Dearmond: Ashbory Bass Guitar

This strange bass is none other than a 31 inch (with a 13-1/4 inch fretboard), rubber stringed, fretless bass guitar. You tune it like a regular 4-string bass (E, A, D, G), and it sounds absolutely outrageous! I'm serious! It even comes with it's own, little case! It has one active piezo-style pick up on the bridge, a bass knob, a treble knob, and a volume. There are multiple websites devoted to information about these "basses" exclusively. Full of tips, tricks, history and what not. But I'm telling you - this instrument is very playable and useable! Although, needless to say, it will take some time to get used to. Especially if you haven't had any experience in playing a fretless instrument before. At first it seemed a little hard to keep in tune, but after successfully dealing with this problem, I started to see the real potential. It really does closely mimic the sound of a big, ol', acoustic, string bass. Which is sort of how it's makers apparently tried to market the thing. Get an extra set of strings when you order it. They're about $13 apiece where I got them, and I ordered 2 sets. When I first got mine, I plugged it straight into my Mackie board with great results. I even A/B'd it to a fretless Steinberger-style bass that I have. The Ashbory actually had a bigger low end. It actually dwarfed the "real" bass, and sounded more like a "real" acoustic bass. I would imagine that a good parametric EQ would do wonders for this thing. Not to mention a nice, tube pre-amp. I am a fan of deep, clean, big, undistorted, almost Dub style bass and this instrument can deliver such tones. The Ashbory Bass is a very cool thing. It comes across as a bit of a novelty, but with a little love and attention, it is definitely no joke, but a real musical instrument with much potential.