First about me. I play an '82 Alembic so I'm used to the best and have been playing bass for 40+ years. I guess I'm the test person. I am new to uprights so this may not answer all of your questions, but here goes.
Your right , the Santini is a pretty bass and everyone seems to be in the same boat. I took a chance because I needed to learn upright and it was the cheapest EUB I could find with some character. This bass IS a solid body with only room for the electronics and false "F" holes. The top wood is probably 1/2" thick. I don't know what wood the bass is made of, and I suspect it was made in Korea or China. The joinery on mine isn't perfect lending to speculation of either maker who is not in the master craftsman class or a fast assembly line work with casual quality control. This does not effect it's playing however. The neck on the Santini seems thick from fingerboard to back of neck and is taking some getting used to (especially nearer the body) to get my hand around. I had my local technician work on lowering the action and put good strings on it. The strings it came with were alright I guess, but the new ones are much better. The fingerboard surface is painted ebony and could have been finish sanded a little smoother, but for a beginner like me on uprights it's alright. I'm taking lessons to get technique and learn positioning. My instructor says it's a good bass to learn on and is a forgiving bass for a beginner. It seems you don't have to be quite as precise as with some of the better quality ones. The electronics seem weak for the headphone but the sound through an amp is good. I bought a Behringer 450 as a practice amp on the advice of an old upright player and am waiting for delivery of it this week. I expect the graphic on the amp will enable me to get the Santini sounding really good. About string buzz, I can't give you an honest answer as to how much is generated by my inexperience and how much is the bass. I really haven't noticed it on the top end near the tuning keys, but once I'm moving my hand completely around the neck near the body in the height registers, I'm buzzing a lot. It may only be mostly my lack of proper technique. I am considering using it as a pattern and building a duplicate but as a hollow body sometime in the future. Should be interesting.
