Restringing through bridge vs through body

[JonnyBGood]

Hi all

My Marcus Miller V3 has the option of restringing through the body (holes in the back) vs holes in the rear bridge plate. Oddly the website doesn't say what the difference is or why you might choose a specific way.

Is there a difference?

Jon

[Maude]

It'll make all the difference in the world and absolutely none at all, depending on who you speak to. 

 

[jrixn1]

The only thing to say for sure is that some heavy-gauge flats shouldn't be strung through the body, as the break angle will be too great.

Otherwise - some people say it makes a difference, others will then disagree.  It's a perennial debate, in the same vein as whether tonewoods or high-mass bridges make a difference.
 

[Beedster]

11 minutes ago, Maude said:

It'll make all the difference in the world and absolutely none at all, depending on who you speak to. 

 

That’s the truth if it!

Perhaps slightly more help, I’ve had some basses on which it appeared to make a difference, and some in which it didn’t.

Only one way to find out..............

[AndyTravis]

I did a restring and tweak for a guy once, he asked for E/A to be strung through body and d/g through bridge - think it was a fender.

He said it sounded best like that.

it was a nice enough bass.

When he came to collect...I don’t know what difference it made as he played it like he was trying to snap the bass in half.

Then again, I owned a Lull 5 and the B was string through body, and the e-g were top load.

So there must be something in it if Mr Lull said so...

[Lozz196]

On my Fender Precisions that have both options I’ve found that the string tension seems to be more when through the body. But I don’t know if that’s in general for all basses, or even for all Precisions, just my ones. And even then I’ve only tried it on 2 of them. It was with the same strings I should add, couldn’t be objective if a different set.

[chris_b]

I've tried stringing through the body with an old Precision and a Lakland and I didn't notice a difference to the sound of either bass. 

[JonnyBGood]

Ah OK, one of *those* issues 🙂

Thanks

[Geek99]

I demand popcorn 🍿 right now ... and the best seat in the house to watch the fur flying over this one.
 

You should probably ask about why no one talks about Rickenbackers next ...

[Trueno]

The last Jazz bass I had... the ferrules were a bit loose and tended to fall out. I found that through body stringing stopped that happening.

[BigRedX]

The only way to be sure is to try it for yourself on your bass.

[Beedster]

6 minutes ago, Trueno said:

The last Jazz bass I had... the ferrules were a bit loose and tended to fall out. I found that through body stringing stopped that happening.

There can be no better argument for it