Making right into left?

[sinister]

Hi All

 

You'll guess from my user name I am left handed

 

Since there never seem to be any LH basses for sale:

 

What do you think is the feasibility of moving the knobs? When I have tried to just play it upside down the small size of the body means they are in the way (I was going to swap the string order too)

 

All comments gratefully received

 

Happy Easter/gary

[Be.eM]

You'll guess from my user name I am left handed

 

Hi Gary,

 

while the Italian reader might think you're left handed, others might also think you're evil ;)

 

Since there never seem to be any LH basses for sale:

 

What do you think is the feasibility of moving the knobs? When I have tried to just play it upside down the small size of the body means they are in the way (I was going to swap the string order too)

 

You're posting in the "Vintage Steinberger" section, so I guess you're talking about an L2/XL2 bass. A friend of mine recently has bought a GL guitar, on which one of the previous owners must have done such a modification, which was later restored to original RH configuration. Dramatically lowers the value of these vintage instruments, you have a row of closed holes on the top. Regarding this modification, I'd recommend to get an additional top, may be made of wood as well, from a luthier or elsewhere. I've seen such custom made tops before, it should be possible to find one (sometimes on ebay). This way you could keep the original top plate for restoring the bass to original.

 

But that alone is no LH conversion. Still leaves you with the output jack, strap buttons, and leg rest on the wrong side. And the headpiece isn't "neutral", too. On my L2, the slots on the lower strings side are wider than on the other side.

 

Summing that all up it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. There are LH instruments out there, maybe it's still better waiting for one to appear than butchering one of the original RH instruments.

 

Bernd

[sinister]

Hi Bernd

 

Thanks for your comments

 

Yes I was thinking vintage

 

Your idea for keeping the top RH is a good one

 

But you have alerted me to the work involved

 

So I am now thinking of being lefty focused instead of conversion focused so I guess its e-bay checking time

 

Happy Easter/gary