ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 14, 2014 9:00:36 GMT
I've been playing guitars for a long time but only recently have been in a position to spend a bit of money on a decent leftie. I bought a Taylor and not an expensive one at that!
It has occurred to me that I have never played a Gibson, Martin, Lowden, Avalon or any other decent level acoustic guitar. You just cannot get lefties at all. There's plenty of Westfields and Staggs and I'm not being a snob but I just wanted something a bit more upmarket.
I went to Manchester recently for a wedding and took an afternoon to go into Dawsons thinking I could at least get a play on something but they had 1 left handed Ephiphone.
It has also occurred to me that I have never played a Les Paul, SG or even a Strat! One shop here had a MIM Tele and I got a play on it!
The only time in my life I hate being left handed is where guitars are involved!
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Akquarius
Cheerfully Optimistic
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Post by Akquarius on Aug 14, 2014 10:27:26 GMT
I'm a lefty, too, but I learned to play guitar the wrong way 'round from the very beginning. So fortunately I don't experience these problems.
Did you start playing with a lefty guitar? Or did you do the workaround by holding them upside down like so many guitar players do it?
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ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 14, 2014 10:41:54 GMT
I started by playing upside down but just couldn't master C. Then I flipped the strings around on cheap acoustics and learned properly. I can grab any guitar and play a bit upside down but for soloing and picking it's impossible for me to properly play and hear a guitar.
I have a few songs in my repertoire which I can play if the situation arises where there's only a right handed guitar available but to play for a proper appraisal of a guitar there are just not enough lefties around.
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Post by vince on Aug 14, 2014 16:42:17 GMT
I hear where you're coming from. I'm a lefty and, yes, it can be a mite frustrating at times. A lefty's mental map of shops and brands that are lefty-friendly is quite different to the righty majority. It's getting a bit better though. I just restrict my thinking to those companies that put product out there for me or that I have confidence in buying sight unseen if I'm particularly keen on something (full disclosure: this only takes you so far. I've recently been getting fed up with this and am seriously thinking about going bespoke).
On the downside you rarely get the chance to play the model you might buy, but on the other hand we're not plagued by endless choice and the 'paralysis by analysis' that others can get sucked into.
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ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 14, 2014 17:24:55 GMT
It would be nice to be able to compare guitars though. Before I bought my Taylor I went into Dawsons Music in Belfast with £1000 in my pocket and the best they could offer was a Stagg at £89.99. I was less than impressed!
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missclarktree
C.O.G.
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Post by missclarktree on Aug 14, 2014 17:57:57 GMT
Well, this is quite an eye-opener. Never having given it any thought before, I'd just assumed that left-handed guitars would be quite widely available. How frustrating!
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Post by vikingblues on Aug 14, 2014 18:44:38 GMT
I find the buying experience frustrating enough with too little choice that interests me - and I've the advantage of being right handed. So it must be hugely vexing for a "leftie".
If it's still the same as I recall a few years ago when I looked around at electrics on a left handers behalf the lefties among you must also be a bit irked that if you do manage to find a lefty guitar lurking in a corner they often seem to be priced quite a bit higher. Adding insult to injury to my mind.
Mark
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Akquarius
Cheerfully Optimistic
Posts: 2,510
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Post by Akquarius on Aug 14, 2014 19:51:47 GMT
Well, this is quite an eye-opener. Never having given it any thought before, I'd just assumed that left-handed guitars would be quite widely available. How frustrating! Unfortunately, they are not. Mainly because there are quite a few people who think about this matter the same way as the Gibson people: Ted McCarthy: ''Why they were making so many left-handed guitars, I don't know. I would never do it. I didn't do it in the 18 1/2 years that I was running Gibson. We had dealers that we wanted to keep, big dealers, and if they had a customer who wanted a left-handed guitar, we'd make it for them. That was no big deal for us, no reason why we wouldn't. But to make a lot of them in production is stupid in my book. I would never do it because you couldn't sell them. A smart dealer is not going to fill up his store with a bunch of left-handed guitars. If somebody comes in and wants one, we make it for him and we charge a little more for it.''
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Post by Banadog on Aug 14, 2014 21:38:21 GMT
In the early seventies I ordered a Gibson. It cost something like 250 pounds but was an extra 60 pounds to be made left handed. It took six months to arrive, and when it did, it had side position markers on both sides of the neck, and the pickguard bevelled out at the edges because it was a right handed one glued on backwards. It didn't sound up to much either!
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Post by vince on Aug 14, 2014 22:42:15 GMT
In the early seventies I ordered a Gibson. It cost something like 250 pounds but was an extra 60 pounds to be made left handed. It took six months to arrive, and when it did, it had side position markers on both sides of the neck, and the pickguard bevelled out at the edges because it was a right handed one glued on backwards. It didn't sound up to much either! Shocking, but not surprising. Gibson still up-charge for lefty's and offer a restricted range (in fairness, they're not the only ones, just the highest profile offender). I don't exactly feel the love if you know what I mean. Sorry Gibson, you're not getting my hard-earned.
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ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 15, 2014 0:10:22 GMT
....if you do manage to find a lefty guitar lurking in a corner they often seem to be priced quite a bit higher. Adding insult to injury to my mind. Mark Double the insult! I know there is a dealer called Southpaw Guitars somewhere in the States. I follow them on Facebook. I would love a day in there!
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ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 16, 2014 6:46:02 GMT
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alig
C.O.G.
Posts: 1,059
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Post by alig on Aug 18, 2014 7:11:54 GMT
Just been putting up a post about Avian guitars and noticed they don't make any surcharge for you southpaws out there... Have a look on the North American Guitar website here: thenorthamericanguitar.comAnd, no, I'm not on commission of any sort from Michael Watts! I'm actually quite intrigued by these guitars - they seem to tick a lot of boxes. Alasdair.
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Post by marcus on Aug 18, 2014 7:48:23 GMT
I can only imagine the frustration incurred by being so limited in guitar choices. Having to pay an upcharge for a lefty is outrageous (and quite likely a case for the anti-discrimination board). This has got me wondering about other sided-implements like golf clubs, cricket bats (sort of), hockey sticks, other musical instruments, etc. I guess there are a couple of silver linings to this cloud though: 1. as a lefty you'd rarely have to share your guitar with a "thrasher"; 2. I imagine it's less easy to get tempted in guitar shops thereby saving you some money!!! In order to offset (remedy) this latter silver lining I include the following link... leftyguitarsonly.com/
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ron
Strummer
Posts: 24
My main instrument is: Taylor 214 leftie
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Post by ron on Aug 18, 2014 9:50:50 GMT
It is true that I've probably spent less on guitars than others but I've also destroyed some changing them over. This gives intonation problems I electric guitars and they often look stupid upside down. Not to mention the number of bridges I have broken trying to take them off! Also the fret markers are wrong and the logo is also upside down. I saw a left handed Tanglewood in a local shop and the logo was upside down. What's that all about?
You can buy most things left handed but there's usually a price on that. One of the most annoying things are scissors which are usually shaped for a right hand.
Thanks for the link!
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