Fender - what’s happened to the Lefty Models???

[meisi]

Yeah, and that is why I can't play piano. At least not in the conventional sense.

Drums can, and are, set up left-handed for some drummers.

I'm glad some left-handed people can play right-handed. But not everyone is that ambidextrous.

Respectfully I don’t think it’s handedness or lack of ambidextrous ability.

But, I have seen some wickedly painfully right handed only folks so I get what you’re saying.

I still think it’s hard to cut the line of nature vs nurture here. For me, I grew up in a family that was forcing the lefty’s to be righty. I was lucky among my cousins to still identify as lefty. Many were forced to be righty or seen as the devil, literally. lol.

Anyways I can’t hold lefty scissors or any of that, none of these things were offered to me so I just made due.

As an aside - I find this handedness stuff fascinating. I definitely have a lefty brain. I’ve been told as much so so many times over in my life I know I qualify for that one. lol.

 

[Baker69]

We must remember that not all lefty people are the same. Some are just slightly left of ambidextrous while others (like me) are next to useless with their right. So, out of the 11% of the population that are left-handed, an even smaller amount are extremely left-handed. So, yeah, we need left-handed basses....

BUT, I also get the retail problem. Find any shop that lists instruments in order of popularity (sales) and left-handed instruments are usually at the very end of the list. A shop isn't going to stock anything that is a poor seller, regardless if it's fair or not.

So, I don't go into stores expecting to see any left-handed basses. But when going to a major brand online, with potentially global distribution, like Fender, I'd expect to see more. If brands like Schecter and Sire can give reasonable lefty options, even if you have to order it in, then Fender could do better.

I'm a proud lefty. I love my left-handed MIM Fender P-bass. I want others to have the same joy.

MIM lefty basses gone now, I was looking to see if they did a lefty Player II bass which is when I realised the whole lot was no longer manufactured.

I did have a Fender CIJ P Bass until last year, decided (with regret) to sell it as I wasn’t using it and kept my Fender Pro 1 Jazz bass which I felt was more versatile for what I was playing. Should have sold the Jazz and kept the P Bass I know and guys on TB advised me to do that, I guess I loved the Jazz more at the time.

I should still get a decent price for the Jazz as it’s near mint condition but what I’d get for it is still probably half the cost of a new Fender Pro P Bass. Buying used isn’t going to happen as they just don’t come up for sale that often here in the UK .

Looks like Sire and Schecter are the future for us lefties then. It would be interesting to see how new lefty bass players are facing the market?

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Yeah, and that is why I can't play piano. At least not in the conventional sense.

Drums can, and are, set up left-handed for some drummers.

I'm glad some left-handed people can play right-handed. But not everyone is that ambidextrous.

Probably the very best drummer I ever played with was a lefty.
He played a right handed kit, but used it in a left hand technique.
He struck the high hat with his left hand, and the snare with his right.
Had impeccable timing..
He never had to rearrange kits when we played with provided backlines.
The other drummer's on the bill appreciated that.

 

[brianrost]

I see that Lefty Guitars Only has only Fender guitars available.

As for Southpaw Guitars , they have 13 Fender lefties in stock right now including five Squier CV 70s in black only, some Vintage IIs, some Pro IIs, some Player Plus all the Fenders in more than one color. They have special relationships with Fender, Gibson and Martin. Get in touch with them and ask what's going on with Fender these days.

 

[Baker69]

I see that Lefty Guitars Only has only Fender guitars available.

As for Southpaw Guitars , they have 13 Fender lefties in stock right now including five Squier CV 70s in black only, some Vintage IIs, some Pro IIs, some Player Plus all the Fenders in more than one color. They have special relationships with Fender, Gibson and Martin. Get in touch with them and ask what's going on with Fender these days.

The Fender basses you list which they have in stock are basically what I was saying in my opening posting, ie the only models now available to lefties are the higher priced range models. The Player model is no longer available as a lefty and the new Player II and Standard bass are available in right handed only. As you say Squier do offer a lefty bass but it is just the Jazz bass and only in black finish, no more Squier Precision lefties or Squier P/J lefties.

 

[darev]

Agree w the comment that perhaps 10% of the population is left handed but that does not mean 10% of bass players are left handed or other leaps of logic. We see very few lefty instruments because vendors sell very few lefty instruments in any given year. There simply isn’t a market there, unfortunately.

