I get asked various ‘left-handed’ questions. A basic one: “My kid wants to learn guitar - but is lefty. Do I need to get a left-handed instrument?”
Do you need one? Not really. But make it easy on yourself and the wanna be player. Get one.
Back when I started playing, they had to be special ordered.
They were scarce, a rarity, an oddity. These days, it’s no big deal, and doesn’t cost extra - although not every model is available lefty. My fav: “Can’t ya just flip it over, and play it that way - like Jimi Hendrix?” Well, you can. But it’s not the same as a fully left-handed ax, because the strings are wrong, (for a left-hander, that is.) I know, because this is the way I play a 6-string (“Spanish”) guitar. I taught myself on a borrowed guitar, and the lender didn’t want me to reverse the order of the strings, so to make music out of the thing, I learned all sorts of crazy finger positions that ordinarily, no ‘regular’ guitar player would use.
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People look at these old shots of Hendrix, and think he’s simply playing it ‘upside down and backwards’, but in reality, long before the photographer snapped that pic, Jimbo swapped the strings around so that the smallest (string no.1) is on the bottom, and the thickest (string no. 6) is on the top. True, the BODY, (Including the control knobs, whammy bar and tuning machines) appear to be upside down. But the important thing is that the strings are correct for a lefty player.
Do the kid a favor. Get ‘em a lefty ax with lefty strings!
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A sharp-eyed and obviously knowledgable Fender player is curious about the tuning machines on my vintage sunburst '66 Precision Bass, asking "Are they original? If so, when did they start using this style?" The reference is to the rounded shape - something other than the 'clover leaf' design used on most. My bass was special-ordered in summer '67, but the C neck is dated '66, so it was already made and sitting in the rack when my order came in, and at that point during assemby, I suppose, the unusual lefthanded tuners were put on. I've heard them called round; oval; football; lollipop, paddle and kidney bean tuners, and while I'm not the expert, they first showed up post-CBS-takeover, I think, to give the then-5 year old Jazz Bass design a makeover shot in the arm. Maybe that's all they had available, and exactly why they used them that day in 1967 to build the P-Bass I had saved my money for (for 3 years!) is anyone's guess, but except for a few rusted out pickguard screws, that instrument is all original as issued from Uncle Leo, including the tuners usually reserved for the 'Deluxe' high-end model Jazz Basses.
Over the years, I've noticed lollipops being used elsewhere. Mustang and Bronco basses (once in a while). A lot of Telecaster basses, (which were really just a reissue of the original Precision bass, before the '57 revamp) had them. Also, they were used on the very few P-Basses made for export to England in the mid/late '60s. I'm sure other examples exist...
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So: that same sharp-eyed, knowledgable bass player is looking at my TECH HEAD flag pic (above right), seeing a lefty Fender-shaped headstock and saying "Yeah, but where did you get the oval tuners for that ax unless you robbed 'em from your vintage '60s P Bass?" Heaven bloody forbid! Those, my finger plucking friend, were obtained direct from HipShot Products in Interlaken NY! I drove my '78 longbox Dodge D100 up there on my birthday a few years ago, and spent an enjoyable hour visiting with the owner of the firm and various friendly employees. Among other factoids, he explained that: 1. The lollipop-shaped 'paddle'-tuners are actualy easier to make, since they don't require the final manufacturing step to trim each key head to create the clover-leaf shape; that 2. They are, as a result, actually less expensive to make; and that 3. The rotating axle can be mounted in the tuner's housing either way without modification, so the lefthand ones are just as easy to make as the righthanded ones! He then ordered from the floor 2 sets of Fender in-line bass tuners, oval shaped, lefty, one in chrome finish and one in nickel. I watched as they made them up and sold them to me, sending me happily on my way with a smile and a cool birthday present.
Great products and great folks at HipShot!!!
