LeftyBassist.com

That lefty Ken Smith at Chuck Levin's is not even listed on their website. No wonder it hasn't sold. The only reason why anyone here knew about it is because Carlos was kind enough to tell us about it, and that thread was buried pretty quickly. They also didn't order it for stock... it was a customer order that was never picked up.

Also... that Fodera is $8,500 USD... There are very few people alive who play bass who can afford an $8500 bass... add the lefty factor in there, and Planet Bass took a significant risk ordering that bass to begin with. If I had the cash, I would have bought it the day I saw it, but... that's just me I guess.

On a side note, Planet Bass is NOT a store front... they are mostly an internet business, and they allow you to check out their basses by appointment only. I contacted Tony over a week prior to being in Minnesota and asked if I could look at the bass, take pictures and video, and post a review of the bass on this message board... I figured it might help him move it. He was not able to meet me the entire weekend I was there.

Anyway... I don't think anyone here is really talking about $8000 basses anyway. It would simply be nice to stumble upon a team-built Custom Shop Fender once in a while... even a Nash... or a "no frills" Zon, MTD, or F-Bass. Something priced "mid-level" that is new, has a return policy and a warranty, and you don't have to wait 8 months for it and be stuck with if you don't like it.

These basses obviously sell... I had cash in hand for a brand new $3250 Warwick Streamer LX 5-String LTD and BOTH of them that were in stock sold in the same weekend.

I'd also like to quickly add that even "specialty" left-handed shops stock the same lower-end to low-mid-level basses you can find everywhere.

Southpaw Guitars sells boatloads of lefty Nash, PRS, Gibson and Fender Custom Shop guitars, but I have not heard of a single team-built Fender CS or Nash bass that he has ordered for stock.

I'm not denying he ever has... but in the last 5+ years that I have been actively searching the internet for lefty basses I never heard about it.

As far as I remember - that Fodera was ordered by a guy from sweden some years ago (the owner of that black Wal 5 str. that appears regulary in the "for sale" sections ) and Fodera put the wrong Koa top on the Bass and had to build a new one for the customer. So this bass was available - it was not a custom order from planetbass for us leftys . But kind enough that they had the courage to buy it...

I'm also with you about the mid-price basses - it would be great to see some Team-Build CS basses, F-Basses, etc. in the shops .. I think this would be a great situation.

I should recive my Team Build CS 62 PBass the next time (Fender said in march - but this did not happen - I've waited 7 month now...quoted time 6-8 month ) and it was not more expensive than a righty would have to pay for it...

When I was there a couple of months ago I thought the same thing, except I thought they had what I would consider high mid/lower high end gear, such as the American Standard P and J basses, as well as Musicman Bongos, Stingrays, G&L ASAT, and Sterlings. All nice basses, not boutique, but very solid instruments. To support your point thought, there were a lot of mid grade Schecters, MIM jazz basses, Dillons, etc.

Right... I agree those are solid basses, but they're all in the $1000-$1900 range and most are easily available from lots of different places, including a lot of the "big box" stores.

The range I'm speaking of is the $2000-$3500 range... Spector Euro LX, team-built Fender CS, Nash, Lakland, Mike Lull, some German Warwicks, and "no frills" MTD, F-Bass, and Zon would all fall into this category.

Adirondack usually has a couple of Spector Euro LX basses and I think Bass Central might have a Lakland 55-94 right now, but... other than that you never see any of the other basses I mentioned anywhere.

All I have to say in this thread is 2-5 years ago I had quite a collection of rare and boutique lefty basses. I found 75% of them online at boutique bass stores, europe or ebay. I was a collector and searched off and on all day, every day. They were available then but when the market started taking a crap, the hi end boutique bass market lost inventory. I had a few one off basses but now good luck finding anything worthy like that now. Custom builds are pretty much the only way to go unless you trade with fellow lefties. Glad I still have some of my arsenal. Had to unfortunately sell off some of my babies for reasons I don't care to discuss on this forum. Still have my recording, endorsement and gigging players tho.

The moral to the story is if you want something, contact a reputable boutique store or direct with the builder (if you have this connection), build your specs, put half down on it and wait it out. The longer you wait to put $$ down, the longer the total wait will be... or own a couple basses and play the snot out of them. The unfortunate story of left handed players.