LeftyBassist.com

Is there anyone on the board who owns a lefty upright and can share some insight?

Most of the styles of music I like and tend to play seem better fit for upright bass. I have been attracted to the doghouse for awhile but there is almost nothing available for us lefties.

Does anyone know about those Englehart Leftys you can see on a few sites? Is there anything else available? What is your experience like?

I own one, an Engelhardt EC-1 (I think that's the model number), the cheaper one. The shop I bought it from had stripped the black finish off the fretboard to reveal the rosewood, changed the strings from the stock ones to I don't know what and installed an adjustable bridge. I was told that they had deeper sounding strings but their choice was a louder set, it sounds pretty good to me. It is loud but I need to get a pickup for it, it wouldn't keep up with electric instruments. I don't play it very much but now that I'm moving to Tennessee who knows?

Here's a picture of it...

I have a 15 year old "normal" Englehart bass that I bought new in the mid 1990's and had converted to lefty (refiled the nut and bought a new bridge). I didn't have the sound post and bar reversed on the advice of several players as the Engleharts are plywood not carved solid tops($$$$$$$$). I found getting the right action set up and string choice made a huge difference along with the electronics. I rarely use a bow and nearly always use a small amp. I have found that there are a good number of righty Engeharts available used at decent prices if you live near a relatively large city - shipping is a challenge.

There is a ton of good info at Talkbass in the DoubleBass forum: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=44

Good luck!

Thank you guys for those great informations! I once talk to a Upright/Cello maker about converting a righty to a lefty the way you did it and he seemed horrified by my suggestion. Those guys can be pretty high-brow!

There are a few companies out there who will make lefties on special order, including Engelhardt, Christopher, Chen, and Strunal, with Engelhardt being the most prevalent and readily available. I spoke to a Christopher rep at NAMM and he told me a lefty order would take 8-10 weeks. Two dealers that I know of who sell lefties or will offer righty conversion services are Upton Bass and Bob Golihur.

http://www.uptonbass.com/left-handed-upton-bass/

$500.00 conversion charge. Not bad, considering you can get any bass you want under this option. Normally I'd be opposed to a "flipped" righty, but on an upright since it's symmetrical and doesn't have any knobs or switches to get in the way, I think this is probably the best, most economical option.

http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/19 ... ASSES.html

I've seen some cheap $500 lefty Chinese made Uprights on ebay, but I'm assuming they're crap.

Some day I'll own an Englehardt Swingmaster. I LOVE the look of that blonde upright!

That's the one I had in mind -

I am not sure exactly what the "conversion to lefty" involves for an upright. There are a few interesting used righty uprights on Craigslist (Bay Area) including a nice 60' Kay for $1,900. The problem with upright basses is that for the price of an excellent new electric bass you can only buy a new entry level instrument. I think that "bbl" with also interested in an upright, I wonder if he got one eventually?

For conversion you'll need to do two to four things...

Necessary:
1.) Replace or recut the nut
2.) Replace or recut the bridge

Recommended:
3.) Switch sound post
4.) Switch bass bar

The sound post is on the treble-side and allows transferrance of upper registers vibrations to the back of the bass so they'll be louder and resonate better. Moving this around can alter the sound of the bass.

The bass bar runs vertically up and down the inside of the bass and adds stability to the body and bears the weight of the extra tension coming from the heavier strings.

You can get away with not doing 3 and 4, but your bass will sound much better if these are done.

3 is a pain in the ass, but relatively easy with the right tools and know-how.

4 is a HUGE undertaking and very expensive.

Also... when buying a right-handed upright, be sure to ask the seller if the fingerboard is beveled... the technical name is the Romberg Bevel. Many older upright basses have an angle between the E and A strings to give more room underneath the E string for vibration.

If the bass has this, successful conversion is unlikely.

I recommend buying a new lefty Englehardt... they're fine basses for the money, ESPECIALLY if you're just getting into it. It's worth it to pay a little extra for the better model as differences in tone woods and construction can vary quite a bit for just a little more money.

Hope that helps... I looked into this for a very long time. I recently worked at a music store and did a ton of research. Never pulled the trigger on one, but I still hope to pick one up someday.

