Us Poor Lefties

[Jimi Boka]

Us poor, poor lefties!
I did a search on Reverb for “Fender Masterbuilt guitars”. Great guitars but of the 647 guitars, 2 were lefties!
Another search for “Fender custom shop guitars” had 6800 guitars with 82 lefties.
Maybe I’d like to buy one or just dream a little but it would be nice to see more lefties.
And darn it, we have to pay a lefty fee to have one made by Fender!
Just venting a little. I feel better now.

 

[johmica]

Us poor, poor lefties!
I did a search on Reverb for “Fender Masterbuilt guitars”. Great guitars but of the 647 guitars, 2 were lefties!
Another search for “Fender custom shop guitars” had 6800 guitars with 82 lefties.
Maybe I’d like to buy one or just dream a little but it would be nice to see more lefties.
And darn it, we have to pay a lefty fee to have one made by Fender!
Just venting a little. I feel better now.

I've been building a lot of partscasters over the last few years, and since the Great Plague, you can't even get lefty licensed Fender parts!!!! I don't get it. I know that they're making licensed Fender bridges, for example, because they're putting out the AV II teles. But good luck finding an aftermarket vintage-style Fender bridge.

 

[Swirling Snow]

Twenty years ago, when I was selling guitars, industry figures indicated only about 3% of the guitars sold were lefties.

I know that kept a lot of stores from stocking left-handed guitars because people were always amazed (and grateful) we had them.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I've built guitars for left handed friends and converted a few others. Here is an ES335 style that I built for a player in Vienna Austria

And an OM style acoustic for a young lady who had lost hers in a house fire

Depending on the type of bridge conversions aren't that difficult, building lefty from scratch is more straightforward.

The big problem as you say in the OP is finding lefty guitars to try before buying, can't really help there.

 

[Peegoo]

Twenty years ago, when I was selling guitars, industry figures indicated only about 3% of the guitars sold were lefties.

Demand has exponentially increased since then; two years ago it was at a blistering 4%. The big-name makers are just not that interested in putting out lefties unless by special order from dealers.

I know four lefties who play guitar and bass righty simply because it expands their choices in the market.

 

[johmica]

Epiphone has really stepped up their game. Ten years ago, you couldn't find an Epi Casino left-handed, and when you did, you'd pay $1k + for a used one. Now, most of their models are offered left-handed.

 

[dougbgt6]

I have a good news lefty story.

I Regularly scan Anderton's web site for ANYTHING left handed and spotted a Taylor 110E acoustic. Over a month the price dropped from £849 to £649, what was wrong with it? I had to go try it, unfortunatly one chord and I was hooked, had to have it!

I got it home, registered it on the Taylor site and discovered that it had been made 18 months previously. It had been sitting in Anderton's all this time. And there you have it, retailers get anxious about turning over stock.

I'm just waiting for Anderton's only LH Fender Pro II Telecaster to get a little older.

Doug

 

[scotabilly]

Part of the problem with lefty guitars is lefty guitar players, or should I say owners. Years ago, on the Fender Forum, there was a lefty subforum. They used to go on and on about the guitars Fender and other brands should build. They’d complain about the lack of color choices, at the time limited to black, white and sunburst. A poll revealed that the loudest complainers never bought any of the available “fun” colors available anyway.
But Fender has responded, color-wise. Not Squier, they’ve tightened up and took away color choices and don’t offer almost any left handed models. The 90’s were the golden age for Squier and Fender Japan in terms of color choices and different models.

 

[Trenchant63]

My wife when someone says “I’m left handed”. She always asks :”Are you creative, a musician, or good at math?”

 

[Highway 49]

I’d have thought the great benefit of being a left-handed guitarist would be you can just turn your right-handed Strat or SG up the other way, and you’re sorted - nothing looks as good as a Strat played upside down.
But few things look as bad as a left-handed Tele or Les Paul. And few things look as confused as the Jimi Hendrix Strat that is right handed but upside down at the same time. And left-handed guitars turned the other way up for right-handed people - I guess they’re just for people in Jimi Hendrix tribute bands.
We do overcomplicate things sometimes.

 

[Bob Womack]

I wonder how many left-handed amps there are?

I'm a lefty who plays righty.

Bob

 

[Harmonic]

There is a musician that is left handed and plays a right handed guitar but upside down and left handed. I forget his name. It turns the guitar into a different instrument. Bending strings is different. Different sound.

 

[TigerG]

As a lefty who came up playing guitar in the 70's, the wide array of lefty guitars available in the internet age simply dazzles me.
I feel sorry for righties. With the absurd amount of choices they have, how do they ever decide?

 

[arlum]

Most of the lefty guitarists I know choose to buy and adapt to using right handed guitars. From what they tell me it's harder for the first six months or so but then becomes much easier. One thing I've noticed is the way their picking hand seems to adapt to multiple styles with little or no issues. Hybrid, chicken picken or whatever.

 

[Wrong handed]

We definitely don't have as many options as right-handed guitar players, but there is still enough variety. The comparison with right-handed guitars isn't a good one, since there is an overproduction on that side.

If you're looking for specific models, some are really hard to find, which I think shouldn't be the case. A Fender Telecaster with a humbucker in the neck position from the factory is only available through the Custom Shop, even though ALL standard U.S. and Mexican Telecasters are already routed for humbuckers. Some Gretsch models are nearly impossible to find and were made in very small numbers. Proper archtops (solid woods), guitars with different pickups, or acoustic guitars with unusual wood combinations are hard to find. But those guitars are inherently expensive anyway, so getting a Custom Shop model isn't such a big difference.

I have no affiliation with these stores, but they offer a good variety (USA-based only):

https://www.adkguitar.com/collections/left-handed
https://southpawguitars.com/ (check their used Custom left-handed Strats right now, great prices)
http://www.leftyvintageguitars.com/
https://leftyguitarsonly.com/ (really good selection)

I'm still looking for an unmodified left-handed White Penguin with the G Cadillac tailpiece. But aside from that, I can find any other guitar I want. I don't like the prices, but I can find them.

 

[Peegoo]

 

[hemingway]

And I here I thought we were in for a lively political and economic debate.

Disappointing.

 

[bumnote]

You guys have my sympathy. The couple of left handed guitarists I knew eventually just went the partscaster route or bit the bullet of the extra cost and time of finding a leftie where they didn't have to make compromises.
I'd like to think this is the result of him getting pissed off, followed by him walking into the barn with a handsaw.

 

[tery]

Supply & demand.

 

[Peegoo]

There is a musician that is left handed and plays a right handed guitar but upside down and left handed. I forget his name. It turns the guitar into a different instrument. Bending strings is different. Different sound.

There have been a bunch of big name players that played reverse-strung. Albert King, Doyle Bramhall Jr., and Eric Gales are three that come to mind.