Paesold - what's the deal?

[Eric Hochberg]

A bass instructor around here sells them to students in the area. The couple I've seen/heard seem fine although I haven't really taken a close look or played one. I know he had a big problem a few years ago with a number of them he sold to the local high school, cracking in the winter, I think the school expected him to repair them gratis, but I figure that was due to low school humidity and not the basic quality of the basses, although who knows?

EDIT- Now that I think of it, one of my former students got a "master" grade Paesold which he brought in for a few lessons. Beautiful wood and sounded nice, too. Pricey, I think his parents paid over 15k for it.