DeArmond Ashbory Bass

DeArmond Ashbory bass. Black finish. Korean made. Unknown age. Purchased from a private owner through eBay. Came with a gig bag, strap, and extra set of strings. The previous owner got it from a pawn shop, which I thought was interesting. It has an active, integrated piezo-bridge, 18" scale rubber-strings, lined fretless neck. Bass, treble, and volume controls. Plugging in a cord activates it; unplugging deactivates it. Otherwise, there are no real bells and whistles on this baby.

Problems: (1) Above the 12th fret one needs the hands of a two-year-old because the fretlines are so narrow. Consequently, there?s a bit of a learning curve involved in playing this bass in terms of readjusting to its compact form. On the other hand, this would make a great starter instrument for a child or someone with very small hands. (2) Other owners report that the G and D strings tend to snap. I?ve been loosening both strings after use and have had no problems so far. Strings are not terribly expensive either ($15 range). (3) Too bad the bridge is not adjustable.

On a positive note, and in respectful disagreement with another reviewer?s opinion, even though the tuning keys are very small, I don?t find it a problem retuning prior to use.

The sound is the most impressive and intriguing thing about this instrument. It can do a really close approximation of an URB, bass guitar, and bass synth (either by muting the strings just below the nut and tapping with the other or plucking the strings below the 12th fret). I?m mainly interested in blues, jump blues, rockabilly, and country blues kinds of stuff and looking for an upright sound. I have an upright and it?s quite a physical shock moving back and forth between the dinky Ashbory and the fat URB neck. I?d love an EURB, but can?t afford one just now.

I?m only playing the Ashbory through a set of headphones at the moment, but will be reviving an old Bassman 50 tube amp and a 15? in the near future. I?ve heard from other owners that solid-state, neutral sounding amps are the best. (See www.largesound.com for more info on sound, technique, and equipment).

The action is a bit high, but not uncomfortably so, and I would assume that this is to help emulate the string bass sound. The finish is quite good. Talcum powder is needed as a dry lubricant every other playing or so; it really makes a difference. The only problem, of course, is that the instrument tends to get a little dusty.

Problem: this thing doesn?t balance worth a darn, even when wearing a strap, and so you need to support it with your playing hand. This is both uncomfortable and reduces technical agility. I?m going to get a quick-release acoustic guitar strap and tie one end of it above the nut.

Given its size, intonation can be challenging at the upper registers, but I haven?t noticed any problems in the lower registers.

Appears to be solidly made. Good quality finish. No obvious defects to be seen. It's very light (2 lbs.), so I'd be careful with it. No truss rod, so that's not an issue. Would I gig with it *without* a back up? If I did gigs, I probably would.

This is an amazing little device. I purchased it without actually hearing it in real-life (except for a sound file found at www.largesound.com). I?m very pleased and impressed with it. And, yes, it is an odd looking thing?-justlike another reviewer said?-it can appear toy-like or cartoonish at first glance, but the damn thing is pretty versatile. But that?s the thing? this is a purchase based purely on sound, not on looks. The question, I think, is how do you want to use the Ashbory? If you mainly want the sound of an URB without the transportation problems, but in a bass guitar form (i.e., you don?t want or can?t afford an EURB), then this is definitely worth checking out. On the other hand, if you do pretty much straight ahead bass guitar stuff, and a string bass sound isn?t necessary, then this is probably (at best) a second instrument for specialty songs; (or, at worst, a novelty instrument, which it most certainly is not).

I haven't been playing long at all. If it were lost or stolen, I'd get another. It's got a great sound and it's so small and light you could almost slip it into your jacket pocket. I understand that the old Guild models had an on-off preamp switch that helped alter the tone even more. I wish the DeArmond folks had continued that. On the other hand, I admire its simplicity. It's definitely worth spending some time with the Ashbory.

