Switching Righty Guitar To Lefty

I, like many aspiring rock stars, had to pay for all of my equipment. While all my friends were getting mommy and daddy to buy them $400 strats, I had to settle for a $40 electric I got from a video rental company. I didn't have enough for an obscenely expensive lefty, so I figured I would just play it backwards. Horrible, horrible idea. While it works for some players like Seal and Jimmy Haslip, figuring out chords like that almost turned me dyslexic. Little did I know how easy it is to switch a rightie to lefty.

The first obstacle a person restringing a guitar comes into is the bridge. In a strat style the low E might not fit through the high E's notch in the bridge. If possible, force it through the bridge. If not, take it into a shop to be proffessionally done. A proffessional job will run you between $20 and $50 depending on the store. Once you get the low E through the bridge string run it along the body like you normally would. Once it gets to the nut lay it across the itty bitty hole where the high E should be. Then put it in the string post of the tuning machine like you normally would.

On a strat-style guitar this system actually provides a better-playing guitar for drop-D or other drop tunings. The extra 3 or 4 inches the low E has to go increases the tension on the string and makes it less floppy. Be careful when winding the string. It is very easy for the low E and sometimes the A to pop out all of a sudden from their nut slots. It might be beneficial to use one hand to keep the string in place and use the other to wind until you get close to pitch. Miraculously, once the string gets tuned to pitch your worries are over. You can play as hard as you want and the string will not budge from the nut as long as you keep it in relative tune.

Repeat the process for the other strings, which should all be pretty easy except for the high E. The problem with the high E is that once it gets into the string post it has a ton of extra string because it is usually at the end of the headstock. It also has a lot more room in the nut than it is supposed to have. Paul McCartney used to cut up toothpicks and stuff the extra space with those. I do not reccommend this, as there really aren't many problems with the high E left in the low E slot.

The next conversion takes a bit more gusto and daring. Unscrew the screw holding the strap pin closest to the neck. Approximate the middle of the horn on what used to be the bass side and is now the treble side. With a hammer make a hole almost exactly on the other side from where th old hole is. Then screw the strap pin in and you're done!

The final modification is a lot trickier. No matter what kind of guitar you turn into a lefty it will have intonation problems once you're finished. Intonation has to do with the string's distance between the nut and bridge, and needs to be redone. I took it to a proffessional, as intonation is a very easy thing to screw up. If you're going to do it yourself, tune the guitar first. Then check the tuning of the 12th fret and then the 12th fret harmonic. They should be the same note, and if they're not you need to adjust the screw at the bridge and do it again until they are the same note.

Comments

[glassjawXmcr99]

1st.

[strangled]

you just scared the heck outa me
i would never try somthing like that cuz i just screw it up
but kudos to ya for figuring it our

[andythefir]

the beauty of this way of restringing it is that the only thing you can't change right back is the hole in the side. You can fill that with wood putty and paint over it and be right as rain.

[Jess831]

Apparently it isn't good to do that. I'm a lefty as well, and when I went to get my guitar I asked them if I could just get a right handed one and switch the strings around. They told me that it's not a good idea because when you start playing on the higher frets, like the 12th fret onwards it starts to sound different and it's just not a good idea in general.

[moonraker]

sounds like a good article to me

[moonraker]

actually ...it was alright

[im not mental]

good... for lefties.... i'm right handed.

[GuitarGuy77]

jess831 irefuse to understand how it could sound all that much different, but even with all these mods there is still the issue of the volume and tone nobs! so my advice is just buy a left handed guitar!

[strychnine_slut]

hopefully i won't ever have to do that, unless i miraculously turn from right to left overnight.

[chinko]

lol this is an old idea.....

jimmy hendrix did this!, however the bridge and nut problems are not worth it, also nailing a hole into the guitar!!!! you could do some serious damage

good article anyway

[South Paw]

great article, i have donr this and i have sold those little 40 dollar guitars for almost 200. MUY BUENO!!!! most guitars u dont have to worry bout bridge though, just the damn nut. soouthpaws for life

[Nine_Volt_Yoda]

I'm a lefty, but in my opinion it is easier to play a "right-handed" guitar. It may jsut be me, but forming the chords with my dominant left hand and moving along the fretboard and up and down the neck seems a lot easier with my left. I never had a problem with the things in the article because I just play a normal guitar. I don't know... I would think that right handed people would play left handed guitars as it would allow their dominant hand to the hard part. It was good, none the less

[IadultswimI]

im a lefty to and i play righty guitar.... it really dosent matter, its not like theres left handed pianio... but everyones different and they do things how they want them

[sensesfail1878]

YEAH!!!! LEFTIES RULE!!!!(i play right-handed but do everything else with my left) good article dude...well kinda useless actually...but meh.

[iliketaskate]

if you have problem with the nut then whe dont you just rip it out and glue it back on backwards?