Sorry it took me so long to post...

Good luck!

Thanks! You are very knowledgable! I obviously knew about step 1 and 2 but was totally ignorant of 3 and 4. I guess that is why Upton charges $500 for the conversion.

No problem...

$500 actually seems cheap, so I'm guessing they do 1 and 2, maybe 3, and definitely not 4.

A "decent" new bridge for an upright is like $200 by itself... and to switch the bass bar you actually have to remove the entire top of the bass, carefully heat up the glue... switch the bar... reattach the top... it's a total nightmare, from what I was told and VERY expensive. And picturing it in my head, I don't doubt that it is. One repair guy in SF that I talked to had only ever heard of someone doing this once, and it was a very hi-end bass to begin with, so it was "worth it" as custom made higer-ended lefty uprights can literally START at the $20K mark.

Seriously check into the Englehardt thing... for starting out, they seem like REALLY nice basses for the money.

Two more pieces of advice:

1.) Be willing to spend a 2-3 hundred bucks on a NICE and QUALITY set-up by a seasoned professional known for their expertise in stringed instruments. From what I understand, a good set-up can work WONDERS with tone and playability of the instrument which will only add to the overall experience for you as a new player.

2.) Don't skimp on electronics either... get the skinny on what your favorite upright players are using and go in that direction. There's nothing worse than cheap electronics in an upright, IMO.

One more thing... this is the website for the guy I talked to about having a bass built for me like 15 years ago...

http://www.acousticbassshop.com/

In all honesty, I remember him being an asshole... I even remember him saying, "Well, maybe you should have just started playing right handed and you wouldn't have these problems."

Maybe he's changed since then, but what a dick.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I was told that he's "the best" for like... the whole west coast.

I have no idea if that's true or not... but, you can call him and see for yourself.

I'm quoting myself here to say I was wrong for assuming that...

I finally went to the Upton site and it appears that the $500 includes FULL conversion to a lefty... I have no idea how they can possibly do it that cheap, UNLESS what they're actually saying is that it's a $500 standard upcharge to order any of their basses as a lefty.

By reading the site, it makes it seem like if you bring any right-handed upright into their store they can convert it to a lefty for $500, but I don't see how it would be possible.

But, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong about something though, so... yeah.

Thanks! Yeah, Upright basses for lefties appear to be the ultimate pain in the b..., almost like if you were looking for a lefty piano

Now here are a few appealing things about playing upright:
- When you play upright bass you can easliy hook up with some badass players even if they are slightly above your league.
- It sounds great even playing a couple of half-notes
- It looks cool and hip and makes you appear skinny
- You don't have to take your girlfriend to your gigs because you can remind her that the back seat and front seat of your car are already occupied by your gear and "that's really too bad honey"

The Englehardt Swingmaster seem the way to go indeed.

