Some of us get to see and hear more variations than others and consequently regard our opinions as being better informed than the average player's.
I am, at the very least, in a position to have seen and heard a lot of instruments with different setup combinations come through my hands. I have had some cherished preconceptions crushed in this manner and have subsequently learned a lot about how stringed instruments voices can be moulded.
Its galling sometimes to have a player with experience of only one or two basses propound a course of action that I know will not produce the desired result. That's when its better for me to turn down the work or use the phrase, "I'm sorry, I don't do that kind of work."
Exactly. How each part interacts with the total system is not easy to experience for most of us. We can test drive bows, strings, rosins, and endpin shafts pretty easily and compare them side by side. Bridge, soundposts, tailpieces, tailgut material and length are a good deal more complicated and interrelated and take some experience to set in balance.
However, for new ideas (designs, products) to catch on and spread, the owners of the basses do have to request or at least be agreeable to the new things. In the same way, people doing repairs have to be open to the exploration.
