Bard 12-string - did they make a lefty?

[buckwheatsf]

I've had this 1968 Bard 12-string since the late 1970's. I'm going to keep it for sentimental reasons -- not looking to sell it. But here's the thing.... I'm a lefty.

 

My question is: Did Epiphone make any lefty Bards? I love the big body and the big neck and the BIG sound. I've been playing it upside-down all this time and the intonation is just a little off.... and the grooves in the ebony bridge are sloppy so one of the high E strings keeps popping out of its slot.....

 

I am thinking about hacking it, meaning, replacing the whole rosewood bridge piece or maybe routering a groove at the opposite slant of the one that's there now.... but, I'm leery of hacking it.... I mean, I can play it now, and the intonation is surprisingly NOT THAT BAD.... I'm not a pro luthier but I have worked a lot on guitars and I like working with hard woods like ebony and rosewood..... I have politically incoreect hoards of African and SA wood so I could easily make a new bridge plate and bridge....

 

But is it wrong to hack this thing? If I thought I could find a lefty Bard I'd wait until one turned up. Did Epi make one?

 

Here's the guitars I have, BTW:

 

1968 Bard 12-string

2006 lefty Epiphone Elitist Les Paul (my favorite)

2006 lefty Gibson Les Paul Standard

2010 Frank Beard square-neck resonator

2012 lefty Epiphone Les Paul Custom (had cracked neck, not pretty but easy fix)

 

So the Bard is my only acoustic. And what a BIG sound! I've had other 12-strings but they do not compare, and I love that huge neck.

 

I am a gear junkie and I am not averse to simply keeping this Bard as a collector item. I like Epiphones. My amps are:

 

Epi Valve Junior v3 head, Bitmo modded

Epi Valve Junior v3 combo, alnicomagnet modded

Blues Junior, BillM modded

Gibson Class 5

 

Comments and criticisms welcome!

[TommyK]

Not likely. Epiphones are price sensitive. Lefty is out of the usual fast paced assembly practices needed to keep costs down.

 

If this is truly a pre-Norlin Epiphone it may be worth serious bucks to the right purchaser. If, however, selling is not even on the horizon, have the bridge professionally replaced, as well as a new nut.

 

Just make sure it isn't a FT-160 or FT165 'Bard' built in the 70's (Norlin). The "Bard" monicker was applied to some of these Japanese built 12 strings to harken back to earlier models. If this is the case, value is of little consideration, so hack away.

[el capitan]

I own a Bard-mid 60's with a through bridge (pinless).Is yours the tailpiece bridge?

McCartney had his Texan converted to lefty with the saddle intonated,but the slot not reversed.

Something like that-that's reversible & keep the original parts,obviously.

[Aoresteen]

I've had two FT 70's guitars setup to play (FT-135 & FT-165) and the factory bridge was way off on both. I had the bridge slots filled and re-slotted to fix the intonation. Both of mine had the metal adjustable bridges and now sound significantly better with a traditional bridge.

 

Since you like this guitar, I'd take it to a competent luthier and have the bridge filled and then re-slotted lefty. While it's in the shop have a bone nut installed if it doesn't have one already. You will love the change!

 

I also had Fishman Matrix Infinity pickups installed and they are just marvolus.

 

Good luck!

[Aoresteen]

... McCartney had his Texan converted to lefty with the saddle intonated,but the slot not reversed.

....

 

How is that possible?

[el capitan]

How is that possible?

The saddle overhung the slot-look at photo's of him with the Texan.

[Aoresteen]

I thought that the G & high E strings had a bit of saddle added (towards the neck) to shorting the sting length to compensate a bit but all the other strings are where the right handed bridge put them. They do not intonate corectly. If you use a strobe tuner the intonation will be off at the 12th frets. McCartney's Texan would intonate properly if the bridge slot was filled and re-slotted lefty. Given the significance of the guitar, it will stay as is.

 

It is impossible to use a 'compensating' saddle to change a right handed guitar to lefty and have it intonate properly using the orginal right handed bridge slot.

[el capitan]

Dont tell Macca!

[TommyK]

A few years ago, I found a fairly recent, high resolution photo of McCartney on the interwebs. I think maybe it was a print ad for the Inspired by 1964 re-issue Epiphone. It was obvious that something was wonky about the saddle. I zoomed in on saddle of McCartney's Epiphone. It appeared to me that the original saddle was left in place. Then to 'effect' a compensated saddle, sort of... additional saddle material was affixed (superglued?)to the existing saddle, above the bridge. About two strings worth on the sound hole side of the saddle then two strings worth on the butt strap pin side of the saddle. The center of the saddle under the D and G strings was utilized just as the factory intended. The added material was where the balance of the strings were bearing upon. True the D and G, or should I say G and D strings were way out of intonation, and the others questionable, but maybe that slight out of intone-ment created his 'sound'... I guess.

 

Sadly, I didn't nick a copy of this set-up.

 

I was amazed that McCartney, a man of no modest means, would commission this cobbled look, rather than have a custom fit, left hand, bridge and saddle. Maybe he was trying to not affect the resale value?

[Aoresteen]

I've only seen him play the Texan for "Yesterday" (DVD & TV - not live :( ). He used a proper left handed Martin for "Blackird" in the New York Citi stadium concert. Since he stays below the 6th fret on "Yesterday" maybe the intonation is close enough that it doesn't matter. He certainly couldn't use it for "Blackbird" as you could hear the intonation issues.

 

In the early 90's McCartney flew his Hofner bass to Mandolin Brothers in NYC to repair an intonation issue. One story is that his insurance company would not insure it unless the intonation problem was fixed.