diff --git a/bench/Cell.hs b/bench/Cell.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77d4f61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/Cell.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{-# language OverloadedLists #-}
+{-# language OverloadedStrings #-}
+
+module Cell
+  ( Cell(..)
+  , cells
+  ) where
+
+import Data.Word (Word32)
+import Data.Text.Short (ShortText)
+import Data.Primitive (SmallArray)
+
+-- A cell in a CSV file
+data Cell
+  = CellString !ShortText
+  | CellNumber !Word32
+
+-- Some sample data to encode as a CSV
+cells :: SmallArray (SmallArray Cell)
+cells =
+  [ [ CellString "Randy", CellString "Gutiérrez", CellNumber 41, CellNumber 343 ]
+  , [ CellString "Édith", CellString "Piaf", CellNumber 63, CellNumber 453 ]
+  , [ CellString "Martha", CellString "Washington", CellNumber 51, CellNumber 634 ]
+  , [ CellString "Julius", CellString "Caesar", CellNumber 1, CellNumber 6922 ]
+  , [ CellString "Robert", CellString "Redford", CellNumber 24, CellNumber 617 ]
+  , [ CellString "Violet", CellString "Crawley", CellNumber 71, CellNumber 150 ]
+  , [ CellString "Lázaro", CellString "Cárdenas", CellNumber 58, CellNumber 299 ]
+  , [ CellString "Anastasia", CellString "San Martin", CellNumber 103, CellNumber 3214 ]
+  , [ CellString "Mad", CellString "Max", CellNumber 37, CellNumber 918 ]
+  , [ CellString "Sidonie-Gabrielle", CellString "Collette", CellNumber 25, CellNumber 904 ]
+  ]
+
diff --git a/bench/Main.hs b/bench/Main.hs
index 65872c4..c4fefe4 100644
--- a/bench/Main.hs
+++ b/bench/Main.hs
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
+{-# language LambdaCase #-}
+{-# language OverloadedStrings #-}
+
 import Data.Primitive (ByteArray)
 import Data.Word (Word64)
 import Gauge (bgroup,bench,whnf)
 import Gauge.Main (defaultMain)
 
 import qualified Arithmetic.Nat as Nat
+import qualified Data.ByteArray.Builder as B
 import qualified Data.ByteArray.Builder.Bounded as U
 
+import qualified Cell
+import qualified SimpleCsv
 import qualified HexWord64
 
 main :: IO ()
@@ -16,6 +22,11 @@ main = defaultMain
       , bench "loop" (whnf encodeHexWord64sLoop w64s)
       ]
     ]
+  , bgroup "unbounded"
+    [ bench "csv-no-escape" $ whnf
+        (\x -> B.run 4080 (SimpleCsv.encodeRows x))
+        Cell.cells
+    ]
   ]
 
 w64s :: Word64s
diff --git a/bench/SimpleCsv.hs b/bench/SimpleCsv.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf9eea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/SimpleCsv.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{-# language LambdaCase #-}
+
+-- A variant of CSV encoding that does not perform
+-- any escaping or quoting. This is in its own module
+-- to make it easy to analyze the GHC Core that it
+-- gets compiled to.
+module SimpleCsv
+  ( encodeRows
+  ) where
+
+import Cell (Cell(..))
+import Data.Primitive (SmallArray)
+
+import qualified Data.Foldable as F
+import qualified Data.ByteArray.Builder as B
+
+encodeRows :: SmallArray (SmallArray Cell) -> B.Builder
+encodeRows = F.foldr
+  (\r x -> encodeSimpleCsvRow r (B.ascii '\n' <> x))
+  mempty
+
+encodeSimpleCsvRow :: SmallArray Cell -> B.Builder -> B.Builder
+encodeSimpleCsvRow cs b = F.foldr
+  (\c x -> encodeSimpleCsvCell c <> B.ascii ',' <> x)
+  b
+  cs
+
+encodeSimpleCsvCell :: Cell -> B.Builder
+encodeSimpleCsvCell = \case
+  CellNumber n -> B.word32Dec n
+  CellString t -> B.shortTextUtf8 t
diff --git a/small-bytearray-builder.cabal b/small-bytearray-builder.cabal
index 6460446..6025a5c 100644
--- a/small-bytearray-builder.cabal
+++ b/small-bytearray-builder.cabal
@@ -87,9 +87,12 @@ benchmark bench
     , natural-arithmetic
     , primitive
     , small-bytearray-builder
+    , text-short
   ghc-options: -Wall -O2
   default-language: Haskell2010
   hs-source-dirs: bench, common
   main-is: Main.hs
   other-modules:
+    Cell
     HexWord64
+    SimpleCsv
diff --git a/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder.hs b/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder.hs
index 4b36b17..146926a 100644
--- a/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder.hs
+++ b/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder.hs
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ word8PaddedUpperHex w =
 -- | Encode an ASCII char.
 -- Precondition: Input must be an ASCII character. This is not checked.
 ascii :: Char -> Builder
-ascii c = fromBounded Nat.constant (Bounded.char c)
+ascii c = fromBounded Nat.constant (Bounded.ascii c)
 
 -- | Encode an UTF8 char. This only uses as much space as is required.
 char :: Char -> Builder
diff --git a/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder/Bounded.hs b/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder/Bounded.hs
index 61ce345..5d41e47 100644
--- a/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder/Bounded.hs
+++ b/src/Data/ByteArray/Builder/Bounded.hs
@@ -507,10 +507,12 @@ word8LowerHex# w#
   where
   w = W# w#
 
--- | Encode an ASCII char.
+-- | Encode an ASCII character.
 -- Precondition: Input must be an ASCII character. This is not checked.
 ascii :: Char -> Builder 1
-ascii c = word8 (fromIntegral @Int @Word8 (ord c))
+ascii (C# c) = Unsafe.construct $ \(MutableByteArray arr) (I# off) -> do
+  primitive_ (writeCharArray# arr off c)
+  pure (I# (off +# 1# ))
 
 -- | Encode a character as UTF-8. This only uses as much space as is required.
 char :: Char -> Builder 4