left dilemma

mongoose · April 25th, 2008, 09:37 PM

I am a lefty and I find it pretty hard to find teles anywhere. I found this one on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Standard-...QQcmdZViewItem

personally I would want any finish but black or sunburst, because my strat is black and my lp is burst. I've been looking for months and never see anything. Should I pounce on this one if it sticks below 350 even though I'm not crazy about the finish or should I just wait and keep looking?

On a side note, if I was to get a luthier to build me a lefty with similar specs to a mim standard, what would a ball park price be? I suppose this might be difficult to answer but if any of you builders sell could you send me an estimate of what I should be looking at when asking around my city?

Also would there be a big jump in price between a custom thinline and a full body?

Thanks,

Jellecaster · April 25th, 2008, 09:57 PM

Have you checked Southpaw Guitars? (click)

straightface · April 25th, 2008, 10:47 PM

If you're a lefty you can have any color you want as long as its black or burst.

Not sure what you have to spend on a custom build, but check out these guys.

http://www.ricecustomguitars.com

Brendan · April 25th, 2008, 11:23 PM

Lefty here who rolls his own. Keep looking. If I were going to go for a budget lefty tele, I would give serious consideration to the cream Agile telecaster that is selling for $199 + shipping. You may not like the headstock, but it's a solid Korean-made guitar and Kurt has a very lenient return policy.
http://www.rondomusic.com/tc630creamleft.html
Don't like the headstock? A typical tele replacement neck should have a 2 3/16 heel, but I believe that Agile has a 2 1/4" neck pocket. No problem getting a tele neck from Musikraft neck ordered up with the 2 1/4" heel for about $195. Your choice of radius, frets, fretboard material, profile, etc. Sell off the Agile neck to fund some nice tuners. You're into it for about $450. If the pickups aren't to your liking, Mexi classic pickups can be had for about $25 a pop.
If you had a luthier assemble manufactured and painted parts ( from Warmoth , for example), you would probably be around $900 in parts plus an assembly fee.
If I wanted to build a custom tele with as little difficulty as possible, I personally would choose a thinline mahogany body from Warmoth ( 257 ish) and one of their necks ( 157) and spring the extra $20 to let them cut the nut. Their bodies and necks are already drilled to match. Easy. Painting is the most difficult, time consuming part and I feel that mahogany looks good with some of the wipe-on finish options and looks nice with the open grain. For the neck finish, wipe-on poly or tru-oil works great. Check the reranch forums for some nice examples of tru-oil neck finishes. Your biggest obstacle would probably be soldering the electronics. There's LOTS of online tutorials to teach you how and I believe one of our TDPRI'ers has a great DVD tutorial available. You could probably do that for about $700 if you are a thrifty shopper. Not the cheapest, but this would be a mahogany thinline.

BarryH · April 26th, 2008, 05:12 AM

Mongoose, you open your thread with the statement "I'm a lefty"

Sounds like you're at an AA meeting, "My name's Bill and I'm a alchoholic"

Nothing wrong with being a lefty, apart from it being a nightmare getting a fair choice of guitars, a wide range of finishes and finding a tech who is as good at setting up a lefty guitar as good as he can set up a righty.

You need to open your posts with "I'm a lefty and proud of it".

Barry

Trimac20 · April 26th, 2008, 07:43 AM

I'm a lefty too...been there, done that! On the surface, yes, it appears the range is very limited - and indeed it is compared to righties - but thank god for Warmoth, US Custom.etc - while I've never bought from there (I was very close to) I hear very good things about them. I did buy a Mighty mite body and painted it and built a Tele out of the spare MIM parts I had. It's a sonic blue sort of colour and the action is really nice...if you're interested I've got pics...I actually really like it but I've already got too many Tele's!

I was heartened to see now you can get a US lefty Tele in 'Blizzard Pearl' instead of only black and suburst (talk about boring!), you can also get lefties from Fender Japan - although not sure about the availability nowadays. With the MIM's you've got pretty basic, stock colours like black, electron blue (not even white!! anymore). We lefties should all send in a petition to Fender to stop his southpaw prejudice (lol, just ranting)...although I do admit Fender are one of the better manufacturers when it comes to providing for us, but still a long way to...

91xlntS-3 · April 26th, 2008, 08:26 AM

Mongoose, Here are a couple of other places to check for used guitars

www.guitarcenter.com click on the Used Gear button

www.musicgoround.com I've found some better deals here than on E-Bay!

www.gbase.com Lots of stuff available, but sometimes pricey.

www.craigslist.com Haven't used this much myself, but others have had good luck.

