Phoenix 4 Series TRAP4LHBRD 4-String Bass Guitar, Left Handed, Blood Red

So, looking for a lefty bass is always challenging. But when I saw the Traben Phoenix, I thought my prayers were answered - it was a case of immediate lust. However, my lust soon turned to disgust after I received my bass. It arrived looking beautiful, but I immediately discovered that the pot that controls the blending of each pickup was non-functional. Hanser Music, the distributor of Traben, would not allow me to have the bass looked at locally (there is no dealer within several hundred miles) and required me to send it back to them. It took over six weeks for them to repair the bass and get it back to me (requiring my purchase of a back up bass to continue my instruction) - and lo and behold when I finally got it back, there was a terrible hum when I plugged it in. Deciding to eat the cost, rather than have another interminable delay, I took it to a local repair shop where I discovered that the bass was not properly grounded. It cost me $40 to have it repaired. I will note that after a lot of back and forth with Hanser, they did reimburse me the $40. Unfortunately, the story does not end there - soon thereafter, the same pickup pot stopped working. I opened up the bass and discovered a very poorly soldered wire on the pot. I resoldered it myself and since them, the bass works properly.While my Traben bass does look wonderful and sounds great, no one should have to worry about purchasing a new $600 instrument and having to deal with multiple problems necessitating the expenditure of much time and trouble. Traben manufactures the Phoenix in Korea and it appears that the quality control is very poor both in Korea and here in the US. While Hanser's customer service is very pleasant, it shouldn't have been that hard to check out the bass before both initial shipment to the dealer and before returning a defective product to the consumer. I would not recommend purchasing a Traben bass unless you have a local dealer who is prepared to stand behind the product.