• From: BELGIUM
  • Registered: 2007-01-27
  • Posts: 3,403

Topic: LEFT HANDED ACOUSTIC GUITARS

I understand 100% the production of left handed "electric" guitars.
But an acoustic?
Isn't it so that you just have to put your strings different, like the big E-string, switching with the little E-string?
You still have the pick guard problem, and also the fact that some great guitar brands just focus on right handed people.
Is it possible to put a second pick guard on the other side?

[color=blue]- GITAARDOCPHIL SAIS: TO CONQUER DEAD, YOU HAVE TO DIE[/color]   AND [color=blue] we are born to die[/color]
- MY GUITAR PLAYS EVERY STYLE = BLUES, ROCK, METAL, so I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT.
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gitaardocphil's Website

  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2007-02-08
  • Posts: 1,914

Re: LEFT HANDED ACOUSTIC GUITARS

Hey Doc, I've done this before. A seagull s6 I had previously. It was almost new so I was able to remove the other pickguard with out any discoloration. I left it without a pickguard, just liked the look...It's a little more complicated then that though. A new nut has to be cut and the bridge and saddle has to be replaced. I did it because I could get a great deal on a left handed model and was able to do the majority of it myself. I've also ordered a 12 string model of a guitar because of the slightly wider neck it had and strung it as a 6 string. I loved the 6 string version of it but the neck was too narrow for my taste. Stringing the 12 as a 6 worked wonderfully and she played excellent.

[b][color=#FF0000]If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something.
[/color][/b]         [b]Peace of mind. That's my piece of mind...[/b]

Guitarpix's Website

  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,662

Re: LEFT HANDED ACOUSTIC GUITARS

Leiven,
     Best regards old friend, hope all is wonderful in the Belgium hemisphere. In reference to your question about left-handed guitars, it's a bit more complex than simply switching the strings around. Try this; put your left shoe on your your right foot and then place your left foot in your right shoe. Doesn't feel quite right does it? Kind of the same concept with switching a righty guitar to a lefty guitar. As guitarpix stated, the nut and the bridge have to be compensated for the change in string thickness and bridge height/intonation.. There might be a few places or settings that will work without adjustments but if a total set-up isn't administered after switching things around, playing this experiment of a guitar is for sure gonna be a frustrating nightmare. Tuning, intonation, string/fret  buzz, etc.....

Give everything but up.
  • Registered: 2008-01-11
  • Posts: 2

Re: LEFT HANDED ACOUSTIC GUITARS

I have had fun in this area as I needed an Acoustic guitar that's a Lefty. My Steel string the nut had to be reshaped for the strings and bridge had to be reversed. My Classical it was just a matter of reversing the bridge and strings.