Circa 2000 DeArmond reissue of the Guild Ashbory Bass.Fully active piezo-only 18" scale rubber-string bass. Volume control and two tone controls (high and low frequencies) with centre-dents for easy equalisation.

There are few problems with this little beauty:
1) Its small tuner buttons make winding a chore (particularly with strings so stretchy) and don't fit in a standard string winder.
2) It's difficult to wind the strings down far enough to stop energy being lost over the nut (open strings sounding dead) or worse still, popping out of the nut completely.
3) The Guild original had a passive/active selector. It would have been nice if that had been kept in...

The sound has a lot of tonal flexibility, although the sustain is limited.

As everyone else always says, it can do a good impression of a synth bass, a bass guitar or an upright. It's closest to an upright or fretless electric, anyway.

I play a lot of blues, and I like the sound. A lot.

The thickness of the strings causes a noticable intonation problem, in that with the open strings tuned to their respective notes, the target point for playing a stopped note (equivalent to a "fretted note" on a fretted bass) is different across the strings. This may mean that I have to build my own compensated nut in the near future for it.

Additionally, as alluded to in the features section above, the string pull between the tuners and the nut can be lacking unless the strings are very carefully wound, leading to loss of sound on open strings and a tendency for strings to jump out of the nut (particularly the E).

The finish was good: a solid black lacquer with no apparent flaws and clear white lacquer for the fingerboard markings.

The bass does not balance well on the strap pins -- I intend to transplant them to elsewhere on the instrument -- resulting in a tendency for the head to drop. This makes it necessary to hold the instrument in place while playing. While not hugely restrictive, this does have a noticable effect on my ability to play.

Solid solid solid. It's too small and light to do itself any major damage, so if you're relatively careful you should experience no problems.

The strings are fairly durable if looked after, but the smallest nick is likely to cause a string to tear itself in two.

If doing a large gig, I'd want a backup to avoid the need to restring midgig (rubber strings can sometimes take a while to stretch in), but if I was only playing it for a couple of numbers, I probably wouldn't bother.

It doesn't have any adjustable elements to the action -- no truss rod, height-adjustable saddles, nothing.

I no longer play any other form of bass. My hands are just too small (An octave on the piano is a good stretch for either hand and I can't get past that), and after having had to stop playing the guitar and bass for most of a year due to RSI I'm never going to risk stretching my hands to a 32" scale.

This thing is fantastic. The strings are light, there's no stretching involved and it sounds better than any other electric bass in the price bracket.

While I wish there was some competition in the market, the patented nature of the Ashbory unfortunately means that there's only one model out there.

I intend to own an ashbory for as long as I own a pair of hands.

By Scott Barsett's discription on the DeArmond Ashbory bass, mine is the exact same exept that it is all black and I got taken for a ride on the prise I think. His was $249 US and mine $600 CAN. But then again I have one store to choose from and I am farly knew at this.

In my opinion, you should Know your music alot better befor geting with this one. As Scott pointed out, the frets seem to be estemated and are vary close together. It dosen't take much to be off sound and seems imposible to even use the frets for refrence when geting high towards the active pickup. I do belive it would be best to spend some good money on suporting this bass. Get a good amp at least, because a small little apartment amp like mine does no justice for this bass. Its amazing what this bass can do through an fx peddle; it is insaine.
This bass can do things no other can, but it is alot harder to do some things that are normaly simple. You have to be alot more carfull double poping, they often mute each other out some what. Trying to do a bend is strange. If you look close at the string, you can see it roll as if you were rolling a stringy piece of dough on a bord, though it doesn't do a full rotation. This seems to mute the string as soon as you bend. You do get some wicked slids, especally if you bend first. Sounds a little contradicting I know, but thats what makes this one odd ball bass. And for its size it is one beaffy sounding bass.
Im lerning slap sting style and must say that this bass puts that style into a hole knew rhelm. Just think, your slapping rubber stings. (Yes I am a big Claypool fan)

The size shape and wait make this bass chalanging. It's as light as air and its shape makes it hard to hold sitting. You might as well stand.I find it hard to get it balenced with its light size. I offten corect holding technich and even posture.I resieved the bass in flawless condition, in fact everything was very snug and tight.