If you want to try to put one together yourself, take a look at JC's Guitars, an E-Bay seller, my left handed rythm player just ordered a very nice Mighty Mite Lefty Tele neck for his MIM Standard Tele and loves it!

Good Luck!

Ronkirn · April 26th, 2008, 09:39 AM

Somebody say Lefties???

Ron Kirn

91xlntS-3 · April 26th, 2008, 11:05 AM

Just a note, there is a Sunburst MIM Std. Tele ($299) and a MIJ 60's Reissue CAR? ($899) both Lefties, at Guitarcenter.com on the Used Gear Pages.

The MIM Stds seem to be holding their value, as most used go for close to new prices. Hope this helps!

91xlntS-3 · April 26th, 2008, 11:17 AM

Must have too much time on my hands, but hey, if it helps a guy out...

Musiciansfriend.com shows they have Lefty MIM Stds In Stock in the following colors:

Black, Sunburst, Electron Blue, Midnight Wine and Chrome Red. These come with the gig bag also. Free shipping. So, if a used one goes for over $300.00, I'd say you'd be just as well to get a new one, just my opinion, tho.

mongoose · April 26th, 2008, 11:33 AM

you guys are amazing, thank you.

I love the idea of a thinline, just the assembly of it has me nervous.

I've got some research to do now, thanks again everyone.

57'nholdin · June 2nd, 2008, 01:32 PM

Hi Ron,

I know this is an old post, but could you please tell me where you got the thinline left-handed pickguards from?

April 25th, 2008, 09:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
mongoose TDPRI Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 64	left dilemma I am a lefty and I find it pretty hard to find teles anywhere. I found this one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Standard-...QQcmdZViewItem personally I would want any finish but black or sunburst, because my strat is black and my lp is burst. I've been looking for months and never see anything. Should I pounce on this one if it sticks below 350 even though I'm not crazy about the finish or should I just wait and keep looking? On a side note, if I was to get a luthier to build me a lefty with similar specs to a mim standard, what would a ball park price be? I suppose this might be difficult to answer but if any of you builders sell could you send me an estimate of what I should be looking at when asking around my city? Also would there be a big jump in price between a custom thinline and a full body? Thanks, __________________ Tokai Love Rock Yamaha F-310 TBS Zoom 505II Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box Randall RX50 LEFTY

April 25th, 2008, 09:57 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jellecaster Friend of Leo's Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New Hampshire, USA Age: 40 Posts: 2,146	Have you checked Southpaw Guitars? (click) __________________ It was born at the junction of form and function...

April 25th, 2008, 10:47 PM	#3 (permalink)
straightface Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: MA Posts: 886	If you're a lefty you can have any color you want as long as its black or burst. Not sure what you have to spend on a custom build, but check out these guys. http://www.ricecustomguitars.com __________________ At the end of time, all that will remain is Keith Richards, a Fender Telecaster, a bunch of cockroaches, and roots rock music. With nobody left to categorize it for, I bet Keef’ll just call it rock and roll… -Brian Henneman of The Bottle Rockets

April 26th, 2008, 09:39 AM	#8 (permalink)
Ronkirn Friend of Leo's Join Date: May 2003 Location: Jacksonville, FL Age: 62 Posts: 2,745	Somebody say Lefties??? Ron Kirn __________________ A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. – Thomas Jefferson Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! -Pericles (430 B.C.)

April 26th, 2008, 11:33 AM	#11 (permalink)
mongoose TDPRI Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 64	you guys are amazing, thank you. I love the idea of a thinline, just the assembly of it has me nervous. I've got some research to do now, thanks again everyone. __________________ Tokai Love Rock Yamaha F-310 TBS Zoom 505II Danelectro Free Speech Talk Box Randall RX50 LEFTY

