Half-Thru and Half Bridge

supervaluemeal

New member
Hi guys!

The title refers to stringing either through-body or via bridge. The plan is to go Low E and A through body and the G & D into the bridge.

Anyone tried such a stringing method before? - Any recommendations/ observations?

This idea came about because my G and/or D cores kept snapping. I think the reason is due to the inability to handle the higher tension caused by thru body stringing (I can be wrong and If I am, pls correct me.) & rust. Because of this, I need to replace strings every 3 months.... which is taking a toll because each set is about ~$40 (I use cleartone).

Regards!
 
Do the strings keep snapping at the same spot? If they do, there might be a burr in the bridge (or wherever the snapping happens). If that's the case, go over that area with sandpaper and try to smooth out the burr. I did that for my electric guitar, but a similar thing may be happening in your bass.
 
It always breaks in between the neck and the bridge pick up. I asked a friend of mine and he said it's probably tension. Cuz I'm using a Lakland and my action is relatively lower than other basses. I'm not sure if thats 100% the case but yeah I'll check for sharp edges around the saddles!
 
I'm using a Warmoth 5-string Jazz that is strung through the body 99% of the time. That 1% occurred the last time I changed my strings - I changed the standard four strings (E, A, D and G) and put them through the body as I always do, then I intentionally shifted the old fifth string from through the body to through the bridge for a short performance where I played a few songs fingerstyle before "removing" the fifth string to slap cleanly on one song (I simply wrapped the old string around the headstock for that single slap song, and put it back on quickly after that song as my bridge is a quick-release type [Hipshot A]). Changed to the new fifth string when I got home that day (and had it put through the body to match the others).

Long story short, it felt as though stringing through the bridge had lesser sustain than stringing through the body (might've simply been the difference between the old and new strings though, or it might just be my ears), so I wouldn't recommend using two different methods of stringing on the same bass.

By the way, I change strings every 3-4 months as well, so I don't think you changing that often is necessarily a bad thing (though to be honest, I've never had a string snap on any of my basses).
 
I wouldn't string half one way and half the other. There's likely to a difference in the timbre of notes on the differently strung strings.
 
There are people who do that. Check out this video of Janek's girlfriend's Fbass BN6. The high C was strung differently to achieve a different sound. Starts at around 12min!

 
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