Issue 66 on sale now

Mandolins

Ashbury AM-62E Electro Mandolin










	The Ashbury AM-62E is small and beautifully formed, but how did it perform? Simon Mayor, Acoustic’s resident mandolinist, takes a look. The first thing that struck me about this instrument was its similarity, at least in looks, to the American-made Rigel G110. I was in Vermont about 18 months ago and had the pleasure of visiting the Rigel workshop with luthier Pete Langdell and fellow director Peter Mix. Their mandolins represent American lutherie at its finest, and are of a quite innovative design: the ribs carved from a solid block of maple (rather than strips of wood, steamed and bent), and their body shapes quite futuristic in a mandolin world governed by tradition. The Rigel people acknowledge that they’re going out on a limb and that the instruments are not to everybody’s taste, but to their credit they have built up a significant following in the States, and there is no greater confirmation of an instrument’s popularity than a Far Eastern copy appearing! So, what of the Ashbury? It is billed as an ‘Electro-Mandolin’, and although its acoustic tone is not outstanding, it is worthy of note: sweet, nutty, rounded and, while nowhere near as loud or offering the variety of tone colours, not dissimilar from a Rigel. It is something more than a token hollow box to give some sense of ‘acousticity’ to the amplified sound, but it definitely falls down in the dynamic range department. Hit it as hard as you like and while the tone may not crack up, the mandolin seems to say “Sorry pal, this is all you get, I’m not getting any louder”. So play it gently, play it at an even, moderate volume if you want to rattle out some jigs and reels, but don’t try to get too expressive on it, and don’t even think about chopping out bluegrass rhythms. For all that, running up and down the fingerboard gives a very uniform sound from bottom G right up to a high A on the 29th (yes 29th!) fret. That’s more than high enough for me, and I’d like to see the person who plays in anger up there, but if that person is you, rest assured that the fingerboard is comfortable and accurate all the way up. In a nutshell, the sound is pleasing if unexciting. The underlying tonal similarity to a Rigel becomes more understandable when you peep through a sound hole. The Ashbury too has its ribs carved from solid maple rather than made from steamed and bent strips. The sound holes reveal a solid spruce top and, checking the grain of the wood inside and outside, the back seems to be solid maple. Given that we have solid woods throughout, there’s a theoretical chance that this is going to improve with age, but for me this mandolin is on the heavy side. There’s just too much wood here, and I can’t imagine it changing much over the years. The very last thing a factory wants is instruments being returned because they are unstable and the easiest way round this is to err towards building them heavy but sturdy. I always like to check the neatness of workmanship on the inside of an instrument as well as the outside, and not just by looking. I poke my little finger through a sound hole and crook it back to feel the underside of the top. It’s a little bit like checking the loos in a restaurant to get an idea of how clean the kitchen is. Since the underside of the top is invisible without an inspection mirror, many manufacturers spend no time on sanding it smooth, but in this respect I congratulate Ashbury on their attention to detail. On the outside, I must say that this is a very neatly finished job. Because of the carved ribs, there is no edge binding at all on the body, and the beautifully applied sunburst runs to black all the way round. The gold-plated tailpiece and machine heads are classy touches, complemented by some well-chosen golden tone and volume controls which blend well with the sunburst, but all this is spoilt by a rather tacky white plastic scratch plate and truss rod cover. The neck is supremely comfortable (U rather than V shaped), although a little narrow for my taste (26mm at the nut). My first impression was that this was a long scale mandolin, but I had been well and truly deceived by those 29 frets! It measured 347mm; that’s a little shorter than a standard Gibson scale of 352mm. While the action is comfortably low, and I certainly wouldn’t want to take it lower, I was a little worried that the height adjustment wheels on the bridge were wound right down - no room for manoeuvre here. The looks have always been the least important part of an instrument for me, after tone and playability, but I have to say I raised an eyebrow at the headstock. Ashbury have copied the Rigel in most respects, but have chosen to stick on a Gibson F5 style headstock, a design dating from early last century, on an otherwise contemporary looking mandolin. I suspect a little mixing and matching going on at the factory here. To me, it doesn’t work, but it may not bother you. The Ashbury’s jack socket is located discreetly in the strap button. I assume the pickup is buried in the bridge. It offers a strong signal but even so would doubtless benefit from a little tweaking by a decent pre-amp. The sound is bright, a little on the tizzy side as is typical of piezos, but this can be masked by taming the treble with the onboard tone control, or with whatever outboard gear you may choose to use. It’s not a good representation of the mandolin’s acoustic sound, but don’t take that as a criticism. Amplified, the sound is a little more open, a little less prominent in the midrange, a little less nasal. With a rather classy oblong tweed case with leatherette trim and an RRP of £359, you get a lot for your money, and the Ashbury AM-62E represents a very good deal. Acoustically, this is a decent instrument but not a mandolin for life, and I’m sure an improving player would look for something with a greater variety of tone colour and a greater dynamic range eventually. However, if you want to plug in a mandolin that plays really easily, is very neatly finished and doubtless looks great under lights, you could live with this for a long time.
	RATING
			Rated Out of 20
	Build Quality:
	Even in these hi-tech days some factory produced instruments fall below scratch, but not this Ashbury mandolin. This is a very neatly made instrument with a high gloss finish.		18

	Sound:
	From a purely acoustic point of view, there are mandolins around for a third of the price which give this Ashbury a run for its money, but the sound is still quite pleasing. The amplified sound is more of a blank canvas, potentially very good when tweaked to suit.		12

	Playability:
	The neck will be a little on the narrow side for some but overall this is a very comfortable instrument to play.		17

	Value:
	The law of diminishing returns applies to mandolins as much as anything else, and at this price there’s not much to complain about.		15

	Wow Factor:
	The finish, body shape and plug-in facility all add up to quite an exciting mandolin. The acoustic sound may prove less than satisfying in the long term.		14

	TOTAL		76

	The Ashbury AM-62E Electro-Mandolin proves that it’s difficult to score highly in all of the above categories, but this is a mandolin that is going to suit a certain type of player down to the ground. It’s eye-catching, plays well, plugs in, and may just leave you some spare cash to buy a seriously good acoustic mandolin at some point.

	Specifications:
	Price	£359
	Manufacturer	Ashbury
	Model	AM-62E Electro Mandolin
	Made In	Korea
	Top	Solid Spruce
	Back	Maple
	Fingerboard	Rosewood
	Bridge	Rosewood
	Tail Piece	Gold Plated
	Tuners	Gold Plated with Perloid Buttons
	Electronics	Artec bridge pick-up with tone and volume controls

		Gremlin Musical Instrument Co. T: 01273 491333 www.gremlinmusic.co.uk