The name alone tells you why Ashbury have put this one together. This ukulele offers something different though. You can get a better sounding soprano for two thirds of the price if you know what you’re looking for. The Asbury Lonely Player Travel Ukulele is an interesting one. I’m a lot more forgiving because I know why I bought it and I went in knowing what to expect. My son who also plays a little ukulele doesn’t like it at all. It definitely takes a little bit of adjusting to. I always find it hard to describe sound in words so without doubt the best thing you can do is watch the video above. They’re next to the tuners and a lot less accessible. This led me to discover the other 6 sound holes at the bottom of the ukulele. I actually tried plugging this sound hole to see if it made a difference. The first one you will notice is on the top side of the ukulele at the top. On the subject of sound holes there are actually 7. The odd placing of the sound holes and the size of the body are major contributors to that. It doesn’t compare with a standard shaped soprano ukulele. I think that’s a little bit harsh but I understand the sentiment. On to the sound which Baz from Got A Ukulele described as a rubber bands on a margarine tub. I really need to cut the strings back a little further but I don’t want to make them too short. They really stick into my arm as I’m strumming. This design largely works (at least for me it does) but there is one slight exception: the ends of the strings. Right at the bottom of the ukulele it’s been designed with a rounded tailpiece to stop your arm clashing with the tuners. It’s not too big of a deal though as how much time do you usually spend tuning a ukulele? You either have to do things backwards – pluck with your fretting hand and tune with your strumming hand or just do it in separate stages. You can’t really play a string with one hand and tune it with another like a standard ukulele. Obviously the fact there’s no headstock takes a little bit of getting used to but for the most part I like the look and find it pretty comfortable to play.ĭown below the bridge we have the tuners. It kind of looks and feels a bit like it’s a one-off ukulele, like someone has made it in a workshop for themselves. For a £45 ukulele it feels well put together. The lonely player is pretty well constructed. It comes strung with D’Addario Nyltech strings. Surprisingly it has a solid spruce top with sapele back and sides. It’s slightly shorter than a regular soprano and generally more compact due to it’s rectangular body. It’s strung backwards with the tuners at the bottom. This is a soprano scale ukulele with 12 frets. My thinking was that as long as it sounds ok, the intonation is fine and it feels good then it will be good enough for practising with. I wasn’t to be deterred though and I went out to Hobgoblin Music and picked one up for myself. It wasn’t an overly favourable review with Baz scoring it quite low on sound. I first saw the Ashbury in a video review by Barry Maz from Got A Ukulele ( check out that review here). As I mention on my about page – one day I’ll get myself a Risa Stick, but right now it’s a little bit too expensive for me. If I can not wake everyone up when I’m playing then that’s a good thing. I live in a pretty open plan house and play ukulele a lot at night. I bought it for £45 around a month or so back and have been playing it quite a lot ever since, here’s my thoughts…īefore I bought this I’d wanted to get my hands on a ukulele that I could play quietly for quite a while. This rather unusual looking ukulele is the Ashbury Lonely Player Travel Ukulele.
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