string through body or bridge?

xtrabenbassist1 · #1 01-04-2009, 12:19 PM

I'm restringing my Traben Array with some new GHS Flea Boomers and was wondering how i could get the best sound. should i string the bass through the back of the body or through the bridge or alternate or just E-string through body and rest through bridge?

greenboy · #2 01-04-2009, 12:30 PM

With a decent bridge setup I've not really noticed any advantage to running through the body except for maybe low B strings. I've tried through-body on the same basses and compared. The extra effort isn't worth the trouble, especially if you take strings off and put them back on later.

xtrabenbassist1 · #3 01-04-2009, 01:02 PM

its a four string bass so the low b string doesn't apply to it. right now i have it with string through bridge and what i belive to be d'addario flats but am swithching to strings i used to use on my old bass, the boomers.

greenboy · #4 01-04-2009, 01:54 PM

What I'm saying is that it doesn't seem to make any appreciable difference for an E - Only for low tunings does the last string need all the help it can get. Maybe.

StyleOverShow · #5 01-04-2009, 10:22 PM

I restrung my 71 Gibson fret less through the body. Had to chop some silk off to make it work, but I liked the results. Arguably there isn't much difference with bridge or thru-body stringing, however, I think that the break angle of the string when strung thru-body gives it a richer sound.

-richard

rfclef · #6 01-04-2009, 11:27 PM

I am modding an EB-0... adding 2 pickups, paint job, etc. and I decided to make it string through, mostly cause I want to use DR colored strings and want the extra length since they are full scale and the EB-0 is a shorty... I have string through ferrules and drilled 4 holes today.... I gotta get a bigger bit though (3/8 ")to fit the ferrules.

I know noone cares... I was just sayin'...

Fly Guitars · #7 01-05-2009, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfclef

I know noone cares... I was just sayin'...

I care....
Can I see pics? Any discernable improvement? Are we talking Gibson or Epiphone?

What are you putting as the bridge pickup?

Darkstrike · #8 01-05-2009, 06:03 AM

When possible, I prefer to string through body, I don't know why...............

dmusic148 · #9 01-05-2009, 06:08 AM

I like to run the D and G thru body, and the E and A thru bridge. Helps ensure rattle-free D and G. E strings don't like to bend that much, and it doesn't seem to do anything for them anyway.

fretlessguy · #10 01-05-2009, 02:24 PM

I have a set of Carvin Bolt 5s with the option of body thru or bridge stringing. I have one (the retted) strung thru the body and the other (fretless) strung at the bridge for comaprison. both are srung with Fender 7250-5 five string light sets.
No real difference as far as I can tell.

paganjack · #11 01-05-2009, 02:28 PM

i string my ATK305 through the body. it gets a little more sustain and a slightly fuller sound to my ears. i likes.

Groover · #12 01-06-2009, 12:01 PM

In my experience, string thru just give a tad bit more tension... Maybe it's just in my head, but if feels that way to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilLordJuju

I care....
Can I see pics? Any discernable improvement? Are we talking Gibson or Epiphone?

What are you putting as the bridge pickup?

I care too... Pics?

T-MOST · #13 01-06-2009, 12:03 PM

Although many will disagree... there is no difference or advantages one way or the other.

rfclef · #14 01-06-2009, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilLordJuju

I care....
Can I see pics? Any discernable improvement? Are we talking Gibson or Epiphone?

What are you putting as the bridge pickup?

Not yet... I just started the actual work Sunday night (have been getting various parts and stuff for the last couple months)... It looks like a bass exploded in my living room... I have drilled the holes, but gotta make em bigger so the ferrules will fit. I have got the pickup placement but have not routed them yet... gotta get a router bit for my Rotozip doohicky. Got the neck off, but have not removed the electronics yet, but have got the additional pups ready to hook up to the harness when the time comes. Both pickups (in addition to the stock whateveritis that came on the EB-0) are a couple chinese junkbuckers that came out of a cheap chinese (oddly enough) bass that I upgraded to EMG Selects. They look about like the same thing you might find in a Rogue or Turser Beatlebass. So that is what is going in at bridge and middle (stock pup stays at the neck). And yeah, it is an Epiphone. I will post picks as soon as I have something to look at.

greenboy · #15 01-06-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-MOST

Although many will disagree... there is no difference or advantages one way or the other.

Maybe there is on some basses, dependent on wood choices materials and constuction. I just haven't noticed it on my basses other than with a few B strings from various companies.

jimmy rocket · #16 01-06-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-MOST

Although many will disagree... there is no difference or advantages one way or the other.

+1

That said, I always string through when available.

The only actual case where I've seen this make a difference was with a certain run of high mass G&L bridges that tended to do nasty things when strung only through the bridge

2500 bridge pulls off the body, what now?

stflbn · #17 01-06-2009, 02:39 PM

On my 2 main basses 1 has a string-through option and the other doesn't. I've tried the string-through several times and just cannot find any difference or reason to use it. Main issue is that it just makes changing strings much more difficult.

Also benefit for me is that both of my main basses are similar with different pickup configurations, so switching strings back and forth between them for variety and change of pace is easy if both are strung via the bridge.

But I honestly hear or feel no difference on the 1 bass if it's strung via the bridge or through the body.

And I also agree that someone will inevitably wander into here spouting physics and math and get his physics nerd feelings all bent out of shape by us traditionalists swearing that there's no difference.

:: shrug ::

.

JTE · #18 01-06-2009, 03:23 PM

I've tried it both ways on every instrument I've had wtih the option. That's three Laklands (two US 494 and a Korean 55-01) and a Hammer Cruise Bass with the Gotoh bridge. No difference at all. Not in sound in any way, and only in my imagination regarding how the strings feel under my right (plucking hand). I used to think it made a difference in the right-hand feel until I started doing weird things like stringing every other string through the body and the other two as top-load. I did everything I could think of to compare the two options and eliminate variables (it's pointless to compare two different basses for something like this because there're too many variables in individual chunks of wood).

It can NOT make any difference in overall string tension, let's dispell that urban myth right now. The pitch of a given string is determined by the balance of it's speaking length (the distance from the nut to the bridge saddle for an open string), its mass, and its tension. Change any of those and the pitch is changed, so you'd re-tune it. So, a DR Hi-Beam in a 0.105" gauge on a 35" scale has only one tension at which it will be correctly pitched at E. If re-stringing it to go through the body changed the tension, you'd alter the tension to get it back in tune. And becasue the mass and the speaking length haven't changed, the tension can't change either.

Of course, having said that, I currently have one of my 4-94's strung through the body as is the 55-01. The other 4-94 is top-loaded because the Elixer nano-webs I put on it aren't long enough to fit through the body. And I don't like those string BTW, which has nothing to do with this thread...

jte