Title: The Fender Jazz Bass…………..I get it!
Tags: The Fender Jazz Bass, fender jazz bass, fender, jazz bass, jake kot, kot ba
Blog Entry: As owner and designer for Kot Basses in Portland Oregon , I’ve come to understand another side of product development and marketing in this part of the buying culture. “Newer and Better” has been the ongoing mantra for the buyer’s public in almost every aspect of the global market. For those in the top 1 or 2 percent financially in this country, the quest for more-better-best is almost a disease when you consider what prices have been paid for them personally pursuing their need to own the best of everything, but that’s another story. So let me break it down to a small company’s observation in a niche market. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, we’ve developed a world class product, newer and better in our humble opinion, and we’ve received kudos to that extent from players we respect and trust, and here-in lays my quandary. A customer will play on one of our instruments and tell us everything we want to hear….amazing instrument, incredible feel, etc, etc, and follow with, “Do you make a Jazz bass”? Wow, what am I missing here? Actually, my teenage son provided the answer for me. He’s a total gamer, and plays the most advanced games on X-Box and the Wii, which are pretty amazing as far as how advanced and high-tech they are (newer & better). Then he’ll turn around and pull out his original Nintendo 64 and put on the original Mario game from way back and enjoy it every bit as much, sometimes maybe more. I got it!!!!!!!!! Once in a great while, a product is developed that is truly way ahead of its time, and as we all aspire as builders and designers to meet the better/best quotient, that phenomena can sometimes go unnoticed and kind of slip through the cracks. In the case of the electric bass, which is what we do, Leo Fender has to be given credit for having a vision that “still” deserves attention here in the 21 st century. That’s plain and simple just giving credit where credit is due. Kudos to you Leo, and yes, we now offer a Jazz style bass as well, and we’ve learned our lesson as far as not taking it personally. [Kind of like watching a sci-fi B movie that’s set in the late 21 st century where the wardrobe is completely radical……and he’s got a pair of Nikes on as well]
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