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Nowadays there are dozens of ABGs on the market, but when Washburn introduced the AB series, there were few of its kind. The first true ABG—Ernie Ball’s huge Earthwood bass—was introduced in 1972, but didn’t have much of an impact on the bass world compared to the splash made by the later Washburns.
Washburn’s AB series had a look and style of its own. It certainly had a strong appeal to rockers ready to strip things down, and a cool coffeehouse vibe for folk and singer/songwriter gigs. The lack of a traditional soundhole—replaced here by the angled slits—is visually unique. Unfortunately, the slits do little to help the bass acoustically, although they do help keep feedback somewhat under control. The lovely finish on this bass is actually a “photo burl” that looks quite realistic and has held up very well over the years. The oil-finished rosewood fingerboard on this fretless has a softer sound than ebony. In addition to side fret markers, this one has helpful fret dots on the fingerboard running up to the 12th fret. Nice touch!
So when you take away all the MTV fanfare, how does this beauty sound? By itself, darn good—once you get over the fact that ABGs of this size are just not very loud and do need to be plugged in most of the time. Even in living-room jam sessions, it can be drowned out by a couple of dreadnought guitars, not to mention a dobro or banjo (both of which are really loud!).
One inherent shortcoming with this generation of ABGs is that the pickup system is essentially a modified piezo acoustic guitar pickup, where response and volume is based on string pressure. It was hard to find one that had reasonably even string-to-string response, but this fretless AB-20 is outstanding in that regard. Plugged in, the 3-band EQ allows you to smooth out some of the nasty “point” of the piezo pickup. I have never bought into the theory that nylon strings on a fretless ABG automatically give it an “upright sound,” but they do mellow it out to some degree, even if they don’t really have the tonal complexity of a true upright.
The Washburn AB series seemed to be ubiquitous for quite a while, and eventually dozens of other companies jumped on the bandwagon. Nowadays ABGs are everywhere you look, ranging widely in price, quality, and especially acoustic volume. Credit goes to Washburn for turning an already existing good idea into an accessible and cool-looking instrument with a broader appeal than its forebears. Plugged or unplugged, the ABG is now here to stay as a new color in our bass universe. Peace, love, and grooves!
DAVE POMEROY
Dave Pomeroy has released nine solo and band projects on Earwave Records. His latest CD is Three Ring Circle, an instrumental trio with Rob Ickes on dobro and Andy Leftwich on mandolin. It’s available at www.davepomeroy.com.