The ASB140 is yet another one of those basses that wasn't offered as a true lefty, but can be an easy conversion.
Ironically I just happened to stumble across one of these at a resale/thrift store a couple weeks ago, looking like it had spent the last decade in someone’s basement purgatory. Completely coated in a thick sticky film of dust and filth; strings basically strips of rust; action high off the bowed fret board; pots and jack vanished down inside the body cavity somewhere. In spite of all that it appeared to be structurally intact, and I didn’t have the heart to leave it there. I’d bring it home, and if it couldn’t be saved at least I could give it a more dignified burial...
After fishing the electronics out of the body and finding the volume pot was dead, I replaced it and presto- sound! Next, old strings off/new strings on, set up tweaking bridge and truss rod... within about an hour I was able to get it to dial in perfectly- nice to know before investing a couple hours on cleaning the thing. Sure enough, after a couple hours of elbow sweat, the chrome was gleaming and the body was looking like the past decade never happened- a testament to the overall solid construction (and the indestructibility of a poly finish). Other than a dead pot there really wasn't anything wrong with the bass. My hypothesis is that it probably belonged to a relative novice who upon not being able to get sound out of it, started fiddling with the electronics but quickly gave up, and exiled it to a corner of the dungeon where it sat abandoned for years until donation to the resale/thrift store.
The ASB140 was only available from 2003-06. I'd always heard mostly good things about them as an excellent value, and based on this one I would say that's very much justified. The semi hollow set neck design feels substantial and solid, the full 34 in. scale neck is immediately comfortable, and the action is low. The pickup sits right in the sweet spot, and the primary tonal characteristic is vintage warm, acoustically resonant low frequency response- not much treble, but the lows and mids are clear and articulate in a way that exceeds expectations.
It’s sort of the semi hollow equivalent of a P bass: a simple, player-friendly design and really solid fundamental bass tone that doesn’t require a lot of fiddling around- just grab it and play. I can definitely see why folks consider it a great platform for modding, but it sounds just fine as is.
