Re: First bass?
And there's some very good reasons for that. They set the standard for electric basses for decades, and most other basses have copied a lot from them. Having something different doesn't necessarily make it better.
Yeah, but... There's a philosophy among some bass players that Leo Fender got it right the first time(s), and there's no improving on perfection. That's fine for those bass players, but there
are reasons to not like Fender and prefer other types of basses. Precisions are not flexible, they have one sound and that's it -- plus they have clunky necks. Jazzes typically are fitted with single coil pickups, so soloing either pickup invites noise. Most PJ basses have a single coil J pickup to go with the hum-canceling P pickup, so any use of the bridge pickup invites noise. They aren't fully shielded out of the factory, and none of them have 24 frets.
That's all fine for people that like them or have grown used to the idiosyncrasies. But for someone starting out, it's not necessarily the best choice. There are other companies that produce good inexpensive basses, basses that are more flexible and user friendly (fast neck, two pickups, no noise, 24 frets) than the Fender types. And I say that as someone who loves Jazz basses.
You are right, something isn't better just because it is different. On the other hand, something isn't necessarily the best option even though it used to be the standard.
