Ashbory Inventor Alun Ashworth-Jones: 1945-2008

Contributed by Brock Frazier on June 12, 2008

Alun Ashworth-Jones, an inventor of the Ashbory Bass, passed away on the morning of June 1, 2008.

Alun Ashworth-Jones having fun with an Ashbory prototype, circa 2000

Though I never met Mr. Jones in person, we had talked on the phone on at least one occasion, and had exchanged a variety of emails over the years. Obviously, I am a huge fan of his work with the Ashbory Bass and personally have had a great amount of satisfaction from playing the instrument over the years.

Ian A. Anderson from fRoots Magazine knew him much better than myself, and there is a great write-up online. In short, "Al Jones" (as he was credited often on musical releases) spent his earlier years as a Musician, then continued to play while moving to electronics design and production for musical instruments. Along the way, he and Nigel Thornbory created the Ashbory Bass.

My first experience with Mr. Jones was is 1996 when I contacted him to rebuild a bad pickup in my first Ashbory, a 1987 Guild model. The instrument had been out of production for about a decade and it was not a product of his company. Regardless, he graciously offered to rebuild the pickup for me. I recall him being very interested in my interest in the instrument. I gave him my credit card number, sent in my pickup, and some time later my first international purchase had returned with a letter. I then had the pickup dropped back in and at last I had a fully functional Ashbory. It was exciting.

Just a few weeks ago I was mentioning to someone about how impressed I am that he would support an old product that he didn't have to support. The Ashbory has meant a lot to myself and others around the world over the years. I had the occasional contact over the years via email, always relating to the Ashbory. More recently, he sent in some pictures of prototype basses and notified me of the Ashbory continuing in production with a new contract in the works.

I would publicly like to thank Alun Ashworth-Jones as I have multiple times over the years for creating a wonderful instrument that has meant much to me in my life. Rest in peace.

-Brock Frazier
 Boise, Idaho USA
 June 12, 2008