Stringthrough woes..

[bigthemat]

hey all,

Just got a fender jazz deluxe fretless. My first bass with a stringthrough design.

anyway, got some d'addario chromes, and they weren't long enough. Do I need to get extra long scales? They were longscale, but the wrappings were past the nut and on the fingerboard. Or is it just the d'addarios?

any help would be great.

thanks guys

[Philbiker]

If that's a USA Fender Jazz Deluxe it should have accomodation for bridge-loaded stringing, try that.

Fender brand strings are long enough to accomodate their string-thru design. Other than that brand, you will need to specifically look for extra long strings designed for 35" scale instruments.

[JazznFunk]

Originally Posted by Philbiker

If that's a USA Fender Jazz Deluxe it should have accomodation for bridge-loaded stringing, try that.

Fender brand strings are long enough to accomodate their string-thru design. Other than that brand, you will need to specifically look for extra long strings designed for 35" scale instruments.

Lakland private label strings are a good choice, since their basses are string-thru 34"+ scale basses. I believe they are made for Lakland by GHS, and are very similar to Boomers. I use them almost exclusively. They are a good choice for extended-scale basses. I go with nickel-wound, and they sound great & last a long time... average price: $20 for a 4-string set.

[Marcus Willett]

Another option is the Carvin extended-length ferrules for string-through. You can use regular length strings with these and still string through.

https://www.carvinguitars.com/produc...p?product=BF1C

[mellowgerman]

first try taking a razor blade and cutting the wrappings as needed. jack casady and phil lesh used to do that because their shortscale strings were a half inch too short for their starfire basses. maybe this will solve your problem. hey, if it worked for two of the greatest bass-legends... why not give it a shot

[bigthemat]

Originally Posted by mellowgerman

first try taking a razor blade and cutting the wrappings as needed. jack casady and phil lesh used to do that because their shortscale strings were a half inch too short for their starfire basses. maybe this will solve your problem. hey, if it worked for two of the greatest bass-legends... why not give it a shot

thats what I did, and was hoping it wasn't too wrong. good, now I don't feel dumb.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Philbiker

If that's a USA Fender Jazz Deluxe it should have accomodation for bridge-loaded stringing, try that.

Fender brand strings are long enough to accomodate their string-thru design. Other than that brand, you will need to specifically look for extra long strings designed for 35" scale instruments.

What you really need to do is measure your winding length needs. This is different than Scale length as it includes the ball end to the nut measurement. Not every Bass is made the same or strung the same. Scale is only one of the #s you need. Basses made with 2-piece bridges need more length than a standard Fender because the Ball is anchored further back.

I did a survey here awhile ago on lengths and had a Sticky but the mods felt it wasn't needed any longer. I guess they were wrong. My thread taught people how to measure what length string they actually need for their Bass measuring from the Ball end (including it) to the silk (if silked) of a given string.

The string once anchored in the bridge or body must clear the Nut. On some strings, it's best not to wrap Bs or Es around the tuner post or they could break. The ideal measurement is to clear the Nut but not reach the closest/lowest Post behind the Nut on the Bass side of the Head. This is what we/I call 'winding length needed'.

For the average 34" long scale Bass 36.5-38" winding length works best even if thru the body. For 35" scale, you might get away with 38" or need 39" or 40" for extra long scale Basses.

Measure your Bass and winding length needed and find out what companies can supply the strings you need for them. Not every type of string comes in every needed length.