Fender 9050 Flatwounds strung through the body?

[PBassAcidJazz]

Hi all,

I recently decided to try Fender 9050ML flats on my American Standard Precision bass. Usually I string my La Bella flats top loaded through the bridge, but the Fender 9050s have ribbon on the ball end of the string which would sit over the saddle if I did this. Hence I've decided to string them through the body. Anyone have informed advice whether or not this is the best solution for these flats? Some say that flats should not go through the body due to the increased break angle. And why would Fender make their own strings so tricky to use on their own basses? What am I missing?

 

[michael_t]

I recently decided to try Fender 9050ML flats on my American Standard Precision bass. Usually I string my La Bella flats top loaded through the bridge, but the Fender 9050s have ribbon on the ball end of the string which would sit over the saddle if I did this. Hence I've decided to string them through the body. Anyone have informed advice whether or not this is the best solution for these flats? Some say that flats should not go through the body due to the increased break angle. And why would Fender make their own strings so tricky to use on their own basses? What am I missing?

Most flats can be strung thru-body without issue, including the Fender 9050, as long as you're careful during installation and once they're installed you leave them on.

Fender JMJ Mustang (thru-body) comes factory-equipped with the 9050L. "Long scale" flats on a thru-body short-scale bass, seemingly with no issues.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Hi all,

I recently decided to try Fender 9050ML flats on my American Standard Precision bass. Usually I string my La Bella flats top loaded through the bridge, but the Fender 9050s have ribbon on the ball end of the string which would sit over the saddle if I did this. Hence I've decided to string them through the body. Anyone have informed advice whether or not this is the best solution for these flats? Some say that flats should not go through the body due to the increased break angle. And why would Fender make their own strings so tricky to use on their own basses? What am I missing?

- If you topload them, you can shave the silks back, so as to expose the saddle contact area, with no ill effects;
- Fender flats are perfectly fine through the body (only La Bella warns against doing it with their own flats);
- there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all bass string, all manufacturers are painfully aware of this (every choice they make regarding length is sure to displease some potential user), and this includes Fender as a string brand (they don't actually make their strings, haven't been since 2010).

 

[michael_t]

Or, another option would be to use a spacer so the ball end sits farther away from the saddle.

Here's what I did with the Fender flats on my Highway One Jazz. My objective was to make sure only the tapered end on the E wrapped around the post. This same spacer (4mm inside diameter, 10mm in length), which I found on Amazon Canada, would work on the High Mass Bridge on American Fenders by sitting nicely in the recess for the ball end.

 

[2saddleslab]

I've used Fender flats for years strung thru the body without any negative issues. String 'em thru & enjoy!

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

Okay thanks for all the advice. Good to learn the knowledge of others. Seems the 9050s are designed to go through the body. I imagine this might frustrate those who buy the Fender strings for their Fender bass but only have top loading as an option, and then find they have to modify the strings to fit them. I would like Fender to at least communicate this. They make so many oddball marketing or non-marketing decisions. Great basses though!

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I'm top loading Fender 9050 flats on a Fender Jazz Bass with no issues. Are you sure the E-string saddle needs to be that far back when it's intonated correctly? I mean, if would be a bit strange if Fender make strings that won't fit Fender instruments...???

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

I'm top loading Fender 9050 flats on a Fender Jazz Bass with no issues. Are you sure the E-string saddle needs to be that far back when it's intonated correctly? I mean, if would be a bit strange if Fender make strings that won't fit Fender instruments...???

Interesting. What type of bridge is it? Mine is the current high-mass vintage bridge found on American Standards / Professionals. Yes intonation is set correctly. And yes VERY odd to have Fender not design their own branded strings for their own basses... Regardless of whether or not they outsource the design / production.

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

Okay. I'm miles away from being a 7ender expert, but my P-Bass doesn't string through. Is this something new?

 

[GIBrat51]

Okay thanks for all the advice. Good to learn the knowledge of others. Seems the 9050s are designed to go through the body. I imagine this might frustrate those who buy the Fender strings for their Fender bass but only have top loading as an option, and then find they have to modify the strings to fit them. I would like Fender to at least communicate this. They make so many oddball marketing or non-marketing decisions. Great basses though!

Well, "designed to go through the body" is a bit of a stretch, IMO. I'd just go with "flats that will work on my bass this way". I've used Fender 9050 flats for a long, long time, on several different basses - including my '78 Fender P-Bass - With no problems at all. 3 of the 24 basses in my herd that wear flats, are wearing 9050L's right now. None of them are string-thrus, either. The only bass I own that's strung that way, is wearing Roto TruBass 88M tape wounds.
It's pretty much impossible for string manufacturer's to make strings that will work on every bass of a given scale. After playing bass for over half a century, now, and trying more strings on more basses than I care to think about? I can swear to that... In fact; the thru-body-only bass (a 32" scale, '93 Fury Anthem lined fretless bass) that's wearing the Roto 88 tapes? I went thru 4 different sets of medium scale flat wounds, before I found ones that didn't have a too-short G string; a too-long E string; or tuner end silks that went 2" below the nut. And those flats sounded... awful; so, off they came. The Roto 88's fit - and sounded great; so, there they'll stay...
In any case? Yeah, string the 9050's thru your bass's body, and then? Play the snot out of them. If you decide to replace them with flats that you want to top load? Well, ball end silks are not all the same length; and some - La Bella DTF's, for example - don't have ball end silks - at all. Which is why my top-load-only '78 Kramer 450B "lumie" is wearing them...

