Guild Ashbory Bass

I bought my Guild/Ashbory bass new about 3 years ago. It has four fat silicon strings, like rubber bands, no frets (fret markers), volume, bass, and treble, with an active bridge pickup and built-in preamp. Mine is metallic red. I put an on/off switch on it so I wouldn't have to unplug it between sets and when switching instruments.

This little unit really does sound good. The tone controls provide plenty of variation, and the pickup, being piezo is virtually hum free. The short scale (18") allows for nice exagerated vibrato, but the rubber strings are difficult to get a funky thumb slap out of. Mostly, I use this instrument to accompany an accoustic guitarist, and the sound is just about perfect for the stuff we play.

Nothing wrong with this one.

The only real trouble with using this bass on a gig, is that the G string tends to break with no warning. I've had two break on me, fortunately both when in the gig bag. The strings can be changed quickly, but they take a long time to stablize intonation. If a string broke on the day of a gig, I'd switch instruments for the day. Other than that, there's little that can go wrong.

I've been playing stringed instruments for many years, starting with violin at age 7, then guitar and bass in high school. I wanted a fretless instrument that would accomodate my small hands, and this one fit the bill. I have a standard fretted four string and a five string bass, but this is the one that I usually play. It is difficult to play above the 12th position because of the extremely short scale, but being a violin player, I knew that would be the case. A factory installed on/off switch would be a plus...

2 lbs. Rubber strings. Fretless (although frets are marked on the fingerboard). Bass, Treble, Volume. I'll give it a 10 'cause it's unique.

Sounds like a string bass. You have to be very careful with the treble settings on both the axe and your pre-amp because any finger slippage along the strings can sound like you're squeezing a grapefruit.

Great, just fine.

Excellent. I did want to post one thing here though. There is a single 22 microfarad electrolytic cap on the circuit board. The treble/bass controls became a little indistinct, and the signal was kinda small. An ESR meter showed that this cap had gone. Replace it, and voila -- no problems. It has to do with the age of the instrument. When you take yours in for a 10,000 note checkup have your instrument-tech/luthier look for this...

Never needed it.

Amazing little instrument. Not everyones' "cup of tea" but try to find a more original concept!

Small rubber-stringed electric bass. Solid body with active electronics. Due to the unique strings, it has it's own proprietary tuners and single pickup/bridge entity. The active circuitry has a passive mode, though I use and enjoy the active mode on this instrument most of the time. The simple and effective controls consist of Volume, Treble, Bass, and Active on/off switch. There is also a red LED that illuminates when in Active mode. I have no idea what wood the body is made of.
The Ashbory is very small, and uses an 18 inch scale. It is fretless with fret lines on the neck. To my knowledge, every Guild Ashbory is painted (no wood finishes available). Mine (used) came with an original gig bag.
Made in the USA. The neck and body may very well be the same piece of wood. No noticable neck joint or body seams.
I don't know what other features I could possibly want. The tuners are no fun to use, so I'll take off 2 points for that. They do stay in tune when properly tightened, though.

The sound is phenominal!
When played normal electric finger style, this bass sounds much like an upright bass. It seems to fit my music style, which is hard to define other than saying it is definately not funk! The instrument "faulters" in tone when the strings are pulled, not completely unlike an upright. The sound is huge, and I much prefer to run straight into my solid state bass amp, bypassing the Mesa tube preamp I use with my more conventional electric bass. Sounds awful with distortion (even Mesa distortion), but works with my solid-state analog vibroverb. I tend to find that the Ashbory tone "breathes" plenty, and is best not assisted with tubes. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Ashbory sounds better through PA than through a classic SVT.
You are not rewarded for playing chords on the Ashbory (which I do alot of on my conventional electric bass). Fast playing can be done, and with the right one-handed technique, there's some monsterous almost analog synth sounds to be had.
Be there no doubt what rating the Ashbory earns for sound.

This is a well made instrument, though my pickup was bad when I got it ten years used. It's a simple instrument with no body binding, carved top, or fancy inlays.
It all looks really good to me, probably worthy of a ten, but by factoring in "difficulty of routine" logic like they use in gymnastics, it gets a nine.

If all I did was play Ashbory, I'd bring a backup just for insurance purposes. Between the Ashbory and my conventional bass guitar, there's a plan 'B' to go to if dire need arises. Since the bad pickup was replaced, everything has been very solid and super kosher. I don't worry about Ashbory failure.
The paint, hardware, and strap buttons are fine. I like straplocks, but don't see the necessity here. This thing is very light.
I don't worry about it, but it has gone wrong before (the pickup), so I'll give it an 8 for Reliability/Durability.

I have few kind words for Fender. I tried and tried to get assistance on finding/replacing my pickup and they were a waste of time and long distance phone call money. True, it was US Music Guild that made my Ashbory, but Fender bought the ship and should be able to keep it running properly. I would have possibly considered a Fender practice amp in the future, but not now! It is amazing how people cling to the old Fender name when the new Fender does no respect to the name of it's founder. If I ever get a Leo Fender designed Bass, I'll go for a G&L or possibly a Music Man.
Fortunately, I was able to find Alun Jones of Ashworth Electronics (they didn't have a web presence back then) after making some calls to England, and he personally rebuilt my pickup and mailed it back to me (they offer upgrade replacement pickups now). He designed the pickups, so I had him sign my original literature while he was at it. A great guy.
Fender gets rated too highly here as a 1. If they had given me no answers but had been prompt on the phone, they'd deserve a one. Instead, I endured long waits over multiple days to get two leads that were worthless, leading to even more lost time and long distance charges. Bad answers are worse than no answers. Real rating: -1. I would have been much better off not ever calling.

These are wonderful instruments. They made less than 1300 of them in three years of production. They seem like toys due to their size but are real instruments. They are very comfortable to play. Mine brings out different elements of my playing and myself. The sound is huge! Unfortunately, collectors seem to think that these are fun to own and not use, so the used prices tend to be above $500, which is more than the original prices. People say they are great to record with, but they do live duty comfortably. With the possible exception of that guy pictured on the Ashbory Internet Resource, no one looks cool with an Ashbory strapped on. I got some stares from people when I filled in for some friends of mine at a gig one time; from them ("He actually brought that thing?"), the audience, and primarily the bass player from the following act who never asked any questions but sure did stare.
The strings last a long time, which is good since they are now being produced again for $60 a set (they were around $15 a set in the 80s).
There is probably not a better "second" instrument for the bass player who can play without frets and doesn't desire extra strings.
The only things that annoy me about the Ashbory are the tuners and the lack of a wood finish model. The tuners are hard to turn on that little headstock, and each one has to be locked into place seperately by tigntening a screw in the middle of each tuner. Hard to work with and annoying. They keep tune when set, however, so at least they do work. I wish the tuners were better designed.
Something else I should note: The somewhat stickey feel of the strings seems odd at first, but after a while everything seems fine. Also, I don't like short scale basses, but this one is so far removed from 34 inch scale that the size difference doesn't bug me.
The Ashbory Internet Resource at www.steamroller.com/ashbory/ has pictures, info, and links for the Ashbory.
There is absolutely no doubt I'd replace my Ashbory if it were missing. There's really not a lot that compares to it. Mine travels with me. I've been playing for 8 years and find that I have more possibilities for growth in my playing on the Ashbory than my conventional electric bass. Definately a favorite purchase.