[kurtpage]

I'm lefty 2 and doing all this isnt really worth it. IF you want a cheap guitar buy a Epiphone les paul specail..their lefties are under 200 i think or a squire strat. Both are good enough and are already lefty which is worth it

[Backup Guitar]

Uhh...

That was pretty good, but you missed a GLARING error: you have to take a jeweler's file and alter hte bridge so the thick strings fit into the skinny string slots!

[howaceisjoe]

cool, i saw this done onstage by a band called the holidayplan i stood there for 15 minutes trying to figure out wot he had done

[letsgomurphys06]

that was interesting even to a right hander...

[piperm]

hmm im left handed yet i play right handed, theres a nice brain teaser for u all

[neuroplay.com]

When you switch the right handed to a left handed you also get the problemof having the knobs on the top side, and your hand rubs on them and can move them, which isn't good on stage. Also, the output jack (if it is on the side) puts the chord up. this is a good thing though, it reduces the chance of you ripping it out... that's about all the problems i had.

[deftonesrule!!!]

im left handed but play right handed so ill never have to do that

[theused101]

thats so awesome that i see this article cuz i have my guitar, and im left handed and so is my guitar, but my grandpa has an old red tele in his closet thats right handed and since he gave it to me now its done sitting aound in my room with no strings

[civildp1]

unless your local store sucks right and left handed guitars cost the same

[boxcarblink41]

no they dont cost the same. theyre about 10-20 % extra.

[andythefir]

if the stores have lefty guitars at all

[Towllie]

im lefty got a left haned guitar
thats a kewl thing to do thou 5 stars

[DJ_Inferno2000]

27th

[Mikkel]

lefties should play right handed, which is the strongest hand? yeah the left, so which hand do you use more for fretting? left. im a lefty and my teacher always taught me to play right handed and i have no problems using my hands, just that for the first month i wanted to pick the guitar up the other way, it feels great once you get used to it.

so PLAY RIGHT HANDED LEFTIES

it pays off

[the fendernator]

um yes chords on leftys make me dyslexic too. every time

[JIBTEXHNKA]

jess831.. did you even read the last paragraph? he mentions the intonation problem and how to fix it

[morello_man]

im a lefty. its now too late for me too learn right handed, but its not a disability. it just disappoints me that every year companies like fender take left handed models out of production. in 2003's catalogue there's only about 6.

[deansouthpaw]

im a true lefty baby....look man, if u take a right handed guitar and make it southpaw it will sound different, maybe for the better....the low E string in the high E string slot will produce a very unique sound i know that much.....eric clapton did it vice versa with a lefty guitar.... if u get a cheap guitar and make it lefty it can be fun because u figure out all sorts of ways to alter tone

[CasualtiesArmy]

YA BEEN JUICED NIGGA!!

[atee]

I play 'backwards', have been ever since i touched a guitar. I'm already used to it. Did the restringing on my old strat, and the tone turned out kind of weird, but nice in a way. yep.

[Zerostarr]

Ok, why not change the strings around too???

[cconq9]

Hey, Hendrix did the same thing. Worked out okay for him...

[xconaxm44]

Yea I'm a lefty and bought a righty, switched it to lefty...the chord gets in the way sometimes but it's a lot better than buying a real lefty guitar, they're hard to find and so much more expensive. I don't play enough to know any sound differences, but it sounds fine to me =)

South Paw's \m/

[Bob_The_Moose]

Apparently it isn't good to do that. I'm a lefty as well, and when I went to get my guitar I asked them if I could just get a right handed one and switch the strings around. They told me that it's not a good idea because when you start playing on the higher frets, like the 12th fret onwards it starts to sound different and it's just not a good idea in general.

This'd be the same person who was trying to sell you a more expensive left handed guitar?

[xconaxm44]

haha

[Shards]

DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS PERSON. Most of his ideas are alright, but if you string a low E over a high E's nut slot you will end up with a BUSTED NUT. Whatever you decide to do, DON'T DO THAT. The round string pressing down on the smaller slot with all that tension will pry the plastic (or choreon or bone or whatever) apart, much like a (very flat) wedge. But it WILL break it. Trust me, I've been repairing guitars owned by people who deliberately ***ed up their strings like that.

[evie]

hehe that guy said busted nut

[bc2skaterpunk]

haha nice!

[atc228]

id like to say that u did a good job
im a righty so it is of no use to me...but good job

[Brummy]

Hey, i'm a leftie, and i started out playing on an old right handed acoustic strung upside down. Hey, all you people that say it sounds weird.... That's the beauty of it. It sure helped Hendrix get his sound. It just gives the guitar that something extra. Plus it looks cool. A right-handed guitarist playing a leftie upside down would just look plain silly wouldn't they. Ha Ha Ha!