I flip the righties over and play em that way because the lefty market was even worse when I started coupled with the fact that I was hopeless ‘learning’ righty. I also gotta move the drums around.

No resale value in any of my basses or guitars either. I drill holes for strap pegs on the opposite side. Neck dive is reality. Big deal

 

[Baker69]

Agree w the comment that perhaps 10% of the population is left handed but that does not mean 10% of bass players are left handed or other leaps of logic. We see very few lefty instruments because vendors sell very few lefty instruments in any given year. There simply isn’t a market there, unfortunately.

I flip the righties over and play em that way because the lefty market was even worse when I started coupled with the fact that I was hopeless ‘learning’ righty. I also gotta move the drums around.

No resale value in any of my basses or guitars either. I drill holes for strap pegs on the opposite side. Neck dive is reality. Big deal

Yeah I started with a flipped righty Hofner solid body bass back in the early 70’s, as you say not much available in lefty at that time. When I bought my first lefty (Wilson Sapphire Bass) in 1973 it was a revolution.

 

[Geogio]

When you flip a right handed bass over and play "upside down" You are playing an instrument tuned in fifths at that point.

 

[BeGotten FreeK]

I wanted to play bass for most of my life (I'm about to turn 50), but I never came across a left-handed bass to tool around with and see if I liked it. I tried a few right-handed basses, which I struggled to hold, never mind play.

To buy a reasonable entry-level bass, plus amp, leads, etc. cost a few grand. That was a lot to pay for something that I had to buy blind (no left-handed basses at any of the shops in my state). What if I was useless at it? What if it made me feel incompetent that I wasted money on something I couldn't play? What if? What if? What if?!

At 45 I convinced myself it was okay to buy a $800 (AUD) left-handed acoustic bass off the internet. If it, or me, was crap, then it wasn't a huge waste.

I bought it. I loved it. I bought an amp. I bought a P-bass. And I'm now working towards buying a Shechter 5-string.

My point: If there are no entry/mid-price left-handed basses available. People like me wouldn't learn to play right-handed. We would probably never learn at all.

 

[joebingo]

Respectfully I don’t think it’s handedness or lack of ambidextrous ability.

But, I have seen some wickedly painfully right handed only folks so I get what you’re saying.

I still think it’s hard to cut the line of nature vs nurture here. For me, I grew up in a family that was forcing the lefty’s to be righty. I was lucky among my cousins to still identify as lefty. Many were forced to be righty or seen as the devil, literally. lol.

Anyways I can’t hold lefty scissors or any of that, none of these things were offered to me so I just made due.

As an aside - I find this handedness stuff fascinating. I definitely have a lefty brain. I’ve been told as much so so many times over in my life I know I qualify for that one. lol.

They used to beat the left-handedness out of children at school during my grandma's generation, and I agree with you about it not being related to handedness or dexterity. If anything, "right-handed" instruments have the left hand performing the task requiring the most dexterity. Playing an instrument is an inherently ambidextrous task.

I've tried learning to write with my right hand and it's very difficult to find the motivation. I'm sure my right hand would be better at writing than my left if I was getting beaten for using my left.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

That may have been the case back in the 70’s. With modern CNC machinery however it doesn’t matter whether the bodies, necks and pickguards are right handed or left handed. Nuts, bridges and control knobs no difference. In my experience they no longer differentiate between left hand and right hand pots, and there are no left or right handed pickups.

I bought a brand new Fender Precision back in 1973, I think I paid a premium of either 15% or 20% for it being left handed at the time and even then it was available in sunburst only and it didn’t even come with a bag or a case. I wouldn’t mind paying extra for a Fender P being left handed now but unless you go for the Pro II model you do not have any other choice.

Fender are not alone however, and I invite anyone to find a brand new left handed EBMM Stingray? I bought a brand new Stingray 5 lefty in 2001 and I had the option of any colour I wanted in the range but now they are only made to order and at a considerable price. Gibson too gave up on us lefties long ago, and more recently so Epiphone, I think their last model on offer was the Jack Cassidy bass but I’m pretty sure that’s gone now.

I’m waiting on a Sire Z7-5 at the moment, they charge an extra £50 for it being left handed and I’m happy to pay that, which works out to being about 8% extra for it being a lefty.

