| I bought a used one recently as my first DB. I'd seen them at Sam Ash, and thought the sound was nice, but when one became available used, I went to look at it. It had been set up by the original owner with a pretty low action, and still sounded nice and resonant. The owner also gave me a bow and stand (which Sam Ash doesn't include), so it all came to me about 1/2 the price of new. I think it still has the original strings, which I'll probably be changing soon, as bowing doesn't seem to be as clean as I'd like. It's pretty loud by itself; chance are, I'll add a pickup to it.
As far as looks, the "ebonized" finish on the neck began wearing off, so I removed it completely, smoothed the board with 000 steel wool and rubbed lemon oil into it. The underlying board is a nice piece of dark brazilwood which finished up nicely. The tailpiece, however, is some kind of painted white stuff (maybe a composite), so I left it as is. Maybe I'll change it out if I can find a brazilwood tailpiece. Also for aesthetics, I used some Scratch-X and a buffer and glossed up the semi-matte finish to a high gloss.
With the tweaks and setup, I think it's a decent enough bass to build my skills on, and if I ever learn it well enough to justify an upgrade, I won't regret having bought it. | 
