Lakland makes money (although not at first) because so many people were dissatisfied with Fender quality control - and, in my opinion, for good reason.
I've had some great Fenders. There's still a 62 Reissue Jazz here at Camp Bovine, and the Custom Shop Jazz I just sold to fund some things (including, yes, another Bongo) was THE best Jazz I've ever touched, and yes, I've owned and played the pre-CBS basses.
But these days, whether it's MIA or CIJ or MIM, you really have to play a few basses to make sure you're not getting a dog.
Dan Lakin has paid attention to the Big Poppa School of Customer Service. This is a good thing for all of us, when manufacturers remember who puts their credit cards where their mouths are. I salute Dan and obviously Sterling, too - and EBMM sells a hell of a lot more basses than Lakland, to be sure, which makes the process more complex. We've seen it here so many times - "My Stingray died!" And Jon or Scott will get involved, and it might be just a battery or something simple, but the fact is that the company makes it right.
I remember either Jon or Sterling saying, "We don't want bad examples of our basses out there." Meaning that even if you bought it used, EBMM is more than likely to help you out however they can with making your instrument right.
What I find most interesting is the prospect of the dual-pickup Stingrays and Stingray 5s. The argument I've heard here and there about Lakland over Stingrays is the "more tonal options" speech, mostly due to the two-pickup design of, say, the 55-94. I don't exactly buy this argument, by the way, and I've owned both models (in plurals), but what's going to happen to that argument NOW?
Lakland will always have fans, I think, and I like their basses, too, with some reservations about the Bartolini pickups, but look at the rather serious price difference between a USA Lakland and a USA (of course) Ernie Ball.
Just wondering out loud how many prospective Lakland customers are going to be won over by the two pickup EBMM models that we're all dying to see.