Make sure you use talc powder, lots and lots. The friction from your fingers even at simple play, can cause the strings two peel. Once theres a nick or small peel, the string will snap soon after. The G string is worst for that. If on stage, talc your hands after every song. You might fined things geting sticky again in the same song even, so have a container you can put your hole hands into; then it wont take much to powder and continue (do it at the right time and it will go unoticed).
Allways have a back up bass no matter what you play with.

I like unusual things. Though this bass is high maintnence because of its unicness, and hard to get to know (I still have much to learn); I find it lots of fun and there's a quallity about it that lets me know other basses can't duplicat. At least not varey well.
Some people might see this bass more cartoony and a novolty. Some just think its embaressing, usless and a bad joke at best. If you find the proper use for it, I think you will be satisfied that this is one bass that can rock, jazz, or do whatever.

Purchased this one from MusicZoo.com for $250.00 in early 2000. As described elsewhere here, it's a standard DeArmond by Fender re-do of the original Guild Ashbory. Haven't played any of the other models, but I think this one is improved by the use of geared tuning machines rather than friction pegs. The little plastique body seems fairly indestructable, the gig bag is a gig bag...not much to talk about here.

My band has a musical style that no one can pin down, someone said "Zappa meets Cat Stevens" and someone else said "Pots and Pans experiments" and me, I think 10CC meets Shadowfax. Anyway, in the course of a show I switch between this, a Steinberger 5 string headless, a bass mandolin, cello, pedals, casio DH-100 digital horn, and alto clarinet to put down a bassline. I run this Ashbory through a Zoom bass effects pedal.

I find the tone to be rich and round (unless filtered thru the pedal settings of course). It's a nice little package that allows you to get a fretless 'mmmmmm' sound without having to lug a full sized instrument around.

There's no set-up to wonder about, the silicone strings are like soft butter to the fingers. Arrived with no flaws. One fault tho': the instrument has fret-lines painted on for reference, and no bridge adjustments are possible, but the fret-lines don't give equal pitch changes on all strings. So you've got to get to know the instrument so you can fret the E string a little more up on the neck than the G string, etc. That's a design flaw that I'd hope they fix in a future model.

I don't think this bass is vulnerable to normal use, wouldn't want to put it thru thrash metal on a regular basis. I do use it on a gig with no Ashbory backup, but as noted above I do have lots of other ways to put down a bassline to fall back on. One weakness: I went through about 5 G strings in a few months, they kept popping like stressed-out rubber bands (oh, of course, that's what they are...)

So I wrote Fender conglomeration about the breaking G strings and they gave me a modestly slow response: a letter with a couple of ideas about pre-stretching the string and filing down the sharp edge in the tuner slot; a Fender catalogue (hint hint); an explanation that they don't sell single strings for this toy so I gotta keep buying full sets and letting the E and A strings age unused; that I might be able to use a D string where the E string was. And they tossed in one free G string, which touched my heart just enough that I won't smack them down in here!

So I've been happy enough with this that my Yahoo! user name is tr_on_ashbory_bass. If stolen, I'm getting another one pronto! I like the "what the hell is that?" response it gets, the mandolin-sized scale permits wild playing techniques, and I don't even find that I have trouble sliding along the strings (what lots of other Ashborians have complained about).

