Way back in the day, When 45 rpm vinyl music records came out, they were a big hit because they had two songs. The A side was the hit song and the B side was usually a lesser known, less popular song that would not over shadow the A side ditty.
People could buy just the songs they liked, and, they were much smaller than the bigger 33 1/3 rpm albums.
They were also cheaper to manufacture and sold for about one-third the price of a full vinyl album of 8-12 songs. More profit!
And, since we know smaller is better, manufacturers researched and produced prototypes of very small 66 2/3 rpm vinyl, about 3 inches in diameter.
When focus groups were setup to test the 67s, as they were known, the listeners didn't think they sounded very good but could not really pinpoint why. Just an amorphous feeling of lack of enthusiasm.
Even when the focus group leaders explained to the groups what the sound difference was between album, 45s and the 67s, the listeners had a very difficult time hearing anything out of the ordinary.
The one problem that kept the project from moving forward: the bass had to be eq'd out so much(to keep the record player needle in the track) that virtually no bass frequencies were able to be heard.
Even then, with the focus group results, record companies almost did away with bass playing altogether since no one really heard any difference.
To this day, this was the beginning of the myth that only failed guitar players and arthritic keyboard players should and could play bass.
Fortunately, when it came to live music and future recordings, Leo got it right; the Fender Precision bass was designed to help keep the needle in the track with a more mid-range tone.
As technology improved on the record player, other basses with humbuckers and dual J type pickups came into play because new methods were designed to keep the needle in the track.
The lesson is: you don't always have to look for a needle in a haystack if you keep it in the track!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!