Thru Body with Flats

[anyonefortennis]

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I noticed la bella specifically states that their deep talking flats are not made for thru body designs.

Is this a case for all flats? or just la bella?

I'm thinking about daddario's chromes exl to go with a thru body lakland bass but I'm not sure if flats and thru bodies just don't get along or it's just something about labellas that dont permit it.

[dman_113]

I think that any flats have a chance of the winding breaking if ran though the body because of the severe angle in which they contact the bridge.

[bthiemann80]

I'm wondering the same thing myself. I used fender flats through the bridge on a jazz bass for a short time and a friend of mine has had his fender flats on his string through bridge jazz bass for months, so I guess thos are ok to use that way. I recently ordered a deluxe bass bridge from fender, one that permits top loading along with the ability to string them through the body. I'm tempted to just say screw it and do it now because the bridge is taking forever but I have a set of 45-105 labellas that are supposedly not supposed to be strung through the bridge. If the bridge isnt here by next week i'm definately going to go ahead and string them through the body, the temptation is killing me!!!

[mario222]

I,ve strung flats through the body on my Fender P before with no problems. Never tried La bellas through the body but I got a set the other day and I'm gonna try and see what happens!

[One Drop]

LaBella says don't, why take the risk?

[rllefebv]

I use D'Addario Chromes on my '51 RI and '96 P, (both through-body)... On the '96, I can get by with regular length, (long), strings and just have to trim a little silk on the E to clear the nut... On the '51 RI, I had to go with the Extra-Longs from JustStrings...

I've had no problems with breakage...

-robert

[bthiemann80]

You know i forgot that Fender's first bass, the now 51' reissue precision bass, had the string through body bridge only. I dont know when they switched it from that to the top-loading style, I think around 57', but for a good number of years that was the bridge. Considering Fenders shipped from the factory with flats until the early to mid sixties and that methods of manufacturing flatwound strings have undoubtedly become much more refined since then, i'd say your chances of having a flatwound break or unravel at the bridge due to the angle are quite rare. It makes sense however to think that the labella jameson sets would suffer some damage though. Those strings are HUGE!! Anything shy of the jameson set should be fine.

[king_biscuit]

I think Fenders shipped with flats until the early 1980s.

[bthiemann80]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

I think Fenders shipped with flats until the early 1980s.

I stand corrected.

[acleex38]

I run my Birdsong Cortobass with Chromes run through the bridge. Scott at Birdsong was always nervous about that because of what he was worried the break-point would do to the windings, but he set it up for me anyway....

...he was right. The A string windings gave out and went slack mid solo about 3 weeks ago. Only the 2nd time I've broken a string in 21 years.

Admittedly, the string had been played hard for 7 months and I was smacking the everloving **** out of it when it busted, but still....the winding busted because it was strung through body.

[assboglin]

Some strings aren't long enough to go through the body, but I am currently using a set of D'Addario Chromes through the body of my American Deluxe Jazz Bass and haven't had any problems yet in the couple of gigs I've done with the new strings.

I find going through the body advantageous as my band plays tuned Eb-Ab-Db-Gb, and we occasionally go down to a dropped Db. Since I've switched to the Chromes and gone through the body I've got a little more tension in the strings which helps give a tighter, better defined sound in those low tunings.

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by mario222

I,ve strung flats through the body on my Fender P before with no problems.

+1

[duff84]

i just strung joe obsborn flatwounds through the bridge on my american deluxe jazz and theyre seems to be no problems so far. great strings btw.

[scottbass]

AFAIK LaBella is the only manufacturer that warns about stringing flats through-body. I've had a set of TI Jazz flats strung through-body on my P bass for over 2 years now with no problems. With practice, rehearsals and gigs I probably play 12-15 hours per week.

[billoetjen]

I've gotten away with using Labella DTB standard set strung through-body for over a year. Maybe just lucky.

[autofile]

I just bought a C.S. Jazz two weeks ago and I wanted to string the bass with T.I. Jazz flats.
I was concerned about the sharp break angle of the strings coming through the body where they contact the bridge plate.

So I asked T.I. Directly. The emailed me that this should not be a problem for their strings.
So I did it, and so far so good.

[TomB]

Originally Posted by billoetjen

I've gotten away with using Labella DTB standard set strung through-body for over a year. Maybe just lucky.

Maybe... I tried FL's through the body of my '98 P and the E string broke at the bridge immediately. I've never had that occur with Fenders, Chromes, or Roto-Sounds. Top-loaded though, the Labellas are still my favorite sound. Proceed with caution.

[CapnSev]

Originally Posted by scottbass

AFAIK LaBella is the only manufacturer that warns about stringing flats through-body. I've had a set of TI Jazz flats strung through-body on my P bass for over 2 years now with no problems. With practice, rehearsals and gigs I probably play 12-15 hours per week.

+1

I've had Chromes through the body too. LaBella (including Sadowsky) is the only company that specifically warns about string-through stringing.

[fretlessguy]

I don't know about the LaBellas, but I 've strung Chromes, GHS Precision flats and TIs on my thru bodies without a single break.