HBZ-2005 Deluxe Series : Pleasantly surprised - great value for the price

I bought this bass over 10 years ago as my second 5 string bass and didn't regret it. I wanted a wooden natural looking neck thru body instrument to replace my old 4 string EKO/Camac (now quite rare) bass so I could move to the 5 string world with something I would also love aesthetically, and it ended up one of my best purchases in a long time.

It arrived in a cheap but well packed cardboard box; both string action and bridge were finely adjusted and all it needed to start playing was tuning the strings. The sound is clean and the electronics is versatile and quiet. Pots and knobs feel a bit cheap but they do their job and in many years they never crackled, however I usually don't make heavy use of them during play, so YMMV; tuning pegs work as expected and don't miss tuning even after over an hour of heavy playing.

Would I purchase it again? Yes, definitely, although the +50% price bump from back then could make it less appealing for others.