Axelorox Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Since I am a huge fan of Paul McCartney, I'm thinking of getting the Epiphone Inspired by 1964 Texan. However, would it be possible to convert it for left handed play by just replacing the nut? I've seen Paul's Texan, and the saddle and pickguard are still orientated for a righty player. All the shops I've contacted say that if they do the conversion, the intonation would be off, especially for the higher frets. However, they are not familiar with the IB Texan, and are not Epiphone dealers. Do you guys know if the conversion is possible, and if so, would the intonation be off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 If i'm not mistaken there are actually lefty inspired by texans bein made at least another member here on tthe forum has one :). try getting a lefty man. I wanted a texan for the longest time but lefty's are rare i recently contacted a dealer who has a 05 Usa texan but wants 10k for it ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Since I am a huge fan of Paul McCartney, I'm thinking of getting the Epiphone Inspired by 1964 Texan. However, would it be possible to convert it for left handed play by just replacing the nut? I've seen Paul's Texan, and the saddle and pickguard are still orientated for a righty player. All the shops I've contacted say that if they do the conversion, the intonation would be off, especially for the higher frets. However, they are not familiar with the IB Texan, and are not Epiphone dealers. Do you guys know if the conversion is possible, and if so, would the intonation be off? While McCartney's saddle appears to be remain oriented for a right hand player, it is actually compensated for a left hand player. The original adjustable saddle was removed. Since it was very wide, that space was ingeniously utilized to fit a specially designed saddle that still slants for a righty (like the original saddle), yet the surfaces that actually touch the strings and terminate their speaking length slant for a lefty. To set your Texan up lefty, you would also need a new saddle (which would require the bridge being replaced or modified) in order to get the guitar to intonate properly, especially up the neck. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I seem to recall a few years back seeing some company that offered those lefty saddles that fit into a right-handed saddle slot, but I can't remember the name of the company. I did a quick search on the Tubes of the Internets and couldn't find it. Maybe a call/e-mail to Southpaw Guitars in Houston might provide an answer; if anyone knows, it'd be them. That said, those saddles could only take your intonation so far and Red is right; if you want proper intonation, you have to take out the old saddle, fill the slot and route out a new one. Otherwise, you're going to have problems playing in tune, even in first position. Frank Ford describes the process here: http://www.frets.com/fretspages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/LeftConv/leftconv.html Another guy describes it here: http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/repair/acoustic-guitar/conversion.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I did some more searching and the right-to-left conversion saddle is called a Saddleboy, but I'm not sure the product is still on the market. At least I couldn't find it anywhere, but here is a link to a shop in the UK that used to carry it: http://www.bandland.co.uk/saddleboy-lefthanded-conversion-kit-p-1100.html?page=2 I did see that the product was panned on a couple of guitar discussion forums, though. Filling the old saddle slot and routing a new one is still your best bet. There really aren't any cheap/easy alternatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 There was a promo shot shown on this board a few months back with Sir Paul and his guitar. If you look close you can see how he had the saddle modified to reverse the compensation. It appeared that on one end a second saddle was affixed (glued) to the first saddle, above the bridge, which moved the break point towards the neck. This might be the most cost effective way of accomplishing this. Not sure what this does to tone. But if it's good enough for Paul....... I think this is the promo shot. It is much smaller than the one I saw. Therefore, you cannot see the McCartney saddle detail. I nicked it from the Epiphone product pages: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 THAT'S! the mod. Can you zoom in and blow up the saddle, Red? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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