Strings thru body bass

V

virtual.ray

New member
The other day I played on a bass called the Fender Precision Deluxe Lyte and I was impressed by the snappy,articulate sound it had with great sustain.When I put it down to try out something else,I noticed on the back that the strings go through the body.This got me wondering if doing a mod on my Ibanez 5 string to put the strings through the body,or perhaps just the B string,would yeild a similar improvement.I checked the bridge on the Ibanez,and just like the Fender's it has holes in it to allow the strings to go through the body.Does anyone have any judgement on how much,if any,improvement I could hope to realize,and roughly how much a good tech would charge to do it? I'm pretty happy with the sound of the 1st 4 strings on the Ibanez (SR885),but there's a real difference in the sound of the low B compared to the others.and I've read that putting the strings through the body yields about the same result as having a 35" scale 'cause the effective length of the string increases compared to attaching it to the bridge.
 
Maybe its me being dense........

I'm not convinced that thru-body stringing will result in an effective increase in scale lenght. I was under the impression the scale was the "speaking" length of the string i.e nut to the bridge saddle. Even if the strings are fixed through the body wont the scale length be the same? I could be wrong.

I will agree that a low B doesnt match up to the other 4 strings, at least it seems to happen with my Bass Collection 5 string anyway.
 
I have found that some 5 strings just dont sound good period. My understanding is that it is due to issues like scale, pickups, action, etc..

String through the body will make a difference to sustain and so will a neck trough bass versus a bolt on. A lot of manufacturers use pickups that arent quite up to spec for a low b.
 
Tension and stress

Thanks for your input.I'm already pretty sure that a 35" scale 5 string would be better,but I really don't want to buy another bass at the moment.I'm going to try putting some taper wound strings on the Ibanez,I've talked to a tech who told be that it will be an improvement on my particular bass.He also said that although putting the strings through the body isn't exactly the same as having a longer scale,it will improve the tension on the B string and make it feel more like the other four.
 
Fathead/finger

In my ongoing quest for cost effective better bass tone,I have come upon a little device called the "Fatfinger" which essentially a U shaped piece of bell brass that you hang on the headstock of your guitar/bass to increase the mass of that end of the instrument.The goal is to alleviate dead notes and increase sustain.I tried it on my bass and did notice a difference.Not a night and day difference,but it does seem to improve articulation and general tone,and it's only $19.95.They also make the "Fathead" which fits the form of the back of the headstock,held in place by the tuners,but stock models are only for strats/P=basses although they will make a custom one from a photo.But the Fatfinger is more easily removed so one could put it on other instruments as the need arises.
 
Taper wound B

I got a set of Warwick strings 'cause they have a taper wound low B,and at first when I put them on they sounded quite clangy and buzzed a bit,but now,4 days later,they've settled down and they sound very good on my bass (Ibanez SR885).The low B definetely sounds a lot better than the normal wound string I had on there,so I guess this is one way to solve the anemic B string problem on 34" 5 string basses.Also since I started this thread I've played on several other baases including the John Pattatucci signature Yamaha 6 string,and I was surprised to learn that it has a 34" scale as do several other basses that sell for well over $1000.I also tried the Yamaha RBX6 JM which is a 35" 6 string and I liked it a lot.It had a normal B string but on this bass it sounded good,so I guess there are good reasons to go to a longer scale.
 
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