Strictly reading tea leaves, or watching from the sidelines:
I think that EBMM would not have done the massive re-engineering and re-imaging the new generation instruments from a position of declining sales, and I applaud them heartily for making meaningful, practical changes in them, and not a re-package of the same old/same old with new colors or some funky wood they got a deal on.
Yes, they are rising in price, but among other things, Cali is about the most expensive place to build anything and compensate / insure your workforce of any place I can think of. I can't complain much, as they still want to build here, and that's getting more and more expensive, and I tell myself this keeps people employed there. For an 'off the rack' bass, their quality is first-rate, and their customer support is fully supportive, so again, not cheap to get right.
Of course, the new style guitars may make a difference more obvious, but in a way, the Korean Sterlings are almost too close to Cali-built that it may be hard for guys to rationalize the purchase of the American models. If I were EBMM, I'd use the Korean axes for building current versions of their 'Greatest Hits', or versions of their axes ONLY available in the Sterling line. What they DON'T want to get into mixing up the American, Korean, and SUB lines into the tangled mess that Fender has turned their product mix into between Custom Shop, several grades of American production, the Mexes, and the Squiers where the features, quality, and price can very easily cross over the many product lines.
And lastly, there's a lot of 'fashion' and 'me too' and 'what's hot now' that's cyclical, as always. There have been times where you could not GIVE away a Jazz Bass, Precisions were the thing. These days, everything is based on a Jazz Bass planform, and possibly passive is more popular now (amazing what an inconvenience changing a battery once or twice a year seems to be to people, laughable in that they spend half their lives looking for a plug to charge their 'smart' phone . . . . . . ). Over time, the wheel will turn again, and something else will be the hot ticket.
They're, of course, terrific and now classic instruments. A lot of guys' first active bass, first humbucking bass, and the StingRay Five was really the first big-production five that just worked with no real excuses, so for many, it was their first five-string. Not a bad string of accomplishments. And for me personally, I think a neckthru single humbucker SR5 is all the bass I'd ever need: All beef, no filler.
I think that EBMM would not have done the massive re-engineering and re-imaging the new generation instruments from a position of declining sales, and I applaud them heartily for making meaningful, practical changes in them, and not a re-package of the same old/same old with new colors or some funky wood they got a deal on.
Yes, they are rising in price, but among other things, Cali is about the most expensive place to build anything and compensate / insure your workforce of any place I can think of. I can't complain much, as they still want to build here, and that's getting more and more expensive, and I tell myself this keeps people employed there. For an 'off the rack' bass, their quality is first-rate, and their customer support is fully supportive, so again, not cheap to get right.
Of course, the new style guitars may make a difference more obvious, but in a way, the Korean Sterlings are almost too close to Cali-built that it may be hard for guys to rationalize the purchase of the American models. If I were EBMM, I'd use the Korean axes for building current versions of their 'Greatest Hits', or versions of their axes ONLY available in the Sterling line. What they DON'T want to get into mixing up the American, Korean, and SUB lines into the tangled mess that Fender has turned their product mix into between Custom Shop, several grades of American production, the Mexes, and the Squiers where the features, quality, and price can very easily cross over the many product lines.
And lastly, there's a lot of 'fashion' and 'me too' and 'what's hot now' that's cyclical, as always. There have been times where you could not GIVE away a Jazz Bass, Precisions were the thing. These days, everything is based on a Jazz Bass planform, and possibly passive is more popular now (amazing what an inconvenience changing a battery once or twice a year seems to be to people, laughable in that they spend half their lives looking for a plug to charge their 'smart' phone . . . . . . ). Over time, the wheel will turn again, and something else will be the hot ticket.
They're, of course, terrific and now classic instruments. A lot of guys' first active bass, first humbucking bass, and the StingRay Five was really the first big-production five that just worked with no real excuses, so for many, it was their first five-string. Not a bad string of accomplishments. And for me personally, I think a neckthru single humbucker SR5 is all the bass I'd ever need: All beef, no filler.
