Never knew that. I thought it had more to do with nonsympathetic(ie destructive, out of phase) vibrations of an instrument, more specifically the neck. Mass changes an object's natural frequency. I'm sure a high fret can affect sustain/volume, but I personally wouldn't discount the fact that the whole instrument does vibrate and sympathetic and nonsympathetic vibrations could also impact the sustain or volume of a specific frequency. How much though is beyond me and I doubt much more than negligible.
Ever rested your bass unplugged on a wood table etc., and plucked the string? Some notes will be louder than others and this has to deal with the table.
This is also the only thing to me that makes any tonewood argument remotely plausible. The whole instrument vibrates and undoubtedly affects the sound, but enough to be noticed?
I'm slightly skeptical, personally, pickups and strings are #1, followed by scale length then wood last if you ask me. In a solidbody instrument with playing style the same that is.
Just my opinion. I don't mind the debate that much because it can be informative, but I also don't hold someone's opinion against them. Especially if it doesn't align with mine. I think that's where it gets crazy in other threads...
In other news, more pickups arrived...
If you had a piezo pickup to turn those sympathetic vibrations in to signal, then it would matter more. As it stands, you want to eliminate those vibrations, they are taking energy from your string. They are robbing you of the sustain.