This is a new re-issue (made in Korea) of the now discontinued Guild Ashbory Bass. It has at least one improvement over the original. The tuners are a substantial upgrade, but still rather light and insubstantial by traditional bass standards. Of course, there is nothing traditional about this bass but for the 4-string configuration. It has a tiny 18" scale, is fretless, and uses milky-white silicone rubber strings. It has a single pickup integrated into the bridge. The bass is very light weight. It does have a wood body and neck (mine has a nice looking sparkle red finish), but the nut and most other parts are plastic. The pickup is active, and it has a volume control and center-detented bass and treble controls (since it is active, I assume these both boost and cut). It comes with a nice gig bag, but the external pocket is too small to store a spare set of strings in the factory packaging. Of course, the spare strings can be removed from the packaging in put in small plastic zip lock bags, which is probably a good idea anyway, and then they will fit.

This is where the Ashbory excells. For the money (a $249 internet special from Musicians Friend), this thing sounds very much like an upright. I play jazz standards in a quartet make up entirely of divorce lawyers (stop laughing, I'm serious. We are known as the Bare Assets). The sound of the Ashbory is ideally suited to the swing-era standards we play. I have not yet told my bandmates that I have the Ashbory, and we (due to our busy schedules) won't be getting together again for another month, so they are in for a surprise. Because it seems to be designed to sound like an upright (the rubber strings perhaps simulating gut?, fretless, etc.), it does not have a huge amount of tonal variety. It is amazing that anything this small and light can sound so big. The only caution is that the output from the active electronics is quite high and may overdrive the input of some amps. Of course, turning down the Ashbory's volume control solves this problem.

Action isn't really an issue with these very springy rubber strings. Mine arrived very out of tune. It took a full week of constant tuning to get the strings stretched out enough to stay in tune from one day to the next. You will find that the D and G in particular will require constant re-tuning (tightening) when new. In fact, so much extra string will wrap around the tuning post, that it will double-wrap. So far no adverse side-effects from this, and I have learned from Newsgroup posts that this is common and nothing to worry about. You want to leave the extra string in case the string breaks. That gives you at least a chance to re-tie another knot at the end and re-install the same string. Yes, these strings have no balls at either end. Just tie an ordinary knot at the bridge and tuner and tune away. Another reviewer has expressed concern about the liberal use of plastic (nut, bridge, etc.). On a traditional bass with high-tension metal strings, that would be a very valid criticism. On this bass, given its very light weight and use of rubber strings, I'm not sure that plastic isn't more logical than metal or some other material. I do agree, however, that the metal tuning posts have edges that are sharper than advisable considering the use of soft rubber strings. You need to be careful when stringing the bass to guide the string below the sharp edges to avoid damaging the string. Considering the price and theory behind this bass, I think the construction is up to snuff.

There isn't really much that can break on this bass. It is very simple in theory and execution. The finish is attractive. Another reviewer didn't like the placement of the strap buttons. I have not noticed a problem in this area. I use a very cheap Ernie Ball nylon strap worn in the traditional way, and it seems to hang in the proper position. I don't think I would use this bass, or any bass, live without a backup. That is not a critism of the Ashbory.

I have not contacted DeArmond, so I can't really say what their support is like. It is a little troubling that the bass came with absolutely no documentation, especially given its somewhat unique construction and sound.

This is a blast to play. It is my first fretless, so I am struggling a bit with intonation (although a bit less than I anticipated). The short scale leaves little margin for error. The fret lines seem to be just estimates of proper intonation. I found that being even close to the line results in a note sharper than intended. However, I have very short fat fingers, and the short scale feels very natural to me. That may be because I started playing the bass a year ago on a short scale Gibson EBO. I also have an old Supro Pocket Bass (approx. 26" scale)that, before I bought the Ashbory, was the closest I could come to the sound of an upright bass. My other basses are two Ibanez 5-strings (Soundgear 1205, Roadstar II 885), a headless Kramer Duke, and a Vox Panther with the "toothpick" neck. I play through two small combo amps: Ampeg BA-112 and Yorkville Bloc 80. Together they produce plenty of volume for even large rooms for the type of music I play. Probably wouldn't cut it for rock, however. I may tire of the Ashbory, but for right now it is my "go to" bass when I want to play.