So I (fairly) recently bought a new American Standard P-Bass, and I found out some things about it that I'd like to share with the TalkBass community. Essentially, based on my direct experience, I will (lamentably) be stating my personal positions in some of the longest-running, most futile bass debates in the history of the superlute.
There are a couple beliefs I've had about the instrument from afar, that have changed since I started playing this fine instrument, and I think for ease of reading, I'll just list them by number and then put my experience under each one. I'm doing this partly because I found it interesting, and partly because I haven't seen any opinions similar to mine being expressed on any of the threads I've read so far (which has admittedly been quite a few).
1. To use the string-through feature, one must buy extra long-scale (35") strings.
I love Ernie Ball strings. They're my favorite. I like their feel and their tone, but more importantly, I like those colorful packages they come in.
I had to special-order my bass because I'm a lefty. In preparation, I bought a set of extra long-scale Ernie Ball (.105-.45) strings. Yes, the bass came with strings, but I prefer my own strings. So within a couple days of getting it and playing it, I switched out the strings with the Ernie Balls.
I found that, even with string-through, these strings were long enough for the fattest part of the E string (for example) to wrap around the string post almost a whole time. It gave me the willies.
So then, I got a set of the 34" scale Regular Slinkies and put them on string-thru. They fit perfectly. And I think I know why. On the older Fender basses with string-through (the 1972 Telecaster comes to mind), the ferrules/holes weren't as deep. They were only as big as the string-ball, meaning that if I were to lay the guitar out flat on its face, and place a non-warped ruler on top of the ferrules, theoretically, said ruler would be flush against both the edges of the ferrules and the bottoms of the string balls themselves.
However, in the new bass (and here I suppose I can really only speak to the nature of the 2013 model), the string holes are deeper, meaning they have to go through less of the body to come out through the bridge, so that plain old 34" scale strings can be strung through the body and still have the thick part of the string meeting the nut.
So to conclude: it's been my experience that on this particular instrument, one does not need to use extra long strings to use the string-through feature.
2. Stringing through gives you more of that "woody" tone.
Most of my motivation for buying a P-Bass came from the fact that I listen to the Police and I like Sting's tone. (Granted, he's using a 1954 model, which is made of different woods, has different frets, a different pickup, and is essentially an entirely different instrument, but come on, are we really gonna split hairs here?) Anyway, I've noticed the grandchild of Sting's bass, the modern P-Bass, still has a similar tone to that.
So, in my string adventures (as detailed above, plus a couple more re-stringings just for the purpose of experimenting), I've found that stringing-through (at least in this model) does not change the tone at all. I currently have Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies strung through the bridge. The tone and tightness of the strings sounds exactly the same to me.
Also, incidentally, I've found that the instrument seems to stay in tune better when I string through the bridge instead of the body.
How do I keep my ferrules from falling out then? I don't. I put the guitar on my lap, tapped the body with the heel of my hand and they fell right out onto the floor. They're now in a sandwich bag in my bass case. So now I have 4 gaping, un-colored holes in the back of my bass, but since I'm a hipster who likes his instruments to look a little well-used, I think the no-ferrules look is a good first step for "oldening" a brand new bass when I'm not quite ready to bang it against a doorjamb yet.
3. The body woods have a noticeable effect on tone.
Ugh. I was hoping I'd never have to touch this one. I could just take my little opinion and zip it up in a little bag inside my head, fill it with my own inflated sense of self-righteousness, and smirk at everybody else who is clearly wrong because there are of course only two answers to the question, they are polar opposites, and mine is the correct one.
I love being right. Unfortunately, I can't do that here. I have insufficient data. While it is indeed true that my 2013 Precision Bass sounds very different than my 2004 MiM Jazz Bass, there is any number of reasons for that. I do think I can make the comparison that the P-Bass pickups sound way different than any of the bazillion Jazz Bass pickups I tried out during my ownership, including the Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounders. I've found them more ballsy and less buzzy than aforementioned single-coil articulation-syringes.
I can get almost exactly the same woody tone I like so much from Sting if I pluck the strings up near the heel of the neck. But I don't know if that's just the pickup, or if it's the pickup and the alder. I'm pretty sure it's not the pickup and the alder and the stringballs touching the alder, because as I've said before, I've found no difference in sound whichever way I've strung the bridge.
4. The neck woods have a noticeable effect on tone.
Inconclusive. Alas, in the lefty version, they only offer Rosewood fingerboards with 6130-sized "medium jumbo" frets. Very functional; lots of sustain. Would a maple fingerboard have offered richer harmonics? No idea. Would smaller frets give me closer to a "woody" tone or make for smoother glissandos? Again I can only guess. I do know that medium jumbo frets are just as tall as regular guitar frets (which were used on the old basses), but are wider. I also know that the strings actually touching the fingerboard can produce a cello-like tone (as on a fretless bass). But I also noticed, as I tried several instruments at the store upside-down with each of these two different fret sizes, the string in either case doesn't really, really touch the fretboard unless I jam it down. And as we all know, jamming is bad form.
ha ha.
