LeftyBassist.com

Hi lefty folks,

Just a light tongue in cheek post but with maybe a hint of potential...

Is there such a thing as a kind of Lefty Players Pressure Group?

Someone should maybe organize something like this and then we could pressure companies to start offering their models for left handed bassists.

Just a thought....

Happy hollidays all!!!

Starting with Sheldon Dingwall
Rumour has it there will be lefty Combustions and NG2's next year though. I might need me one of those...

Maybe folks on this thread can advise but I never understand why in this day and age of technology there are not more offerings for left handed instruments. As guitar and bass sales are sluggish I would think this is an easy win for them to pick up 10% of the market that has been ignored.

Example with CNC machines why only offer Jazz and P bass in limited colors, no maple necks? What are the limitations that large scale builders are struggling with?

Lastly why does Fender Japan offer more left handed models then Fender USA?

WORD!

I couldn't have said it better.

What are the costs and/or limitations for any builder/company of offering any model in lefty?

Ok, maybe you won't sell as many but just don't build the same volume and/or offer it on customer order only at the very least.

See my comments here regarding Epiphone:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8742

Well, found this on the Internet...

It's a response from Fender to someone asking the question about lefty models.

“ When we go to build our left handed guitars, the whole factory literally needs to be shut down and re-tooled. The machines that cut the bodies, necks, and pick guards all have to be reprogrammed to do so. Even some parts of those machines need to be changed.

Once they are built, they will go to our warehouse and if they are not sold right away, it costs us money to keep them on the shelf in the warehouse. In other words, it wouldn’t make financial sense to build “x” amount of guitars and have them sit on a shelf for “x” amount of time. We try to look at market demand and see what lefty players would use the most. “

Makes sense and yet, considering this, then why some companies like G&L offer almost all their models lefty? Don't they also have to shut down and re-tool?

It sounds like a difference in production processes perhaps influenced by scale. Fender is a much larger manufacturer, and may have a significantly different work flow. G&L, being much smaller, may find it easier to switch their process to lefty guitars/basses and back again. Kiesel is the same - smaller and offering everything lefty as well as rightly. I just tend to support the manufacturers that take care of us lefties - G&L and Kiesel/Carvin are my go tos for that reason.

I agree with you on that.
And why beg Fender while you can get a G&L??
I love my SB-2 and it was built with many more options than the ones offered by Fender.
If you want a Ferder(ish) still, you can get a Warmoth built with superb overall quality.
Still sad the fact that most manufacturers don't care about it.

And yet, at the end of the day, A generic black or sunburst Fender will always command more resale value.... sad, in a way...

I heard that being left handed is a more common trait in Japanese people so the guitar market in Japan has more left handed customers.

The one thing I don't get why companies like Fender don't do is offer a "color of the year" option like Rickenbacker used to, to lefties. That way different finishes could get into the market without Fender needing to make long term commitments to specific finishes. Offer the black and sunburst as staples but do something else each year unseen in the lefty market.

I do often think about how much of the instrument needs to be handed.

Taking the Fender classics Jazz & Precision...

The neck is a separate part, it does not need to be handed!
If the side dots were printed on both sides, I for one wouldn't mind if the tuners were on the top or bottom edge (looks kind of cool "to the floor" and some righties guitars have been designed that way). I'm not aware of any tonal problems with strings going on the reverse order of tuners. The nut is reversible as it is.
I'm aware of one supplier of replacement necks who don't offer left handed - they don't need to. They are paddle headstocks (for you to shape) and they have the dots on both edges. Not suggest that left handed guitars should be supplied unfinished, just that necks don't have to be made fixed for a particular handedness.
http://edenguitars.com/bass-necks/
That said, I have as many left handed guitars & basses as I do righties that I hang upside down. I can't say the absence of side dots on the latter stop me playing any, but they are nice to have.

Only the body/scratch plates need to be handed. Scratch pates are something that I for one don't want and they don't have to be fitted.

The bridge already works the same either way,

Reverse action anti-log controls on left handed guitars is an unnecessary expense. I don't want them at all. Clockwise=more is surely something even the most left-handed can handle? Wiring normal log controls to work backwards for left handers is too stupid for words.

Control plates might need to be handed, although if the Telecaster type was adopted it's unnecessary. If handed, both sides could be finished to simply flip either way. For my taste, control pates are not needed if the control routing is from the back. If shaped thoughtfully, the same cover plate can be used on either side.

Even if I build thru neck basses, only the body wings need to be made different.

If manufacturers think left handed production is too expensive, maybe they need to think about how they make the right handers first with a view to making it easier to produce left handed versions?