Yeah this ^ My band mates only care that I turn up, know the songs and stay in time.
They couldn’t care less about manufacturers / brands, tone, Tonewood, sustain, High Mass bridges etc etc.
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A high mass bridge is like wearing cool pants. You look down, see your pants, and smile because you like your cool pants.
String through body/bridge design is like wearing fancy underwear. No one else notices, but you think your ferrules are cool, so you do it, and that makes you smile.
I don’t wear cool pants or fancy underwear, but everytime I look at my bass, I smile.
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This^^^
Bridges, tonewoods, pickups, strings, knobs, tuning machines are details that matter only to whom they matter.
Non-musicians don’t know a thing about any of those things. But they do know when they’re hearing music made by a happy musician, because the music moves them.
If another musician doesn’t think your particular choices of gear matter or make any difference to your sound, blah, blah, blah, big damn deal. Choose, buy, and use the gear that moves you to play…and makes you smile.
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Well, we’re allowed to. We’re special! 
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I don’t disagree with you often but I will here. Slightly. I have 3 mustangs, two with Mustang bridges, which are both substantial and string through. And one that came with the standard Fender angle bridge.
All three bridges functioned fine as bridges. Guess which one had bad neck dive? I changed the angle iron bridge with a himass and neck dive was significantly better. More comfortable to play.
String through can also be a help on a short scale like a mustang. Bit stiffer strings, which on a short scale can mean closer to normal long scale tension.
Mustangs with a mustang bridge are very comfortable to play.
(Now if we could get rid of the boat paddle for a headstock…)
Each tool has its use.
As far as sound, much of the bass sound comes from the player’s technique. Then add in the bass’s pickups and strings. And round it out with the amp and signal chain. That’s 95% of the sound, all the rest will add up to maybe the final 5%; tone woods, fret boards, bridges, etc.
Want better sound? Practice.
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These are two of the best things to do and remember. 
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This guy does the sustain question with sound testing equipment and explores many variables.
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If a fat funky shiny bridge makes you smile put one on, I did and it makes me smile.
Do I get more sustain? I don’t know but it sure looks good…
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That’s the only result that counts.
And the only opinion that matters.
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Pics or it didn’t happen! 
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Yeah, that’s a “waarheid als een koe” (“truth like a cow” - Dutch saying for: absolute truth!).
But this insight is valid for bass guitars in general too … so why GAS?
To be fair, this used to be a thing especially with Chinese pot metals. The term refers to manufactures melting down tone pots and recycling them. I’ve seen a few that were not good. As recent as a few years ago a sub $100 guitar kit came with a vintage bridge that can be force bend by hand, albeit not easy but doable. It’s very similar to galvanized metal.
That said what we see on Squier and similar counter parts are not even close to being terrible in fact they are very good. So comparing these to the premium aftermarket may not be as noticeable.
Same can be said about cheap imports decades ago. Except for Japan, Korea and Taiwan, the imports were not nearly as good as they are now. Nowadays even $129 bass is super awesome.
I posted the sample on post #99 if you want to check out how it stacks up against 2 USA made Music Man.
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I’ve watched his earlier videos including the one with the bench and motorcycle engines and I believe in two things; 1) there are a whole lot myths going around about guitars and basses, and 2) the player always has more of an impact on certain sonic detail than the instrument itself. That last can also include the signal chain and how it’s used to influence everything including sustain.
Since this is a bass forum and not a guitar forum our use or need for the sustain of a note is much different than a guitarist’s need right? Or does someone disagree? For me the longest note I would typically need to sustain during a song is a whole note lasting for a measure. Even if I played the same note for more than one measure I’d pluck or pick that note again. So that’s the limit of my need for sustain of a note.
The only other time I might want more sustain may come at the end of a song where the band as a whole sustains that final chord to infinity and just allows it to “fade out to silence”. But even then I expect that final note to lose some of it’s sustain as it does so. He includes the measurements of this in his demo although he’s doing it with guitars. A bass may react somewhat differently depending on it’s own factors.
So is it really sustain we mean when we use that term? Or is it how a note responds to it’s “attack” by the player? Despite all of the technical measurements it seems to me that as players we can hear or sense very minor differences in certain things as we play. Those are often the differences that cause us to favor one thing over another and they could be coming from most anything including our style of playing.
Overall we can probably rely most on that old thought that if sounds right it is right and simply add that if it feels right it’s also right. If there’s satisfaction in what we hear and what we feel we play better and we enjoy our instrument more. When we don’t that’s when we go down the various rabbit holes looking for solutions including the upgrades we’ve discussed and even a different bass altogether.
For me I don’t know that there needs to be any different reason than something either works for me or it doesn’t. Technical reasons aside I keep what works and move on from what doesn’t. I think MikeC said it best right here. We really don’t need any better reasons than this. JMHO
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Especially listening with our eyes! See the very interesting research on double blind evaluations of wine or violin tone where the experts preferences totally change when they know the price tags compared to being double blind.
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In a mix, the nuances aren’t nearly as evident. Playing at home with just the bass is very different than playing in a mix, where keeping the rhythm is king.
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That goes without saying and it does impact every product out there.
While there are truly better designed and made products there are also those which are virtually the same but are marketed in a way to give the perception that one is far more valuable than the other. We see this a lot in clothing where a shirt with a tag from a well known fashion designer sells for many times more than one that doesn’t.
Fender has essentially done much the same in order to separate MIA product from MIM product from Asian import Squier product and from Fender sold products in general from other import lines. Gibson does it to separate itself from Epiphone and others who build Gibson designed products.
It seems that all one has to do is sell buyers on the value of the brand itself and people will pay for more for it’s products. We see in at the grocery store as well.
That’s absolutely true but it’s in the quiet of our homes or a gear shop where we make our initial evaluations. In a live mix most if not all of the nuances disappear. I’ve gigged with $2500 basses and with $500 basses and every one sounded like me playing it. I tend to stick with the tried and true models like PBasses and JBasses because they work and they’re commonly accepted live and in a studio. I can also take a $500 version and make it into a $1200-$1500 version pretty easily.
I will however admit to there being more of a difference in amps. There the separation isn’t as nuanced which is one reason why when someone asks about building a rig I always suggest spending more on an amp than the bass. But with so many more players no longer gigging and playing only at home that equation can change. Companies are in competition with one another to see who can produce the best home practice level amps now more than ever before.
Retail pricing is very funny. In the end something is worth what the customer is willing to spend on it. Fender sells more guitars and basses than anyone. People are willing to pay it. It’s driven as much by the consumer as by the company. Fender doesn’t actually do a lot of marketing.
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That may depend upon how you define the term marketing. Fender’s brand reputation doesn’t require promotion but it’s products do. Their marketing takes a very broad sweep and may be best described by it’s something for everyone approach.
Go to their website and specify Telecasters. The results will give you 64 different models all of which are just a variation of the very first one Leo and his crew built back in 1950. PBasses? There’s 27 of those listed. When I started playing there was only one and it came in maybe three or four colors.
Fender also does a lot of marketing with signature models. So they do market quite a bit just not by spending a ton of money reinforcing the brand reputation itself. Leo already got that done over 60 years ago.
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