 

[Fender_Bender]

Just make sure you’re not an “on and off” guy. They may not tolerate that usage.

 

[iiipopes]

I have wired 9050's both top load and through body on my custom P-style fanned fret bass. I have found no discernible differences in tone, intonation, or sustain however the strings are mounted to the bass.

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

Based on the responses above, I wonder if the 9050s are designed to top load through a traditional bent plate Fender bridge, but have to go through-body on the more modern Fender high-mass vintage bridge design. I couldn't top-load them due to the saddle being close to the end piece - see pictures. I have, however, had no trouble top-loading Rotosounds and La Bellas, for example. I usually top-load due to sometimes changing strings between basses. Especially with flats which can outlast my basses...

 

[Swipter]

Had those on my jazz a very long time through the body. No issues. TBH, I never thought of the no no la Bella through the body thing. Now I know.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Interesting. What type of bridge is it? Mine is the current high-mass vintage bridge found on American Standards / Professionals. Yes intonation is set correctly. And yes VERY odd to have Fender not design their own branded strings for their own basses... Regardless of whether or not they outsource the design / production.

It's a Fender Original 60s Jazz with the stock/standard "bent plate" bridge. I checked it right now and I can still move the E-string saddle 2 mm further back before I hit the silk.

I've also used the 9050 flats on a Squier Paranormal Jazz without any issues (more or less the same type of bridge).

I'm using the 9050L set but the E-string is the same as the 9050ML set so the saddle position for correct intonation should be the same.

Ideally I probably wouldn't string these flats through the body if I could avoid it. But I wouldn't be overly worried if I had to. I think these particular flats can handle it just fine.

I also own Fender basses with the bridge you are referring to and there's absolutely nothing about the design of the bridge itself that should cause this problem. It has to be the POSITION of the bridge. Fender must have installed the bridge slightly too far towards the neck to be used with top loaded 9050s. Which is a bit strange as many other strings have silk that extends at least as far as the 9050s. And even strings without silk have a "knurled" part of the string back there, that you definitely don't want to hit the saddles. Which means that many other strings may also not work for top loading on your bass. I have top loaded several different strings on my Fenders with that exact same bridge. Very strange.

But as long as you can string it through the body it's not really a problem with MOST strings. I probably wouldn't get LaBellas or other stiff, "old school" flats for that particular bass though...

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

It's a Fender Original 60s Jazz with the stock/standard "bent plate" bridge. I checked it right now and I can still move the E-string saddle 2 mm further back before I hit the silk.

I've also used the 9050 flats on a Squier Paranormal Jazz without any issues (more or less the same type of bridge).

I'm using the 9050L set but the E-string is the same as the 9050ML set so the saddle position for correct intonation should be the same.

Ideally I probably wouldn't string these flats through the body if I could avoid it. But I wouldn't be overly worried if I had to. I think these particular flats can handle it just fine.

I also own Fender basses with the bridge you are referring to and there's absolutely nothing about the design of the bridge itself that should cause this problem. It has to be the POSITION of the bridge. Fender must have installed the bridge slightly too far towards the neck to be used with top loaded 9050s. Which is a bit strange as many other strings have silk that extends at least as far as the 9050s. And even strings without silk have a "knurled" part of the string back there, that you definitely don't want to hit the saddles. Which means that many other strings may also not work for top loading on your bass. I have top loaded several different strings on my Fenders with that exact same bridge. Very strange.

But as long as you can string it through the body it's not really a problem with MOST strings. I probably wouldn't get LaBellas or other stiff, "old school" flats for that particular bass though...

Thanks for that in-depth response. Good to know your experience which might help me in future. I guess a simple answer could be that the silk is wound on too long on this set of strings... However, if I top loaded then the silk at the headstock end of the string wouldn't be ideal as the thick part of the string would begin to wrap around the tuner. So it seems through the body is best of these strings on the American Standard. However, if they don't work out, I'll just use La Bella strings. I was just curious about the whole thing because I would have thought Fender would perfectly match their flats to a Standard P bass.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Thanks for that in-depth response. Good to know your experience which might help me in future. I guess a simple answer could be that the silk is wound on too long on this set of strings... However, if I top loaded then the silk at the headstock end of the string wouldn't be ideal as the thick part of the string would begin to wrap around the tuner. So it seems through the body is best of these strings on the American Standard. However, if they don't work out, I'll just use La Bella strings. I was just curious about the whole thing because I would have thought Fender would perfectly match their flats to a Standard P bass.

Just to make sure you didn't mistunderstand what I was saying: You do NOT want to use LaBellas for through body stringing. They will unravel. LaBella even specifically warn against it. If you can string them through the bridge they will be fine of course but I doubt it if the 9050s don't fit.

 

[PBassAcidJazz]

Thanks, yes, I use La Bella Flats and they fit fine top loaded - no ribbon at the ball end.

Just to make sure you didn't mistunderstand what I was saying: You do NOT want to use LaBellas for through body stringing. They will unravel. LaBella even specifically warn against it. If you can string them through the bridge they will be fine of course but I doubt it if the 9050s don't fit.