Justin Tugaoen's Ashbory bass [Pictures] - created 03-12-2006

tugaoen, justin - 03/12/2006.21:01:59

I finally got around to building another guitar, this time an ashbory-type bass. This is a 3 piece laminated maple neck-through with bubinga back, ebony fingerboard with inlay, and 18" scale length. I'll probably replace the knobs to better match the tuners, possibly turned wood knobs. Components are Ashbory factory replacement pieces, including bridge/pickup and active circuit board and of course, the silicon, rubber strings. An easy and fun project!

I'd never heard of Ashbory basses before I saw yours. Nice work. I searched the net and found out a lot about them, and have "the bug" to build one. Where did you get the parts?

How is the setup different than a normal bass? I imagine that the action needs to be a bit higher, but of course I could be wrong. Can they be made fretted, or would the frets wear the silicone strings too much?

Thanks,

Brian.

Much nicer than the originals!! I am making one of these at the moment but mines more of a warped violin shape.

As a note of caution for anyone planning to build one of these I tried to make mine with a 22" scale like the MkII ashborys but I didnt think about the length of the currently available strings when I designed my headstock and had to scrap a neck because the g string wasnt long enough. It was all only scrap wood anyway but it was a bit annoying.

Hello Wesley,

It's a shame you had to scrap the neck...that must have been really dissapointing. If you still have it lying around you may still be able to use it. There is a guy who sells Ashbory G strings by the metre. He claims you can get 4 strings from a metre, so if yours need to be longer you should be able to get at least 3 G strings.

His name is Mike Tavener and he's in the UK.

I hope that helps you salvage your hard work.

Regards,

Brian.

I havnt chucked the neck yet so it will probably get used for something at some point, maybe a ukelele or something similar. I found a few more offcuts from full size guitar necks and managed to peice together a new neck blank for the ashbory.

The body has nearly been sprayed so i should be able to put it together soon.

That looks great Justin. Really nice shape. I have been looking forward to seeing this one. Time I got moving on mine.

That looks ace, I want one.

Does it really sound like a big upright bass? Thats what people have compared them to on some sites.

If you search for "largesound ashbory", you'll find a section there where you can purchase all the parts...the tuners, 2 sets of strings, bridge/pickup, nut, and circuit board all totalled less than the cost of one good bass bridge, plus as mentioned above, scraps can be used for the body because it's so small...cheap project all around!

BTW, the finish was KTM9 over epoxy filler. And here's a pic of the back...

and a closeup of the body...

Pretty cool and different instrument. Great job!

Very nice! I like this much better than the original Ashbory.

P.S....Brian's post about Mike Tavener is an important one; all the Ashbory players say that he's the guy that saves your bacon when the strings break, which is apparently often (especially the G).

Sweet! My drummer has an Ashbory (Guild, pre-De'Armond) that he plays on the one bluegrass song our band does... I've always loved that thing. I may have to build him one of these, just because the pretty woods would set it off even more than it's already unusual looks.

Well gosh darn. I was all set to build one or two Ashborys started to order the parts and find that the bridge/pickup is not available at the present time.

Very nice!

The ashbory thing looks quite apealling. I was planning on building my first bass over the next couple of months but am seriously considering an ashbory as a warm-up project. Looks ideal for a first build! Can you give us any more details on the build?

Would you need a truss-rod on such a short scaled instrument?

I can't imagine that the silicon strings would create enough pull to warp the neck.

Jeff, there's no need for a truss rod for this...as Barry said, there's not enough tension from the silicon strings. And yes this is definitely a great warmup project. It requires very little in the way of materials and $ for the parts. It's essentially just a board with a 1/4" elevated fingerboard. The things which make it very easy: 1. fingerboard is flat-no radiusing needed. 2. No frets, with all the work involved with that 3. Minimal wiring...the circuit board even has all the pots pre-wired (along with the LED). You only need to wire up the pickup, the jack and the battery leads! 4. Nut is prefabricated 5. Bridge is one piece without any adjustments. This project essentially took me all of about 3 days (plus spraying the finish and buffing).

Just a little note...the tuners were designed to be all on one side. For a 2+2 setup like mine, you'll need to drive a pin through the tuning peg to keep the strings from unscrewing it off the post...I tried locktite which wasn't enough. Good luck!

Justin, about the tuners. Do you mean it's possible to convert 2 of them from LH to RH and which part do you have to pin?

Since the bridge/pick up is unavailable atm I am considering making my own bridge system.

Has anyone tried a “conventional” under bridge pickup with silicon strings? Is the Ashbory pickup “tuned” for the vibrational characteristics of the strings?

Justin, what do you have for relief at the nut and 24th "fret:?

Forging ahead with a bridge design :)

Roy, Google 'R M Mottola' (first hit)and look at his 'Elastico' acoustic bass. There's also a lot of info. on his site about transducers, preamps, etc.

I love it! That thing's so cute! I'm glad you opted for unlined, though it'll be really hard to get used to unless you've got a golden ear. I also like that body shape much better than the original Ashbory, and really like the finish!

The following picture should clarify the tuning peg issue. Unlike most tuners you can see that the roller part screws onto the tuning post's reverse thread, so the G and D strings will naturally tighten on. On the other hand, the E and A strings tend to unscrew it... so I drilled a hole through the center of those rollers with a small brad inserted, going through the post.

As for relief, there's about 1/16" at the nut and 1/8" at the 24th fret. Also, I went with an unlined fb after playing an original ashbory-there is no compensation at the bridge, so the painted-on lines are a very poor indication of where your finger ends up in order to sound a correct note (especially on the E and A strings).

This is the first time I've seen one these things.

And whoa! thats so cool. I'm totally inspired, I've spent the last hour checking them out. They're just so dinky, but have a great sound (some of the mps3's I found sound great).

Justin, your design is way better than the original.

Roy, I'm sure you've checked, but if you google musicpawn, and follow the link to ashbory basses, the ashborybass site lists the bridge assembly for $10.00. Not sure if that includes the PU (I'd assume so), or if they even have any, I just spotted it, when looking.

I've just grabbed the elastico plans so I can take a closer look at the dimensions of these little wonders (and build one of course). Roy, any chance you could keep us updated on your bridge design? From the large sound forum you seem to have the PU sorted.

Justin, did you have any problems finding yours (bridge that is)?

toodle

Sorry, a question I forgot,

Justin, you mentioned the fingerboard marking gives no real indication of where to put your fingers (due to no compensation at the bridge), I've never looked into it before, but how about compensating the markers i.e. f*nned frets. Or does this still require a compensated bridge? sorry deb, if I'm not supposed to use that term.

John, the ashbory site seems to run out of parts often...the bridge will be available one week and not the next. Best thing is to check there often for availability. As for the fretlines, there's no easy way to try to modify the bridge/pickup assembly because it's one unit with the piezo pickups embedded inside, therefore no compensation. One thing to maybe try is to mount the bridge at an angle, but to me it would've looked a little odd so I kept it straight. You could put fretlines at an angle (fan-like), using a tuner for accuracy, but the scale is so short that even with accurate fretlines, it still won't be easy to place your finger at exactly the right spot...it's just like a violin with its really short scale. I didn't have any fretless experience, but I've done ok after just a little practice. Having said that, I did put in the usual fret dots on the side of the fingerboard just to give me a rough idea of where the "frets" are. Good luck with your project!