Hey SG. I just recently got one for my son. Needed setting up out of the box...but once I got it tuned I sat there and played with it a bit...and it doesn't play bad at all for what it is. (I was enjoying so much for the price that I finally realized my son was saying...Dad, Dad can I play it now! Love that airline story too. That should give you an idea...for the price it's not bad....not bad at all. Think you can find some good deals on them too. Picked up this one for $125...it's great for that price.
I had the hankering to get one of those 4 strng basses for my tudio here, I plugged it in to a SWR and for the money it sounds very cose to a stingray....worth every penny in my opinion.