Lefties playing Right?

[delta7fred]

And another here.

A kid at school had a right handed guitar that got passed around and we all attempted to strum a few basic chords on it. I was not very good but better than most at remembering the shapes and eventually we decided to start a band. I never gave being left handed a second thought.

 

[vindibona1]

I am left handed. ..play bass the way most people do: righthanded, with the neck pointing to my left. Do any other lefties do this?

So why... I wanted to reuse my viola chops.

Personally I find it odd that lefties play lefty. As you said, 99.9% of left handed classical string players play righty. And that comes with advantages as well as disadvantages, just as a left handed golfer that player righty. Why do I find it odd? I suppose it's for the same reason that you don't have left handed pianos. It's unnecessary. It is a matter of acclimating to the task. The brain can handle it. As a trumpet player I play right handed, but give me a French horn which is a left handed instrument there isn't even a moment of hesitation. While playing bass is far more complex than trumpet of French horn, it is just training the brain to process the information as needed. In some cases reversing the left/right process could help some areas as the "Quell system" does in defense shooting.

A quick anecdote... I have a (right handed) friend who played trumpet on a few of Rod Stewart's records. He injured his right hand severely so was forced to play trumpet left handed for an extended time. His right hand healed completely, but he liked the way everything worked left handed so he continued to play lefty (which I think he does to this day). Humans are amazingly adaptable creatures.