All right, I just had to post guys! I am a guitar, bass, and string bass repair tech in Reno. I am Left handed. There is a terrible ignorant, bigoted attitude towards left handed string players, stemming from the classical music community. Ever see a lefty violinist, viola or cellist, or bassist in an orchestra? I haven't. It is frowned upon. A bassist friend told me many teachers simply refused to give him bowing lessons. For all of you out there, like me, that don't give a crap what they think, please read on! LOL!
I have a circa 1920's Berlin made Herman Lowendall carved factory style- roundback bass. I bought it in pieces and rebuilt it in 1997. It is re-barred, and all the parts such as bridge and fingerboard are lefty. It is strung lefty with D'Addario Helicore pizzicatos, and is a very nice, dark sounding bass.
I had a 1951 Kay M-1 and did not re-bar that, as Kays are really appreciating in value, and since I didn't re-bar it, and found the Lowendall basket case- I felt the Kay was more useful to a righty, and just sold it. I always had this 'thing' in the back of my mind with the Kay. I always felt it would have sounded better if I re-barred it. My suggestion- I see a LOT of really shitty basses...DO NOT buy a $500- $1000 Ebay Chinese made bass- EVER! Even the higher end Chinese Sunrise basses, that are in the $1,500 dollar range laminated, and up for carved ones, have serious green wood and defective wood billet issues. With upright basses, you DO get what you pay for. If you don't pay much, don't expect much. NEVER buy an upright bass from a local "mom and pop" store! I know. I used to tech at one. There was another local store not 2 miles away that had the same Engelhardt uprights we did for almost 500 dollars more! If you search lhbassist posts on talkbass.com, I have posted regarding a horrible neck billet I saw used on a 2K Chinese made 'better quality' Sunrise bass. It was cracked, in at least 5 places! It had FILLER PUTTY used on it to hide some of the defects. Not good. A lot of work was necessary to repair that bass. Engelhardt's are essentially modern day Kay basses, and have the same quality parts but better tuners than old Kay's, in my opinion. They're a little stiffer...the plys (lamination pieces) on the plates are different from the Kays of 50+ years ago, and sound a bit different. They are very well made, student plus grade basses...and parts are readily available from them.
If you want a great sounding bass, with more timbre and complexity to the tone, that you might find yourself holding onto for life....or you getting sick of lugging it around- whichever comes first, I'd suggest a hybrid Christopher, or a Mathias Thoma bass. About $2k or so, and a luthier will have to replace the internals.
Bob Gollihur sells converted basses, of different makers, and will ship them to your door. They are made somewhere in Europe. Remember, The Asians are incredible craftsmen...but the cheap stuff is ornamental firewood.
Violins were invented in Europe, and that's a damn good reason to look there for one. I cannot vouch for the quality, he touts them. I like Bob, his amazingly informative website, his enthusiasm, and his business ethic. I am listed in the luthiers directory if you need to contact me. Enuff said. Call Bob, or Steve at Steve Swan Guitars in Berkley for a Thoma. Lemur Music has some nice basses, and Upton in Conn. will make a lefty carved bass.. hope this is of some help... good luck!

LHBASSIST, thank you for sharing your great knowledge on this topic! It confirms, what I already understood. Put down at least 2K to buy a new decent instrument or stay away from the upright bass. Finding a used lefty-upright seem rather unlikely. Another thing I had discovered is that "Electric Upright Basses" can sound nice but will never have the thumpy attack of the real "doghouse". Their sound is often a compromise between Upright and Fretless. For that reason they do little to satisfy those craving for the "authentic" upright sound.

Please feel free to contact me if you need more information than I can type! LOL!

So I am a lefty electric bass player and I recently acquired a right-handed upright bass under the assumption that Upton Bass would do a complete conversion for $500. This is NOT the case. What their "conversion" really means is that they will build one of THEIR custom basses (from the ground up) for an ADDITIONAL $500. I found out that a conversion of a right-handed bass is about $1500, labor intensive, and the bass may never sound as good as it did before. This is because they have to switch the soundpost, AND move the bass bar (that runs through the body along the E string) to the other side. This means that they have to un-glue the front panel of the bass body, take the front panel off of the body, un-glue the bass bar, and re-glue it on the other side.

Thanks for the clarification. Definitely misleading info on their site.

Correction: I went to a smaller luthier today, thinking I would just get an estimate on much I could sell the righty bass, (hoping I could turn around and use this money to buy a lefty upright.) Out of curiosity, I had him assess how much it would cost to convert the bass to a lefty. In my case, he quoted at $800 to do it... still a pretty penny, but the fingerboard on my particular bass is mostly symmetrical. If you try to convert a bass to a lefty, DO NOT take it to a large string shop that specializes in doing a lot of work for school instruments really quickly. They give you cost prohibitive estimates on labor intensive work because they can make a lot more money doing 100 easy, quick fixes. Try to find a small luthier, preferably one with some time on their hands. I decided that I could swing the $800. I'll post pictures after it's done in a few weeks.
-Luke Perry (not the bad actor)

Man,
after seeing this I am glad that I can drive an hour and check out a real lefty upright at Fretwell. See here. Feel like I should get one just because, but it is still a lot of money for a "just because " I can instrument. http://www.fretwellbass.com/engelhardt-basses-c-22.html

Plus, I still need a lot of work on the EB.