Aria FEB-FL disheartened owner rant

[emmessevi]

I expected great things from this cheap flat top discontinued Takamine TB10 wannabe after reading reviews online and watching demo vids. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I ended up with. The bass is intonated very badly, especially on the E string. It's so bad that it makes it essentially useless and unplayable. I've brought it to three different techs and they all replied that it's impossible to do much. Don't get me wrong, I find the amplified sound to be great for such a cheap ABG. Using nothing but a piece of foam, Rotosound 88 black tapes and by plucking on the end of the fingerboard I managed to get very uprightish sounds out of it. The E string sounds totally out of tune (like 25 cents sharp) all over the fingerboard, not just on the high range. I know it's fretless, but the actual notes are too far from the dot markers on the neck compared to the other strings. I must have gotten a flawed one. I hope I still can return it.