EBMM has 4 different lefty Stingray Specials at different price points available to purchase in their Vault online store.
Also , you can order lefty from their Custom Design Experience built to order .

 

[darev]

When you flip a right handed bass over and play "upside down" You are playing an instrument tuned in fifths at that point.

Must be where all my melody comes from.

 

[Geogio]

Must be where all my melody comes from.

Bass being my primary I also play violin, mandolin, tenor banjo and cello. I have read the 5ths tuning opens up the space allowing soloists more room to move a bit more notationally.

Smaller scale instruments don't really feel too stretched out. But I have noticed it's quite a stretch to get back-and-forth between certain notes on longer scaled instruments.

I pondered the bass tuned in 4ths was to reduce the scaler distance. But a 5ths tuning wouldn't be insurmountable on a 34" scale. I poke around with bass lines on the cello occasionally... and cello strings for fourths tuning are sold, but they are tuned at E3 which is octave higher than the E2 of bass putting it into guitar territory... which is unfortunate.

 

[BeGotten FreeK]

Just to rub it in...
Fended sent me an email promotion for left-handed guitars today. No basses. Just guitars. Boo.

 

[Baker69]

Just to rub it in...
Fended sent me an email promotion for left-handed guitars today. No basses. Just guitars. Boo.

I was looking last night at the Pro II’s which are basically all what they’re offering now in lefty and they’re like over 2K now brand new.

I can’t see how they can demand that much money for them now, it’s not like they’re a boutique bass or anything.

 

[darev]

"You remember when a Fender bass only cost $2K" I will say not too long from now.

 

[Baker69]

"You remember when a Fender bass only cost $2K" I will say not too long from now.

There’s no arguing that the Pro II’s (Precision and Jazz) are very nice basses, but at 3 times the cost of what was a lefty Player bass is not acceptable and I think there’s been too many postings worldwide by people asking how Fender can warrant asking that much extra for a Pro model over the Player. Take the Player out of the equation (ie stop making them) then no more embarrassing comparisons?

Perhaps the righty Player models are next to be withdrawn?

 

[BeGotten FreeK]

I've started seeing a lot of left-handed Fenders, including the player series, listed in shop clearances over here in Australia.
It's good - lots of nice deals on offer.
It's bad - proves the point that left-hand stock doesn't sell well in-store.

 

[Baker69]

Trying to sell a lefty bass is never a good experience, I had to virtually give some of my basses away.

 

[Baker69]

Dropped on a lefty Fender Player Plus P Bass today, 2 years old in mint condition in sunburst finish, not a mark on it. Very nice bass, just been doing some string height adjustments etc and it’s playing and sounding really nice. Bit of a bummer with no control on the passive mode on these basses but I’ll be using active mode probably 95% of the time anyway.

It’s been a while since I had a MIM instrument and this is pretty good in regards to build quality etc. The neck is really nice and I like the rolled edges which do make a difference. The weight is quite reasonable at 9.2lbs and it sits really nice and comfortable on the strap, first thing I did though was to fit some Dunlop strap locks. The Pau Ferro fingerboard is nice and smooth, not had one in this wood before it’s a bit lighter than I would like as I’ve has years of basses with rosewood fingerboards, anyway it’s a nice close-grained wood. I think I read somewhere recently that Fender have gone back to using rosewood?

I really like the J pickup, I’ve read somewhere recently that don’t like it but I think it’s very usable, especially with the bass boosted.

The pole pieces don’t quite line up with the strings on the P pickup, with the Fender hi-mass bridge there’s no lateral string adjustment. It still had the clear plastic pickguard protector on and I’m pretty sure it still had the original strings fitted, they really were duff sounding, I fitted some EB slinky’s on earlier so it’s all done now, but I might drop a couple of new 9 volt batteries in as I don’t know how long they’ve been in there.

While I was in the store I tried a USA Pro II P Bass left they had for sale, it was a bit too expensive for me but I thought I’d try it anyway, it was surprisingly lighter than I expected but I was really impressed with the sound it just oozed quality it was so rich and smooth. Beautiful neck and finger board. For me though I think the Player Plus is more suitable as I like the 2 pickup tone variations it gives, plus I do like active basses.

Anyway, that’s me sorted with my new lefty Fender bass ownership, looking forward to gigging with it next week!