One of my main problems which i should have pointed out is that i'm in New Zealand so shipping will be alost as much as the bass itself.
I've done a wee bit of research on thomann basses and the feedback seems to be good on them but nothing in particular on the lefty models.Talkbass has a few good threads on the thomann basses most of them seemed to be positive. them From what i gather it is more than likely a Gewa bass which is parts from China but Assembled in Germany or possibly a Strunel.
My luthier had this to say about conversions
Quote:
You will need to buy a upright bass with a round fingerboard to avoid the extra cost of converting a fingerboard from bevelled to round - say $200-$300 depending on the quality of ebony/hardwood used and therefore the time to do the work. Poor wood takes longer.
The actual conversion can take two very different forms:
A. The basic conversion: (A plywood bass would be fine for this conversion )
We would only change the bridge, so that the E string side is higher than the G string side - the fatter and lower-pitched the string, the more room it needs to vibrate. This will cost $450.00 plus an extra $125.00 if you want adjustable wheels in the legs to change the bridge height.
The total would therefore be $450-$575.
Notes
This conversion leaves the soundpost and the bassbar inside the instrument in its current, right-handed configuration. Normally the soundpost goes under the treble side of the bridge and the bassbar goes under the bass side, but this conversion reverses that relationship.
We have converted the odd violin this way, and the sound is still ok, but unfortunately we haven't done enough conversions to say how different it tends to be from the sound with the right-handed set up. I suspect it varies from instrument to instrument anyway - some instruments are very reactive and others seem less bothered by changes.
B. The full conversion (You would need to buy a solid wood bass to do this conversion).
We would take the belly off, remove the existing bassbar and fit a new one on the new bass side. We then reassemble the instrument and fit a soundpost on the new treble side. This will be very expensive.
The time taken the belly off a bass can vary, depending on the wood and the glue used. It can take between three and six hours, at a cost of $225-$450.
Fitting and shaping the new bassbar would cost at least $750. We can supply the wood for c.$75, but it’s Sitka spruce, not European spruce. Sitka has a slightly brighter sound.
The reassembly would be $75-$150, depending on how stable the belly is – some bellies and ribs twist a lot when they’re separated and it’s hard work to get them to line up again.
Fitting the new soundpost, including the part, is $165
This sub-total would be $1250-1665.
You will need the new bridge as well, as detailed under A..
The full total cost of B. would be $1700-$2250.
C. Machine heads
You might also want to see how the machine heads on a standard bass feel when you play it, as they are aligned to suit a right handed person. So the E machine head is lower than the G one. It might dig into your shoulder or neck, depending on how tall you are and how you want to holed the bass.
Converting these over would be another big cost, as we would have to bush (fill with wood) the existing shaft holes in the head. Then we would need to re-drill these holes the other way round, and probably buy in some left hand machine heads.
I don’t have any idea what this would cost, but I can spend some time pricing it if this is an issue and you want us to do the work!
This would apply whether you do A. or B. but it will be a personal choice, not a given.
D. Other options
I spoke to our bass supplier, and he can bring in either a ply or a solid wood “Christopher” bass in a left hand construction. They would take about two months to arrive and you would need to pay a 50% deposit on the full price.
The freight costs will be more than the standard shipping costs, as it would be coming over as a one-off, rather than being in a bigger shipment.
The solid wood bass would be around $6500-$7000 depending on the freight cost – probably closer to the lower figure.
The plywood bass would be at least $3500, plus extra for the freight. We can’t know what this will be till it arrives.
The third option that i could look at would be an EUB. The Stagg is reasonably cheap here and although it's not an acoustic it does have some advantages mainly being the silent practice. Is an EUB a viable alternative to a acoustic or should it be treat as a completely different animal?
