Help! Flats for '51 P reissue with string thru bridge

[E.J. T.N.T.]

I have a custom p-bass with the body and neck dimensions of a '59 p-bass plus it is equiped with the gotoh 206 bridge.I once tried rotosound flats and i was really satisfied with the outcome.You should check them.There is also a Steve Harris signture set that is built from a different material(nickel\copper alloy)which might add a some twist in your sound.On the matter of the thru the body stringing i have come to believe that the thicker the string the more it's gong to be stressed and usually flats tend to be thicker than rounds.I think everything will be ok maybe adding a little relief on the neck will be necessary but i don't think you have any problems.
P.S.:Nice mods dude!!!That's a baslline on th neck right?

 

[Chef]

10-4, basslines sdbc-3 in the neck, fender 60's vintage jazz at the bridge. The pups and late model 4 saddle bridge were all done by the previous owner, I like it lots. One thing I might change is the pots. It's now vol/vol with no tone (as oppsed to stck vol/tone). I may put a set of 60's Jazz stacked concentric pots in so I have vol/tone for each pup.

Roto rounds eh?

 

[seanm]

I had a short scale Fender Musicmaster with the strings through bridge. I used the light (E=100) chromes and they worked great. Don't know how the heavier flats would have worked though.

If they really did run through the bridge in the 50's then maybe Fender flats? They had to have been designed to handle that.

 

[Chef]

String thru is the only way they came from Fender from 51-56. In 57 they changed to the more traditional looking Precision headstock, split pickup, and regular bridge.

 

[Chef]

I got a set of labella 760 fl's from jjbluegrasser (thanks!), and stuck em on. Reset saddle height, intonation, no trussrod adjust needed yet...so I guess it follows that they feel pretty similar in tension to the medium light rounds I took off.
The 760's he sent me were about brand new I guess-all shiny and stuff
My first impressions: man, these are nearly as bright as the stainless rounds I took off, but with a much harder bottom end hit. I hope they mellow some! They are way brighter than the lakland rounds that came on my...lakland.
They should definately help the itsy bitsy vintage fretwire in the 51 RI last muuuch longer.
That's all for now...

chef

 

[seanm]

I got a set of labella 760 fl's from jjbluegrasser (thanks!), and stuck em on. Reset saddle height, intonation, no trussrod adjust needed yet...so I guess it follows that they feel pretty similar in tension to the medium light rounds I took off.
The 760's he sent me were about brand new I guess-all shiny and stuff
My first impressions: man, these are nearly as bright as the stainless rounds I took off, but with a much harder bottom end hit. I hope they mellow some! They are way brighter than the lakland rounds that came on my...lakland.
They should definately help the itsy bitsy vintage fretwire in the 51 RI last muuuch longer.
That's all for now...

chef

Wow, I knew they where bright, but not that much. They are low tension for flats, although I thought higher than a round. Man, I have to try rounds again to remember what they are like

 

[Robert B]

I got a set of labella 760 fl's from jjbluegrasser (thanks!), and stuck em on.
chef

Hey Chef -- Been following your thread with interest since I have a similar issue with my American Standard Precision. Just to clarify -- you strung the 760 fls through the body and had no issues at the bridge or with the silk extending pass the nut? This is a string I'd really like to try so if it works for you I'm ordering a set. Thanks!

 

[Chef]

Yes, they are strung thru body. Gigged them 3 hours last night and had not problems. There is red silk winding in the nut slot, but that seems to be a non issue for now. I though labella said do not wind bare metal onto the tuners...I dunno if silk in the nits is specified as bad. It's just the last bit before it goes to the meatl windings, so it's real smooth...not at all like what's on the tuner peg.

 

[Chef]

Bump
18 months later or so, no string thru body issues, and the strings tone rounded off nicely after about 10 gigs or so...
I've used the LaBella's on several other string thru scenarios with no issues.

 

[Bobby King]

I have D'Addario Chrome flats on a newer Fender P-bass that's strung thru-the-body. The only issue I've had is that I needed to remove a little of the silk wrap at the tuning peg ends so that there isn't wrapped string sitting on the nut. The funny thing is, if it weren't strung thru-the body, there'd be wrapped string sitting on the bridge piece, at least on the E string. Sometimes I wish they didn't use any wrapping on bass strings (some makers don't).