*gag*
Well, that's about it for now. If I think of something more later, I'll be sure to write another book, which, as I over-extend my personal judgments for a final time, you will also heartily enjoy reading.
There are a couple beliefs I've had about the instrument from afar, that have changed since I started playing this fine instrument, and I think for ease of reading, I'll just list them by number and then put my experience under each one. I'm doing this partly because I found it interesting, and partly because I haven't seen any opinions similar to mine being expressed on any of the threads I've read so far (which has admittedly been quite a few).
1. To use the string-through feature, one must buy extra long-scale (35") strings.
I love Ernie Ball strings. They're my favorite. I like their feel and their tone, but more importantly, I like those colorful packages they come in.
I had to special-order my bass because I'm a lefty. In preparation, I bought a set of extra long-scale Ernie Ball (.105-.45) strings. Yes, the bass came with strings, but I prefer my own strings. So within a couple days of getting it and playing it, I switched out the strings with the Ernie Balls.
I found that, even with string-through, these strings were long enough for the fattest part of the E string (for example) to wrap around the string post almost a whole time. It gave me the willies.
So then, I got a set of the 34" scale Regular Slinkies and put them on string-thru. They fit perfectly. And I think I know why. On the older Fender basses with string-through (the 1972 Telecaster comes to mind), the ferrules/holes weren't as deep. They were only as big as the string-ball, meaning that if I were to lay the guitar out flat on its face, and place a non-warped ruler on top of the ferrules, theoretically, said ruler would be flush against both the edges of the ferrules and the bottoms of the string balls themselves.
However, in the new bass (and here I suppose I can really only speak to the nature of the 2013 model), the string holes are deeper, meaning they have to go through less of the body to come out through the bridge, so that plain old 34" scale strings can be strung through the body and still have the thick part of the string meeting the nut.
So to conclude: it's been my experience that on this particular instrument, one does not need to use extra long strings to use the string-through feature.
2. Stringing through gives you more of that "woody" tone.
Most of my motivation for buying a P-Bass came from the fact that I listen to the Police and I like Sting's tone. (Granted, he's using a 1954 model, which is made of different woods, has different frets, a different pickup, and is essentially an entirely different instrument, but come on, are we really gonna split hairs here?) Anyway, I've noticed the grandchild of Sting's bass, the modern P-Bass, still has a similar tone to that.
So, in my string adventures (as detailed above, plus a couple more re-stringings just for the purpose of experimenting), I've found that stringing-through (at least in this model) does not change the tone at all. I currently have Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies strung through the bridge. The tone and tightness of the strings sounds exactly the same to me.
Also, incidentally, I've found that the instrument seems to stay in tune better when I string through the bridge instead of the body.
How do I keep my ferrules from falling out then? I don't. I put the guitar on my lap, tapped the body with the heel of my hand and they fell right out onto the floor. They're now in a sandwich bag in my bass case. So now I have 4 gaping, un-colored holes in the back of my bass, but since I'm a hipster who likes his instruments to look a little well-used, I think the no-ferrules look is a good first step for "oldening" a brand new bass when I'm not quite ready to bang it against a doorjamb yet.
3. The body woods have a noticeable effect on tone.
Ugh. I was hoping I'd never have to touch this one. I could just take my little opinion and zip it up in a little bag inside my head, fill it with my own inflated sense of self-righteousness, and smirk at everybody else who is clearly wrong because there are of course only two answers to the question, they are polar opposites, and mine is the correct one.
I love being right. Unfortunately, I can't do that here. I have insufficient data. While it is indeed true that my 2013 Precision Bass sounds very different than my 2004 MiM Jazz Bass, there is any number of reasons for that. I do think I can make the comparison that the P-Bass pickups sound way different than any of the bazillion Jazz Bass pickups I tried out during my ownership, including the Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounders. I've found them more ballsy and less buzzy than aforementioned single-coil articulation-syringes.
I can get almost exactly the same woody tone I like so much from Sting if I pluck the strings up near the heel of the neck. But I don't know if that's just the pickup, or if it's the pickup and the alder. I'm pretty sure it's not the pickup and the alder and the stringballs touching the alder, because as I've said before, I've found no difference in sound whichever way I've strung the bridge.
4. The neck woods have a noticeable effect on tone.
Inconclusive. Alas, in the lefty version, they only offer Rosewood fingerboards with 6130-sized "medium jumbo" frets. Very functional; lots of sustain. Would a maple fingerboard have offered richer harmonics? No idea. Would smaller frets give me closer to a "woody" tone or make for smoother glissandos? Again I can only guess. I do know that medium jumbo frets are just as tall as regular guitar frets (which were used on the old basses), but are wider. I also know that the strings actually touching the fingerboard can produce a cello-like tone (as on a fretless bass). But I also noticed, as I tried several instruments at the store upside-down with each of these two different fret sizes, the string in either case doesn't really, really touch the fretboard unless I jam it down. And as we all know, jamming is bad form.
ha ha.
*gag*
Well, that's about it for now. If I think of something more later, I'll be sure to write another book, which, as I over-extend my personal judgments for a final time, you will also heartily enjoy reading.
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