thru body V thru bridge

[CaptainDaniels]

Which route do you go and why? I just picked up my new Am Precision Deluxe (pictures will come soon ) but I want to change out the strings and I was wondering what the difference between stringing thru the body and straight thru the bridge is?

[JTE]

There's a lot of speculation in a lot of threads on TB (and any other internet bass resource), but it pretty much comes down to this. People who have compared stringing the same bass both ways with the same strings generally find no sonic differernce, and very little if any phsyical difference.

I've done it with all my basses that allow both options (two US Lakland 4-94s, a Lakland Skyline 55-01, and a Hammer Cruise Bass with the Gotoh bridge). I even went so far as to string two strings on one bass through the body and two on the same bass from the top. Currently my Classic 4-94 has the E string top loaded and the other three through the body. No difference at all in any case.

jte

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by JTE

There's a lot of speculation in a lot of threads on TB (and any other internet bass resource), but it pretty much comes down to this. People who have compared stringing the same bass both ways with the same strings generally find no sonic differernce, and very little if any phsyical difference.

I've done it with all my basses that allow both options (two US Lakland 4-94s, a Lakland Skyline 55-01, and a Hammer Cruise Bass with the Gotoh bridge). I even went so far as to string two strings on one bass through the body and two on the same bass from the top. Currently my Classic 4-94 has the E string top loaded and the other three through the body. No difference at all in any case.

+1

I went one step further and put 2 A strings on the same bass, (same strings, same gauge, and both tuned to A) with one strung through the body and the other top loaded. I found there was no difference in tone or feel on the several basses I tried.

However, there is one thing that through body stringing will do that top loading won't do...keep the string ferrules in the back of the body from falling out.