April 25th, 2008, 11:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
Brendan Tele-Meister Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 306	Lefty here who rolls his own. Keep looking. If I were going to go for a budget lefty tele, I would give serious consideration to the cream Agile telecaster that is selling for $199 + shipping. You may not like the headstock, but it's a solid Korean-made guitar and Kurt has a very lenient return policy. http://www.rondomusic.com/tc630creamleft.html Don't like the headstock? A typical tele replacement neck should have a 2 3/16 heel, but I believe that Agile has a 2 1/4" neck pocket. No problem getting a tele neck from Musikraft neck ordered up with the 2 1/4" heel for about $195. Your choice of radius, frets, fretboard material, profile, etc. Sell off the Agile neck to fund some nice tuners. You're into it for about $450. If the pickups aren't to your liking, Mexi classic pickups can be had for about $25 a pop. If you had a luthier assemble manufactured and painted parts ( from Warmoth , for example), you would probably be around $900 in parts plus an assembly fee. If I wanted to build a custom tele with as little difficulty as possible, I personally would choose a thinline mahogany body from Warmoth ( 257 ish) and one of their necks ( 157) and spring the extra $20 to let them cut the nut. Their bodies and necks are already drilled to match. Easy. Painting is the most difficult, time consuming part and I feel that mahogany looks good with some of the wipe-on finish options and looks nice with the open grain. For the neck finish, wipe-on poly or tru-oil works great. Check the reranch forums for some nice examples of tru-oil neck finishes. Your biggest obstacle would probably be soldering the electronics. There's LOTS of online tutorials to teach you how and I believe one of our TDPRI'ers has a great DVD tutorial available. You could probably do that for about $700 if you are a thrifty shopper. Not the cheapest, but this would be a mahogany thinline.

April 26th, 2008, 05:12 AM	#5 (permalink)
BarryH TDPRI Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Derbyshire UK Posts: 38	Mongoose, you open your thread with the statement "I'm a lefty" Sounds like you're at an AA meeting, "My name's Bill and I'm a alchoholic" Nothing wrong with being a lefty, apart from it being a nightmare getting a fair choice of guitars, a wide range of finishes and finding a tech who is as good at setting up a lefty guitar as good as he can set up a righty. You need to open your posts with "I'm a lefty and proud of it". Barry

April 26th, 2008, 07:43 AM	#6 (permalink)
Trimac20 Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Perth, WA, Australia Age: 22 Posts: 238	I'm a lefty too...been there, done that! On the surface, yes, it appears the range is very limited - and indeed it is compared to righties - but thank god for Warmoth, US Custom.etc - while I've never bought from there (I was very close to) I hear very good things about them. I did buy a Mighty mite body and painted it and built a Tele out of the spare MIM parts I had. It's a sonic blue sort of colour and the action is really nice...if you're interested I've got pics...I actually really like it but I've already got too many Tele's! I was heartened to see now you can get a US lefty Tele in 'Blizzard Pearl' instead of only black and suburst (talk about boring!), you can also get lefties from Fender Japan - although not sure about the availability nowadays. With the MIM's you've got pretty basic, stock colours like black, electron blue (not even white!! anymore). We lefties should all send in a petition to Fender to stop his southpaw prejudice (lol, just ranting)...although I do admit Fender are one of the better manufacturers when it comes to providing for us, but still a long way to...

April 26th, 2008, 08:26 AM	#7 (permalink)
91xlntS-3 Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 729	Mongoose, Here are a couple of other places to check for used guitars www.guitarcenter.com click on the Used Gear button www.musicgoround.com I've found some better deals here than on E-Bay! www.gbase.com Lots of stuff available, but sometimes pricey. www.craigslist.com Haven't used this much myself, but others have had good luck. If you want to try to put one together yourself, take a look at JC's Guitars, an E-Bay seller, my left handed rythm player just ordered a very nice Mighty Mite Lefty Tele neck for his MIM Standard Tele and loves it! Good Luck!

April 26th, 2008, 11:05 AM	#9 (permalink)
91xlntS-3 Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 729	Just a note, there is a Sunburst MIM Std. Tele ($299) and a MIJ 60's Reissue CAR? ($899) both Lefties, at Guitarcenter.com on the Used Gear Pages. The MIM Stds seem to be holding their value, as most used go for close to new prices. Hope this helps!

April 26th, 2008, 11:17 AM	#10 (permalink)
91xlntS-3 Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 729	Must have too much time on my hands, but hey, if it helps a guy out... Musiciansfriend.com shows they have Lefty MIM Stds In Stock in the following colors: Black, Sunburst, Electron Blue, Midnight Wine and Chrome Red. These come with the gig bag also. Free shipping. So, if a used one goes for over $300.00, I'd say you'd be just as well to get a new one, just my opinion, tho.

June 2nd, 2008, 01:32 PM	#12 (permalink)
57'nholdin TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: new rochelle, ny Age: 57 Posts: 10	Hi Ron, I know this is an old post, but could you please tell me where you got the thinline left-handed pickguards from?