New lefty member w/ dumb question

[Kaminator]

Hi, My name is Ben and I am new, left-handed member.

I am a total newbie to basses, and this may be a real dumb question: Is it possible to just reverse the strings on a righty until you find a good lefty?

As a kid, I used to do that with acoustic guitars just fine. Here, the obvious issues are 1) the adjustment knobs will be above, not below, the strings, 2) if the bass is asymmetrical with a big tail (or what the corner of the body is called) would be reversed with the small tail, 3) if there is a pick guard, it will be in the wrong place, 4) if you have got a typical headstock with the headscrews and the tuning keys all lined up in a row, the longer ones will be opposite of the intended design.

If you can tolerate all that, will it work? And should one not tolerate any of the listed items. The pick-ups are a bit off-center, but is that really a problem?

I am looking at a good deal on a righty Ibanez gsr200 where the headstock is like a traditonal guitar, so the length of the strings (item 4 above) is not likely an issue. Am I stupid for asking this or what?

Thanks, Ben

[scottbass]

Not a stupid question at all. My son is a lefty, and I have switched a few guitars over in my life!

Besides switching the strings around, you also have to reverse the nut. (The nut is the small plastic or graphite strip at the top of the fingerboard that has slots for the strings.) You should be able to pop it out carefully using a little bit of force. If it fits into a channel, just it around an press it back in. If it was glued, use a SMALL amount of glue to put it back in. I have always been just fine using white glue - Elmer's glue. You don't want to epoxy it in there for life, just enough tack to hold it in place. Then, of course, you have to make sure the neck relief is ok after you switch the strings around. Then set the string saddles (on the bridge) to the correct action height for each string. Then reintonate it to get the octaves correct. Then set the pickups to the right height for the reversed strings. All of this is what we call doing a setup. There is a sticky at the top of the "Repair" forum that points you to a couple of web pages where you can read how to do this. Or if you're not a "dig in and do it" person, take it to a guitar store and have it set up. They can probably reverse the nut for you, too.

I hope you're getting a good deal on that gsr200 - they only cost $200 new and if you look around you can find a lefthanded one.

Also, on the low end of the bass price scale, check out the SX basses at www.rondomusic.net. They sell a lefthanded copy of a Fender Jazz bass (what we call a J bass) for $140.

Good luck, and welcome to Talkbass!

[scottbass]

Aw, heck. If you click the "Left handed" link at the rondomusic site you can find an SX copy of a Fender Precision bass (what we call a P bass) for $110.

I prefer the Ibanez gsr200 for a beginner bass, however. They have a small-profile neck, great build quality and they play really nice. IMHO.