It's mostly cosmetic... some luthiers believe that it does have a small effect on the sustain of the guitar and also how quickly the strings wear... Sharper string angles on the bridge usually offer more stability but wear the string down faster at that point and can make strings go "sour" much faster and eve break... Mosly I would look at the way other guitar companies are doing it. Schecter for instance is known for it's good sounding guitars in a lower price range... they use a staggered through-body.