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Old 05-24-2011, 11:01 AM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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The tapered part in not long enough for thru-body stringing, period. I don't know why companies bother with this design thru the body. The near 90 degree angle break is not good for any string and the sound difference however sight it may be I think is out weighed by its inconvenience. Maybe if the body was made out of something 2x as hard and thru the body at a lesser angle it might help vibrate the instrument but with the softer woods they use, it's just a waste of material if you ask me. Some older thru-body designed basses/bridges allowed you to string it either way, thru or straight which was a good thing.

Sorry for the long answer but I get this question fairly often. The Taper is designed to just barely clear the saddles. Making it longer for thru-body would be too long for everything else. I think the thru-body is an idea/invention to compensate for some other flaw in the making of the bass. No need to ruin good strings over a bad design. Just use regular strings as it was designed for and restricted to a well, Sorry.
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