I just got a sudden urge to buy (another) Fender bass today... I have a musician friend in HK, and he didn't often ask me to play gigs with him. It's because I play 6sring bass. He's had bad experiences with people with 5s and 6s trying to "show of their unnecessary extra range" and "ruining" his songs. But that's not really why I want a Fender. Something about that sound. And you can't say it's a good sound. it's just THE sound. There was a time when I didn't understand why people like Fender Strats. Now I understand. It's not about logic or quality or technology, or the pursuit of perfection. It's the pursuit of the sound that came at the beginning of it all. Crude and low tech, and cheap at the time (healthy wood was not rare back then). That was the Fender sound, and that's just what people want. And that's just the sound that works for rock. He's removing the titanium saddles I installed for him now, reinstalling the rusted 60s stamped steel pieces. And at first I didn't understand why. They are more efficient, the sound is more open and truer to the wood. You get more dynamics, strings break less and stay in tune longer. But no, none of that matters because that's not the Fender sound.
