Ampeg ASB-1 Model Electric Bass Guitar (1967), made in Linden NJ, red/black sunburst finish, laminated maple body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.

This is a superb example of one of the strangest instruments to come out of New Jersey in the 1960s, and that's saying something! The original fretted Ampeg ASB-1 (Ampeg "Special" Bass #1) was the company's rarest production "horizontal" bass. This eye-popping design has unsurprisingly earned the nickname "The Devil Bass" for obvious reasons; our old friend "Big" Bob Guida attributed that name to J.B. Hutto, with whom he played one of these unmistakable creations back in the '70s. Most of these rare basses we have seen are fretless models; this is the first fretted example we have ever had.

Ampeg had prospered with amplifiers since the 1950s, but made only half-hearted attempts to market instruments before 1966. After the fiberglass upright electric "Baby Bass" in 1961 they dabbled with importing re-branded Burns of London guitars. Following that Ampeg decided to create a unique original design just for bassists. The distinctive "scroll' basses were launched at the 1966 NAMM show with some fanfare and have become a '60s classic, although never mounting serious competition to the Fender Precision or Jazz bass.

The bulk of the design was primarily by Dennis Kager, but the body of this model was the brainchild of another Ampeg employee, Mike Roman. The swooping horns allow total access to the entire fretboard and beyond, and of course look extremely wicked in the process. Ampeg bass designs were shaped by company founder Everett Hull's distaste for the Fender bass. Hull was a purist who considered the upright bass to be the legitimate low end instrument, and wanted to cater to traditional jazz and even classical players. To this end the first Ampeg "Horizontal Basses" do not have an understring magnetic pickup but utilize the same vibration-activated "Mystery Pickup" beneath the bridge as the upright Baby Bass, allowing use of gut strings as well as steel. This point Hull insisted on, much to the chagrin of his employees who knew rock'n'roll players were the mass market. The unique scrolled headstock was another nod to bass tradition added on to Kager's design, which has been a defining feature ever since.

Ampeg had these in production by late 1966, offering fretted and fretless models of the more conventional AEB-1 and AUB-1, with these alternate "Devil" models designated ASB-1 and AUSB-1. This bass is a wonderful example of the fretted ASB-1, almost certainly the rarest of the lot. They were considered an 'alternate design' to the offset, F-hole body models and only produced in tiny numbers compared, most estimates are a couple of dozen at best.

The body is built of laminate woods; the most notable feature is of course the huge swooping horns, with further open areas carved out underneath. The pickguards are hard signmaker's plastic, with a cut-through Ampeg logo below the strings. There are large wooden handrests above and below the strings and tone and volume controls in a conventional location. The bridge unit is milled aluminum adjustable for height and intonation. The scroll-headed maple neck has an ebony fingerboard inlaid with large pearl position dots. The strings run to a separate heavy tailpiece which can be adjusted for string tension. This setup requires special extra-long strings, although the scale length is the same as a Fender at 34". The serial number is stamped under the tailpiece bar.

Unfortunately in the ever higher-volume playing environments of the late 1960s, the rather microphonic pickup proved somewhat impractical. Pickup oddities aside, the rest of the design is extremely well-engineered and quite functional. This bass has a sound somewhere in between a conventional bass guitar and an upright. The acoustic-y twang of the "mystery" unit can be mellowed using the volume and tone controls, but it takes some expperimentation with the amp to understand how to get a variety of sounds from the instrument. The sliding mute-equipped tailpiece and special pickup can create a convincing electric upright sound if used carefully, just as Everett Hull envisioned. While admittedly not to every taste, the ASB-1 is one of the most striking and unusual electric basses ever made, a connoisseur's delight with a unique character and history.
 
Overall length is 47 in. (119.4 cm.), 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 34 1/2 in. (876 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).

This bass shows only very minor wear overall and remains completely original and unaltered. Ampeg "Scroll" basses have often fallen into disrepair or been modified over the last 50+ years; it is a super treat to find a perfectly-preserved original of this rare model. It has some typical linear finish checking on the back but by and large the original lacquer is well-preserved. Ampeg were new to finishing wood in 1966 and many early examples have significant finish loss. This bass is almost completely free of this; there is very minor chipping on the rims along the laminate line. Other than this the body shows mostly just some light belt buckle wear on the back and a few small dings and dents overall. The hard plastic pickguard has some tiny chips by the screws well but no notable wear spots.

All hardware is also original; even the sliding bridge cover and mounting bolts are still intact and working, which is usually not the case. This ASB-1 is set up with nylon flatwound strings and is easily the best playing Ampeg mystery-pickup bass we have had, with a perfect neck and strong signal from the under-saddle unit. It is eccentric-sounding for sure, but it performs exactly as intended. A superb example of this unique New Jersey creation, one of the most interesting and distinctive of all vintage American basses. The large and somewhat cumbersome original HSC is included, apart from a broken center latch still fully functional. Overall Excellent + Condition.