I have a Fender Precision American Standard from '97-'98 with thru-body stringing.
I foolishly assumed that this meant I had the option to do this if I wanted. When I put new strings on it when I acquired it, I strung them through as it seemed like the natural thing to do, and didn't pay much attention to the bridge.
I've just bought a set of Lakland flats, and it says on the packet not to string through the body as this can cause flats to crack.
Two questions:
1) is this likely? I had Fender flats on it for a year and no problems of cracking etc
2) why wouldn't the bridge allow normal stringing? Seems daft to me.
Okay, three questions:
3) is there a replacement bridge that would allow through body and normal stringing?