Monday, August 8, 2011

Ashbory Rubber Band

This one is going on to my "to do" list right now. I'm officially on the hunt. It's about 2/3 the size of a Steinberger. The first one of these that I ever saw & demo'd was labeled as a GUILD. Most of them that I've see since are labeled as Ashbory or DeArmond. John Schwartz from Emerald City Music in Coon Rapids had ordered one in for stock to retail around '85, & couldn't wait to get me behind the wheel to show it off. I was blown away by the responsiveness of the pick-up against the tubular rubber strings. This atrocity was an amazing piece of break through design technology, & sounded better than most of the basses that I'd ever heard. I think they retailed around $429 at the time.

2 comments:

  1. Actually sounded very stand up-like. Was always interested in this very weird thing but wouldn't be seen in public with it! In the studio might be another story. I remember a couple times seeing them for around $150- no one wanted them. Wish I'd jumped on it.

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  2. Not sure what kind of gig I'd use this on. I'll get the axe first, then I'll look for the right gig.

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