Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats Through The Body?

[thebrig]

I've been using Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwound Super Slinky 45-100 strings for a few years now and love the slightly brighter tone and feel of them.

I string them from the bridge but was wondering if anyone uses them strung through the body, and if so, have you had any issues?

I've read that stringing them through the body can cause problems, especially where it bends over the saddle and in some cases causing the string to break, or they go dull or dead much quicker.

[ezbass]

I’d be interested in this also.

[mcnach]

What differences do you find, in sound or feel, between top or strung-through-body?

I've owned a number of basses and guitars that give me the option but I never bothered with it, except many many many years ago on a Telecaster guitar, and I could not be sure I noticed anything... but that was my only experience, and zero with basses. Curious whether I should try some time.

[thebrig]

14 hours ago, mcnach said:

What differences do you find, in sound or feel, between top or strung-through-body?

I've owned a number of basses and guitars that give me the option but I never bothered with it, except many many many years ago on a Telecaster guitar, and I could not be sure I noticed anything... but that was my only experience, and zero with basses. Curious whether I should try some time.

I used to string-through when I was using rounds and if I'm honest, I don't think I could hear any difference in sound, and definitely no difference in feel.

To me, stringing through the body seems more secure than stringing from the bridge, and if I can do so with flats without any issues, then I probably will.

[fretmeister]

Don't know about EB flats, but some others like Rotos and La Bella have advice to not use through body stringing with them.

I wouldn't risk it - flats are expensive!

Mind you, I can't hear a difference in top and through anyway.

[jrixn1]

2 hours ago, thebrig said:

To me, stringing through the body seems more secure than stringing from the bridge, 

What is your security concern about going through the bridge?  The chance of damaging the string through an extreme break angle when going through the body is very real, but the possibility of the bridge being ripped off when stringing through the bridge is very unlikely.

[pineweasel]

I've had no problems stringing Chromes, Dunlops and TIs through body. Not tried Cobalts though.

[Dan Dare]

51 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

What is your security concern about going through the bridge?  The chance of damaging the string through an extreme break angle when going through the body is very real, but the possibility of the bridge being ripped off when stringing through the bridge is very unlikely.

This. If you're worried, check the tightness of the bridge retaining screws. I've never been able to hear any difference bet3ween through body and top loaded. Seems pointless to risk breaking expensive strings.

[ezbass]

My interest is for a Mustang, which is rear loading only (I think). The JMJ comes with Fender flats as standard so, apparently, no problem there. However, I use cobalts on my Maruszczyks and like them very much, therefore, I might want to try them on a Mustang (when I finally acquire one). I also own a Rob Allen that comes with LaBella flat, nylons. These are definitely rear load only and I haven’t had any issues with the acoustic type bridge causing splitting or unraveling. A ‘normal’, electric bridge might be another question altogether.

With regard to the difference in tone or tension, I had a Roscoe Beck signature that allowed for either top or rear loading. I tried both and couldn’t feel or hear a discernible difference. I eventually had it loaded E&A rear, D&G top - I don’t know why.

[jrixn1]

It's a good point that not all through-body are at the same angle.  It also depends on where the saddles are in relation to the string body hole.  On one bass I've owned, once intonated the saddles were almost on top of the string holes, so the break angle would be almost 90'; but I could imagine with a different design the string holes could be further back.

[thebrig]

I think after all the comments and advice, I will probably stick with just stringing from the bridge, because by my own admission, I can't notice any difference anyway, so why try and fix what is not broke? 🤔

[drTStingray]

Ive had TI flats on my strings through body bridge Stingray for a few years - absolutely no problem whatsoever. 

I wouldn't have thought the Cobalt flats would present a problem - I have them on a fretless Stingray but that is top strung through the bridge. 

The strings through body bridge on the Stingray increases sustain significantly (with roundwounds) - not sure with flats as they, by their nature are more thumpy and tend to sustain less. 

Im not surprised Rotos don't advise stringing through the body - I once put some on a Stingray 5 - they had far too high tension for my liking - felt like you needed to be a champion arm wrestler to play the bass - they were soon replaced - a relatively expensive experiment that didn't work.... 

Edited February 1, 2021 by drTStingray

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I have never had any problems with stringing flats thru the body, and I have never heard of any cases of strings breaking when doing so. I've seen/heard warnings about this and also about not using long scale flats on short scale basses, but Fender puts long scale Fender flats on the JMJ with no issues - and they feel & sound pretty good to me.

I have also used LaBella flats and TI flats on my other mustang without any issues. The only basses I have used cobalt flats on are my thunderbirds, but if I wanted to try them on a mustang I wouldn't hesitate to put a set on.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Pickguard