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Flatwounds on a through-body bridge

Toothyfish

Toothyfish

Jul 3, 2018
10
8
#1
i converted a Fender Am. STD to fretless. Like it. When I strung it up, I used the holes on the top of the bridge, rather than through the body...somewhere I read that the strings would be damaged going over the saddles if the thru holes were used.

Can anyone confirm this or have experience otherwise?

Using Rotosound 77s on the standard Fender bridge
 
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#2
I personally don't like the idea of putting any flats thru-body as the tightly-wound flat ribbon wire may not like the sharp break angles created by the thru-body installation. The risk far outweighs any potential benefits.

That said, La Bella is the only company (that I know of) that explicitly warns against thru-body installation for their flats, except for the ones specifically designed for thru-body. Most people around here would probably tell you no major issues with most flats, though.
 
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#5
Thanks for the responses so far. While I can’t remember where I saw it, I erred on the side of caution. I agree, flats are much stiffer and don’t have the “ wiggle room” between the winds that rounds do.
 
#7
Even if they survive, which they often will, it's not optimal because a stiff flatwound string will go through the required sharp angles in more of a curve instead of a sharp kink, meaning the anchoring of the string becomes 'springy' (springing against the remaining bending that the string refuses to do) and less solid. No doubt some will use this setup and be happy, but it's obviously worse from a mechanics perspective.

Even if 1950's P-basses were like this, that doesn't make it right or optimal.
I still consider through-body for basses to be a bad tradition with no benefit and several problems, there just happens to be marketing hype trying to sell it for some reason, plus some bass mythology.
 
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#8
My LaBella 760FL's are strong through the body of my Duck Dunn... no issues for the past year..
Not by choice, I was very busy, so I dropped it by a local shop to have them do it while I was at work.. for whatever reason, the "professional " paid no attention to the package saying....

DO NOT STRING THROUGH BODY...

Oh well, plays great, sounds great
 
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#9
The general consensus of opinion seems to be:
- Some people have done it since Hector was a pup, and have always gotten away with it...
- Some people have tried it, and wished they hadn't...
- Some flats are wiggly enough that most people can use them, and get away with it...
- Some flats are not wiggly enough.. and most people won't get away with using them... and,
- La Bella makes flats (TB flats) that are designed to be strung Thru Body...
So, in the famous words of Dirty Harry Callahan; "Do ya feel lucky...?" :whistle:
 
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#12
michael_t said:
I personally don't like the idea of putting any flats thru-body as the tightly-wound flat ribbon wire may not like the sharp break angles created by the thru-body installation. The risk far outweighs any potential benefits.

That said, La Bella is the only company (that I know of) that explicitly warns against thru-body installation for their flats, except for the ones specifically designed for thru-body. Most people around here would probably tell you no major issues with most flats, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah yeah, everyone has an opinion and as the old saying goes, they are about worth what you pay for them.
IMHO the above opinion is pretty worthless. But the again, I didn't pay for it. Hmm. Maybe I should have paid to give it value. But then again, maybe not. If I had given value to it I would be taking the flats off of the through body basses that I have had them on for the last ten to fifteen years.
 
#13
No bad personal experience doing this. My TIs are fine and nearing 4 years old. I have heard stories, though. And I understand LaBella makes a set designed especially for through-body threading - their standard set is not recommended for it as mentioned above.
 
#14
I've had TI's strung thru the MIA P in my avatar for 20 years. If there's going to be an issue with it, I would have expected to see it by now.
 
#17
This is pretty interesting. Almost everyone, including myself, has said that the original posting that using flat wound strings on a through body shouldn't be done isn't a problem for anyone else.
Might be good for the original poster to be more specific about what the issue seems to be,
What bass? Which strings? Type of bridge? Who did the set up?
Might be something specific to the posters situation that we can help with.
 
#18
I’ve done it a few times. No issues. If I can string through the body, I do. If not, well, I not. I can say that the photo posted at the link below fully indicates why folks say that one shouldn’t.

NBD: 1953 Fender Precision

To be fair, none of the flats on my string through basses show this level of separation.

As others have said... personal preference and ymmv.
 
#20
micguy said:
..... I will chime in and encourage you to try rounds on a fretless. If you haven’t tried that combo, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Click to expand...

I've got an old set of D'Addario slowwounds on a fretless SX P and I love it. The Bass came with mismatched flats when I bought it, putting the rounds on opened up the sound & feel to a whole new level.
 
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