THE OVERALL IMPRESSION of this bass is one of whiteness. Firstly because on opening the box I was showered by a load of polystyrene bits, and secondly because not only is the body white, but also the neck, head and (wait for it... ) the fingerboard. Well, it makes a change from the Steinbergers and their clones.

In fact, the whiteness of the fingerboard is not even spoilt by unsightly and superfluous position dots. However, it came as a bit of a shock to discover that there weren't even any markers along the side. Help! One wit suggested that perhaps they were white too.

I was surprised that, having gone overboard on the white idea, Kawai have actually used cream pickups, illustrating that a miss is as good as a mile — even blade pick ups would have looked better, surely? The backplate is black, but, of course, is usually out of sight.

(While on the subject, I'd have preferred it to have been mounted flush.)

One last visual note, as Kawai have obviously considered the matter at some length — why is the tuning hardware chrome and the body hardware brass? Inconsistent.

If the all-white model doesn't appeal to you then there are more conventional and tasteful wood finishes (which also have the benefit of position markers). There's a black model too, which has a fingerboard.

Moving on from these visual considerations, I found the neck comfortable — it's wide and slim, and with a 34in scale feels very much like a good Precision. Apparently it's maple with either a maple or rosewood fingerboard under the paint, but unfortunately it only has 20 frets, so there's no top E.

The machines are Fender-style in appearance and arrangement, and felt smooth and positive. The body shape is in the Westone tradition, it's made of ash, and I'm pleased to say there's no scratchplate.

Pickups are Precision (front) and Jazz (back) in format, and are Kawai's own. They're linked to the usual controls — two volume and a master tone — with the added bonus of push-pull pots on the volumes giving you a sound variation from series/parallel wiring of each pickup.

Control knobs are chunky brass types and match the solid brass bridge, which is a conventional type with the usual adjustments for string height and intonation. An Allen key is supplied and I was able to lower the action and correct the intonation without difficulty.

Plugging the bass in revealed that the supplied lead is only 2.5m long, is thin, and has moulded jacks. But the sound of the bass is good — bright with plenty of sustain — although I noticed a slight loss of clarity as I moved higher up the neck. With the pickups and the dual-sound capability from the push-pulls there's definitely no lack of tonal variety.

Both pickups sounded cleaner in parallel setting, but this involved a drastic cut in volume. I couldn't achieve an even string balance on the back (Jazz-type) pickup as the E string was louder than the rest. This problem could only be solved by using pickups with adjustable polepieces — I'd recommend Schallers as they sound smoother and are less prone to noise than these. There's no screening on this Kawai's control cavity and I was aware of a slight buzz when I wasn't touching the strings.

So what do we have here apart from a very white bass guitar that demands a player so confident that position markers are not required? Properly set up with a lighter set of strings (it comes with Standard gauge Swing Bass), this would be a comfortable bass to play.

Active electronics — using the tone control as a push-pull active/passive switch — would be a welcome addition, and in fact I'd expect it on an instrument of this price. At just under £300 you'd have to consider the (cheaper) alternatives such as the Westone Thunder 1 or 1A, or a Squier Jazz or a Precision.

KAWAI Aquarius bass: £298

CONTACT: Stentor Music Co Ltd, (Contact Details).