as much to say yes that it. the Finnish seamed ok but on a closer look the body stain had a smudge on the rear. would l buy one again well yes providing next time l would take a closer look, and that the sound quality had a better response. I do have other Uku’s such as a pono and mainland and a ovation, how would l compeer the ashbury to these well sorry but it would have to be at the bottom of the list
I’m in total agreement with Dan, above. I’m a newcomer to the uke, began with a cheap soprano which was ok for messing about but wanted more. I went for a concert because of my fat fingers, and got myself an Ashbury AU60 and I’m delighted with it. For a reasonable price the quality is spot on and the sound is first class.It’s a joy to play so, as I can hardly bear to put it down, my playing has improved rapidly. Perfect for the serious beginner.
I recently bought a AU40T tenor uke im totally happy with mine but it seems theres quite a few construction problems with the au40 range at lot it appears are being sent back to the surpliers its a shame because their lovelly looking and sounding ukes and are hard to get hold of again im very happy with mine so maybe i was lucky.
I just bought a AU40S soprano ukulele from them. WOW! Just a perfect ukulele at $90. Although I am having issues with the buffolo bone nut. It is burring the strings. So I may have to contact them. I use this ukulele everyday and it is a lot louder than a Beaver Creek Soprano. Although the company does not add many frets on the bigger models. I think the baritone only has 3 more frets than a soprano, with 12. So thats my thought about them.
Great Maker,
Great Ukuleles,
Great Prices
I have two Ashburys (I think most people in Manchester have this model due to Johnny Roadhouse). I have an AU 80c (concert) (£160) which is a laminate curly koa. It looks very nice and has a loud bright sound which sounds great playing the high notes on the fret board. The action was quite high when I got it, so they lowered it for me. The second fret of the E string sounds a bit duddy which really brings down the instrument. This is my low g uke.
I bought myself an AU 24 c (concert) for £200 because I really liked it in the shop and by then I knew more about ukes. It is an all solid rosecherry wood with rosewood fret board. It looks very nice and the finish is very smooth. It gives a more mellow sound to my other uke, which means the high notes on the fret board can be quieter. I loved the uke mainly because of its playability, the action feels just perfect, so close to the fret board in all areas but with no buzzing.
For a serious beginner I think they are good ukuleles. Especially my AU 24c.
I recently picked up an Ashbury AU40S. This brand is virtually unknown here in Canada. I replaced the geared tuners with Grover friction tuners to create better balance and after some string experimentation I settled on clear Worths. It sounds great! I can shine a flashlight through the back and sides and the grain matches inside and out. Is this not a solid wood uke? Seems unbelievable for the price doesn’t it?
I´ve had a AU-80T for a year. It is a beautiful instrument. A warm resonant tone that is leaps and bounds better than some similarly priced tenor ukes and much better than its electro acoustic mate the AU-80TCE. I would recommend this to anyone after a tenor.
I purchased an Ashbury Resonator recently. However, I’ve discovered the strings keep popping like crazy. I’ve gone through about 5 sets in a couple of months. I suspect that the metal grooves where the knotted part of the string sits might be the problem. It seems a bit sharp and when you add the tension from tuning, the strings tend to go. Any suggestions to mitigate this? Has anyone else experienced something similar. When I picked it up at the shop, it had been shipped from the warehouse and I heard bits rattling around in the body. I subsequently found out, it was the remains of a bunch of broken strings. I love the sound on the Ashbury and the extra space on the fingerboard but the breaking strings are driving me mad.
I have had the AU-40C for a couple of months and I love it. I have not played a uke for many years and originally that’s what led me to playing the guitar. I wanted to revisit a decent uke that would not be outragously expensive and I liked the sound of this one. Excellent volume and great tone. The action is lovely and low, easy to play and in the process of learnining uke chords again. Only downside is the tuning. I’m on my second set of Aquillas and it wont hold tune. I’m going to take it back to Hobgoblin Music to have it checked out. Otherwise a great instrument and well worth the £72.00.
I bought an AU-24T about 5-6 years ago (about £280) and love it. I have to say it is the only uke I have experience of but the sound is lovely and mellow and the finish and look of it it superb- lovely high gloss, all smooth and even, really fabulous.
When I bought it Phil Davidson seems to have been more involved in Ashbury as I bought it through him and it was shipped to him to check it over and tune it before sending it on to me. This really did give me peace of mind that I was buying a great instrument.
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