String thru body or bridge?

[OldHack]

Hello everyone, my first post here. Nice civilized group
I have done a search and could find nothing on your preferences, string thru body or thru the bridge. I have an AmDlx Jazz with the string thru body option but it just seems like such a steep break over angle so I've been going thru the bridge. Any opinions/preferences on this topic?

Thanks!

 

[FreeSpirit]

well, i have two jazz basses. one MIA V that has both options, and i just string it through body. and the MIM 4 that doesn;t have string though option it goes that way. what exactly is the diffrence between the two.?

 

[Matt Call]

My old MIAdlx 5 had that option. I usually used it on strings that I felt needed extra tension (I always strung the B and E thru body), and the others through the bridge. So if you feel that the strings should be a bit tighter, I'd suggest stringing them through the body. Other than that, it's your call.

I remember breaking strings on that bass quite a lot though. It was always the D string though, which I strung through the bridge. Anyway, hope this helped. If not, my bad.

 

[Selta]

well, i have two jazz basses. one MIA V that has both options, and i just string it through body. and the MIM 4 that doesn;t have string though option it goes that way. what exactly is the diffrence between the two.?

There's actually a lot of info here on TB about this topic...AFAIK, there's no "right" or "for sure" answer to this question - some say String Through Body gives more this and less that, and others say String Through Bridge give more that and less this. I really don't notice of any difference in feel or sound when playing either way.
The real difference is how the string is anchored - either to the piece of metal which is screwed to the body, or more directly to the body by holes drilled through the body, and then simply rolled over the bridge to the nut etc. etc. Do a search on "String through body" and you'll find plenty

Ray

 

[eots]

Using one way or the other doesn't change the tension cause scale length will determine that. A 35" E string will be tighter than a 34" e string regardless of where it's anchored. My piezio equipped Carvin LB70P uses only thru the body where the non-piezio lb70 uses either with the hipshot bridge. I have an older Carvin lb75af with a wilkensen bridge that appears to have 2 mounting locations on the bridge but the 'rear' mounts don't allow enough downward pressure across the saddles to do any good. Too much slop. My fernandes pbass has flatwounds on it that I procured from a 5string set. The E string was too long in that standard installation allowed the flat winding to get wrapped around the tuning post. This supposedly is a no-no :scowl: I 'fixed' this by adding an extended spacer (a plastic wall anchor and a flat washer) to move to string further back to keep the end of the flat winding between the nut and tuning shaft. If I ever get a gotoh 206 or other string thru body optional bridge, it may take care of my goofy method of dealing with this particular string length issue. FWIW, my 'string thru body' bass has more sustain than my other 2 non 'STB' strung basses., but that's not a true a/b comparison