Building my own doubleneck acoustic guitar

[metalhead999]

ok here's the thing. I'm lefthanded, been playing lefthanded for two years, met a guy who says i'm doing it wrong and forced me to play righthanded, and recently joined a CCA in school that also again forces righthanded play down my throat.

So i came up with a plan.

to make a doubleneck guitar that can play both right handed and left handed.

basically what i plan to do is to get two acoustic guitars, cut them and join them together, and the lower neck will be the one that I'll be playing. so if i play left-handed, the lower neck (right side) will be used, and when i play right-haded the lower neck (left side) will be used.

After doing some googling and taking a look at some other acoustic doublenecks, I notice that the hole for the sound to come out is a big one in the middle where both necks meet. I don't think i'll be able to pull that off.

my plan is to put a thin plank on the middle of the guitars where i join them, so that the sound will not be affected.

will that work? what do you guys think in general?

 

[wadthefish]

You might just wanna get a dual guitar bag and save all the hassle.

 

[RyanZ]

It's not easy to cut a guitar unless you have the necessary tools. Otherwise, the cut will not be even. Not easy and you will have to sacrifice two guitars if things do not turn out well.

 

[lightice]

I'd advise against it.
Just buy a lefty guitar and be done with it, nothing wrong with playing left handed. Tell them: if they think that its "wrong", hendrix didn't care.

I doubt anyone told kurt cobain that his lefty technique was wrong.

Why are they forcing you to play right handed anyways?
is there a logical explanation for it?

 

[metalhead999]

i have a lefty stratocaster that i play regularly.

thing is, my friend feels that being lefty is an advantage when playing righthanded because i can move around frets faster and easier. and the guitar ensemble cca i joined apparently says "if everyone plays righthanded and you play lefthanded you make the ensemble look wierd".

besides, i want to be ambidextrous anyway.

 

[lightice]

Just get 2 guitars then and play them individually. Beats ruining 2 already good guitars to make 1.

 

[doggieshaman]

a CCA (i'm assuming guitar ensemble) that forces you to play right handed even if you are a leftie is just horrible and discriminatory.

of course, if it's guitar ensemble, they probably just want to avoid the weird occurence of one guitar pointing the other way in a concert

 

[Revelt]

a CCA (i'm assuming guitar ensemble) that forces you to play right handed even if you are a leftie is just horrible and discriminatory.

of course, if it's guitar ensemble, they probably just want to avoid the weird occurence of one guitar pointing the other way in a concert

Yea. I was in guitar ensemble for a while. On paper at least.
Hated the rigidity they brought into the whole music affair, so I quit.
Kept telling me I had to have the guitar on my left leg and whatnot.

 

[velvetrevolver]

i'd be damn proud if i was left handed lah. and who cares bout a damn ensemble? if they discriminate you, LEAVE. those in guitar ensembles will never know how rare a lefty is.

 

[rex922]

i'd be damn proud if i was left handed lah. and who cares bout a damn ensemble? if they discriminate you, LEAVE. those in guitar ensembles will never know how rare a lefty is.

Listen to THIS

 

[farinelli]

i'd be damn proud if i was left handed lah. and who cares bout a damn ensemble? if they discriminate you, LEAVE. those in guitar ensembles will never know how rare a lefty is.

Bro amen to that la bro!

I'm not particularly proud to be a lefty, but I just take it as a difference that I am happy to live with. In fact it's easier to learn from people when you're a lefty because your guitars and hands are in the same direction, just as if you were looking into a mirror. The only problem I find is the lack of availability and higher prices of lefties. The only thing I'd ever snap at is when friends who want to learn guitars (ie newbies, not experienced players trying lefty for fun) take my guitar to play. Freaking I suffer so much inconvenience because I'm a minority and then you happy happy take my guitar and ask me how to play a C chord. That's about when my voice starts getting louder.

Comes across as selfish, which kinda sucks because that is anything but my intention, but I'm not about to stop nagging.

It's really a waste for you la cos for all their wayang, guitar clubs do give you some solid foundation. Then again you said you wanted to be ambidextrous, so I'd still suggest you just use two guitars.

Although gee the idea of a two handed guitar is appealing in a really weird way. Still, I'd recommend you don't pull your saws out yet...

 

[1mband]

Threadstarter,

Don't mind me sharing my honest opinion:

1) Create a double-neck guitar just to fit into two situations?
If that really matters to you, buy two guitars, string one for left, the other for right. If you really create your double-neck guitar successfully, that's gonna cost you lots of time, effort, money. If the job turned out bad, it's gonna make you feel lousy. You might as well invest you time and effort to focus on either L/R hand playing, and spend your money on better gears.

2) Being ambidextrous?
Does this add to your playing? If you can learn 50 chords/riffs with the left, are you also gonna learn the same 50 chords/riffs with the right? By then, the same person, with the same talent, time, and effort, would already had learned 100 chords/riffs, and be ahead of you. Just stating an example. But why waste time to become ambidextrous?

Watch Paul Gilbert play left-handed in a MTV called "Stay Together". Impressive? Yes. But, what's the point? To me, if he sounds great, he sounds great. Makes no diff if he's doing it with the L/R hand.

Watch Michael Angelo Batio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-laAbV07zFQ
He's a great player, no doubt, but, once again, what's the point?

Your friend is right when he mentioned your added advantage of being left-handed, and playing the right-handed way. Now, watch Steve Morse play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wsPgCN9450
He's left-handed, but he chosed to play right-handed. He is focused. Be inspired.

I once asked my drum teacher to teach me how to spin the sticks. He replied me, "Go join a circus...". What he's saying is, focus on playing proper, don't waste time on useless/pointless/unimportant things in music.

Finally, i would advise you to stick to right-handed playing.

 

[Phil]

There's a lot more to the creation of acoustic guitars that just putting the pieces together.

Not to be discouraging, but I am pretty certain the end result would not be what you have in mind.