Antoniotsai 5-String Bass

Made in Viet Nam in 2007, it's an active fretted 5-string. Controls are as you'd expect from a 2-pickup active bass, blend, treble lift/cut, bass lift/cut, and overall volume. Tuners are the enclosed type, bridge is a rather nice cast item. It's neck-through.

I found the sound very good - no noticeable distortion from the electronics, and they seemed very transparent, so the string came through without any added mud.

The action wasn't too bad - I'm accustomed to tweaking instruments to how I like them anyway. This just needed a little more tension on the truss rod. The only thing which lets it down is that one fret (about the 15th) is very slightly proud of the others, so there's a little buzz around there (I play with a very low action). Also, there's something very slightly askew about the four pot knobs - they were rubbing the body slightly at certain points as they turned (I eased them all out a millimetre and that cured it).

The neck is really excellent. I've never played a five-string as good as this (and I've played a few, and owned a few). It's slim and shallow, ideal for my little (motorcycle glove size M) hands.

I've done three gigs with it so far, and will be using it as my main bass in one band. All seems sturdy. The bare wood finish is my preferred one, avoids paint chips. I always replace strap pegs with straplocks (except on my Warwicks, of course) - the original strap pegs seemed firm in the body. I normally gig with an upright and a bass guitar, so if something went horribly wrong with either, I could finish a set on the other, but I'd take this out without a backup.

The only dealings I had with the company were buying it in the first place.

I've been playing for thirty years. For the last twenty, my main bass has been a Warwick JD Thumb 4-string (which I'm not going to be getting rid of). I've owned a Hayman, a few Fenders, a Squier or two, and assorted others. I still haven't properly settled on amplification but have been using a Gallien-Kreuger 200MB for about 15 years. I'm currently doing about 20-30 gigs a year.

The best feature is the neck - slim, fast, comfortable, but slightly let down by the not-quite-perfect fretting. The pickups and electronics are also worthy of mention - I've had a couple of active basses which distorted a bit, but this is very clean.

If this was stolen, I'd definitely buy again. And I liked it so much, I bought a 7-string.

From Tony Anoniotsai's sweatshop in Taiwan, where they churn out intensely inlaid but otherwise cheap instruments. Still, it's quite an ax for the money. All my review numbers are relative to the low cost of the bass.

Passive electronics, with what appear to be dual humbuckers, although of relatively low output.

Truly awesome inlay work - this would be quite an attention-getter on stage.

Gave it a 6 due to relatively low output of the pickups. Otherwise the sound was satisfactory. It has separate bass and treble controls, a volume and an indented pickup mix control. If I was to keep the bass I'd upgrade the pickups.

Good. Nothing like some of the horror stories I read about Antoniotsai's acoustic instruments. The bridge was slightly mis-installed so that the low E string is a mm or two to the right of where I would have liked it, but it's still well playable. Compared to a generic MIM Fender, it's a fine piece of craftsmanship.

I didn't keep it - decided that my whole venture into 5-string would need to wait and I'd be content with my ol' P-Bass for quite a while longer, especially since I've changed bands and now play guitar & keys much more than bass these days.

No contact.