Converting a Right-Hand Electric Guitar to Left-hand

[snuffleupagus]

Hi folks!

I have a friend who will be borrowing my electric guitar and she's left handed.

The guitar is a Fender Strat with the US Standard type tremelo.

It had previously been set up and intonated for right-hand playing

Question- If I want to convert it to a left-hand guitar, will I need to also set it up afterwards?Assuming that the nut has no problems with the slot size of the inverted strings, do I have to worry about the bridge?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pianomankris]

you'll need a new LH nut.

if you keep the RH nut, the bass strings won't fit in the nut, and the treble strings will be too loose.

You'll also need to re-adjust the string saddles.

 

[Hydrofly]

^ Kris covered everything you need to do. Sucks to be a lefty guitarist, damn guitars all cost more.

 

[HeyJoeILoveYourSis]

Jimi Hendrix did it, why can't you?

Joe

 

[kaiwenny]

i was going to mention Jimi Hendrix. at first i thought he had no money to afford a left handed guitar LOL

 

[metalhead1993]

im a lefty but i play the guitar a right handed guitar the normal way. lol i almost wanted to do the jimi hendrix and play my right handed guitar the other way round when i first started out.

 

[snuffleupagus]

ah i see, thanks! yeah man it must suck being a left handed guitarist.

thanks all!

 

[the_insomniac]

not to mention that when you flip over a lefty strat, your guitar strap is still attached at the righty upper horn (now the lefty lower horn). So it gets in the way of everything and the balance of the guitar is off..

 

[justheretolook]

also the tendency of a string snapping is higher. IMO

 

[snuffleupagus]

ok guys thanks for the input, just upped all ur points btw

cheers

 

[ShredCow]

*bwhahahaha*

 

[theunknown]

i also read something about adjusting pickup height when i read about jimi hendrix. he keeps his guitar stock except the strings so his bass strings sounds livelier or something like that as the pickup height is still for the strings positioned for right hand playing. dang i forgot.

 

[dudelove]

i'll fill in for u

rmb the bridge pickup on the strat is slanted? its closer to the bridge on the thinner strings on a right handed guitar. then on the bass strings its further away.

swopping the position of the strings to accomodate a left hander will cause the lowest string to have a bright sound, while the thinner strings have a mellower sound.

and yes, it would be pretty troublesome to convert a right handed guitar to a left handed one. a set up to adjust the intonation needs to be done, and the nut has to be changed too.

i was thinking of buying a left handed strat and converting to a right handed one. but i felt it was too troublesome

 

[theunknown]

spot on dudelove, mankind, cactus jack!

 

[limjooli]

Converting a right-hand Electric guitar to left-hand

Some websites do give some tips on how to convert or play the right-hand guitar left-handed.

You can browse through the information in wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left_handed or
http://www.left-handedelectricguitars.com

Hope it helps

Guitars lover

 

[Elias]

Hey Snuffleupagus...if your friend need to borrow a lefty strat, I don't mind lending mine. I've got a 95' Fender US standard strat fitted with vintage 70s' pickups Saves all the trouble of a re-setup. Pm me the details like the duration, etc yah?