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Playing Left sucks when you don't have endless resources

#45
I'm a righty who throws a Frisbee and shoots pool lefty. When I first picked up a guitar, I wanted to play lefty. But my parents told me I need to play righty, even my mom who's a lefty, and my brother who's also a lefty refused to let me play his Mosrite if I didn't play it righty. On one hand, I'm glad it happened because righties are easier to find by far. OTOH, I often wonder how I'd have played if I just stuck to my guns. It's definitely not impossible to find lefty gear, and I'm sure I'd have managed.
 
#46
JimmyM said:
Why not? Making a righty upright a lefty seems pretty easy to me. Change the nut, get a new saddle, boom.
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There’s structural things going on inside the bass as well, the bass bar is a spar that runs underneath the E string side of the bridge and the sound post goes under the G string side of the bridge, plus I don’t believe the top is carved symmetrically in terms of thickness. Simply throwing a reversed bridge on there would not lead to optimal results. On top of all that, as silly as it sounds, there’s the issue of symmetry in the section. Can you imagine looking at a violin section, and everyone has the bowings down perfect, except one was reversed? Or, as a bassist, having your stand partner be a lefty, you’d be stabbing each other all night. Not saying it’s a good reason, but I am saying these are things the conductors care about. In all my years of playing in bass sections of various orchestras and symphonies and what have you, I have never encountered a lefty playing a “lefty” instrument. Ever. Someone mentioned thomann had lefty violin family instruments, but if you get above student grade they don’t exist. I believe it’s viewed like piano, there’s no such thing as lefty piano. There’s just piano. With violin family instruments there’s enough going on with the bow and the left hand, that handedness doesn’t really matter. That’s my guess anyway. I’m not saying I’m an expert on this specific topic, I’m just sharing my experience, and in my experience, I’ve never seen nor heard of such a beast.
 
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#48
JimmyM said:
Why not? Making a righty upright a lefty seems pretty easy to me. Change the nut, get a new saddle, boom.
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Yeah, that's what I thought, too; until I asked Chris, the luthier at Cowtown Guitars in Las Vegas, about it. He just happened to play one in a couple of show bands... If you don't mind the body caving in under the bridge in pretty short order, that is all you have to do. There's a lot of bracing that has to be swapped around to make a righty upright into a "real" lefty - and it ain't easy to do, fishing around the insides thru the F-holes. Pretty easy if you take the whole top off, though. I don't remember what that would have cost me to have him do it; but I do remember his eyes glazing over, when I brought it up. Fortunately for my wallet, my messed up left shoulder won't let me play one, anyway...:cool:
 
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#50
BassFalcon said:
Someone mentioned thomann had lefty violin family instruments, but if you get above student grade they don’t exist. I believe it’s viewed like piano, there’s no such thing as lefty piano. There’s just piano. With violin family instruments there’s enough going on with the bow and the left hand, that handedness doesn’t really matter. That’s my guess anyway. I’m not saying I’m an expert on this specific topic, I’m just sharing my experience, and in my experience, I’ve never seen nor heard of such a beast.
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Hi, yes, I know they only make student- and intermediate models. I know there are some lefty double basses that are a bit higher end (around 10k), although I indeed haven't seen them in the $15k and up range.
 
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#51
While I agree that we are limited in our choices the situation is not so desperate. I bought 2 left handed basses in 2021 and sold another. Each of the big companies offers at least 2-3 models in left handed basses (limited colors). The only company that has almost all models offered in lefties is Schecter. The bass in my avatar is the Schecter SLS Elite 4 and it is a gorgeous and extremely versatile bass. I started playing recently in my 40's so going right handed was never a consideration for me, I rather spend my sweet time scouring the websites for my basses of choice. Hit me up with any questions, I would be happy to share experiences. Also the lefty forum that was mentioned before is a great resource.
 
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#52
NikosP75 said:
While I agree that we are limited in our choices the situation is not so desperate. I bought 2 left handed basses in 2021 and sold another. Each of the big companies offers at least 2-3 models in left handed basses (limited colors). The only company that has almost all models offered in lefties is Schecter. The bass in my avatar is the Schecter SLS Elite 4 and it is a gorgeous and extremely versatile bass. I started playing recently in my 40's so going right handed was never a consideration for me, I rather spend my sweet time scouring the websites for my basses of choice. Hit me up with any questions, I would be happy to share experiences. Also the lefty forum that was mentioned before is a great resource.
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Good for you.
 

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