[Dani_Filth]

Hey im a left handed guitarist who plays a right handed (ibanez) upside down...i've been playing for a year and a half now and know pretty much all the basics you need to know how to play guitar...i rarley read from tablature sights unless it's a song that i wanna learn every single step and note to...i am perfectly fine playing a right handed guitar upside down.....the only problem is that when playing with an amp standing up it screws you over....the knobs are going all over the ****ing place and your strap won't let you go past the 11th or 12th fret. But i have a solution for the very few of you who play like this...and i mean very few...go looking for a left handed guitar that has a 3 by 3 head stock and strap holders on the back of the guitar in the middle so it's kind of like an ambidextris (correct my spelling) guitar....if you are confused and have never seen a guitar like this go look at a epiphone SG....i've seen many SGs like this...and especially because it's left handed it won't bother you playing it with the strings flipped over

Now after purchasing your guitar bring it home (make sure you have another set of strings) and re string it the other way...NOTHING and i repeat NOTHING will get in your way....the knobs are on the right side....the strap can be used both ways without getting in your way...and the strings are able to reach because theres 3 tuning keys on each side....

so there you go all of oyu that play like i do try it out if you look like a misfit the way you play....and don't let any **ck heads tell you otherwise

-Dani_filth/Jesse Curry

[Vinura]

nice article..quite useful

[Berserk]

personally, i'm learning the guitar upside down like Hendrix. Just stick it out and learn it the hard way.

[rds0811]

I'm a lefty that's really just starting to play, and I've got a decent lefty squier strat. By looking at the shape of the body (on the right hander), it would seem to me that you wouldn't be able to comfortably reach several of the highest frets without your hand running into the body.

[gdempsey38]

Here's an idea for you lefties. PLAY RIGHT HANDED if you don't want to buy a left handed guitar. It's all the same, you just have to learn how to do it... to a starting guitarist, playing a G chord left handed with a left handed guitar is exactly the same as playing a G chord right handed with a right handed guitar. If a right handed kid was learning how to write left handed, he would be fine.

P.S. The high e string sounds like shit when it's in the low e nut slot, cause there's too much space. and the low E string sounds like shit when it's in the high e nut slot, cause's there's too little space and it's sitting on top of the slot instead of fitting nicely into it.

P.P.S. Left handed guitars are no more expensive than right handed ones... why would they be? Same materials, same amounts, same quality... just backwards. Don't believe me? Go to www.musiciansfriend.com and look for left handed ones. You should find the prices to be quite similar.

[dbzrage3k]

see, what i did, is, being a lefty, i bought a right-handed guitar, and i played it right-handed.

[KevBlue18]

lefties are very strange people ..all you righties watch out for the lefties they will get you to do strange things such as playing guitars up-side down.....do it "right" you idiot lefties.

[endofeverything]

in my opinion it's not even really worth it, to go through all the hassles of swapping it around, which leaves lots of room for error, or spending the extra money for a left-handed guitar, unless of course you have parents that care about you or something. it's just as easy to play right handed guitars. That's what I do.

[endofeverything]

KevBlue18:
lefties are very strange people ..all you righties watch out for the lefties they will get you to do strange things such as playing guitars up-side down.....do it "right" you idiot lefties.
[POSTED: 04 January 2005 - 22:25]|

little stereotypical, don't you think?

[jc0r]

Some left handed people can adapt to playing right handed, others can't. I'm one of the latter :/ It's plain to see theres a few people here that don't understand what left handed guitarist have to go through been a minority n all. When i was younger all i ever wanted was a Les Paul, i had to sacrifice two! Xmas's in order to get it, and pay extra from a weekend job i had. I still have the Les Paul which i love to bits but my second axe is a Strat 73 Reissue MIJ, right handed converted. I get as much fun outta the strat as i do the LP i swear. All i did to my strat was remove the tone pots as i never really bother with them and they get in the way a little upside down :P, and move the volume to the middle as i found that suited best.

Les Paul
http://www.jc0r.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DSC00581.JPG
Strat
http://www.jc0r.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DSC00582.JPG

[power chordz]

just take a look at jimi hendrix's guitar there meant for a right handed person but switched for left jimi
im a lefty too my guitar is upside down just like jimi yea im am cool!!
RIP jimi hendrix
RIP kurt cobian
(they were both leftys

[kirk_rules!]

i have no idea why i read that whole fuccking thing. im right handed!

[Daysra]

I'm left handed
But when I bought my first guitar when I was 13 I decided just to get a right handed guitar and learn from that. I feels awkward in the beginning only because I've been air guitaring the left-handed way years before that. But when I started learning my first (major + minor) chords then the awkwardness just goes away.

[axeslinger01]

WOW! switchin the strings SO HARD! i never realized how HARD it was to switch the strings, dang this is rediculas

[IlIkE2plygUItAr]

hehe...nut slots...hehe...

[ebashnitzil]

good for hendrix posers or poor people (like me)

but im righty so i dont have to deal with it

nice article

[jamis8891]

im a lefty and playing righty is just as easy. i can play both ways, but prefer righty. good to know if i want to turn my left handed guitar into a righty though

[FATa|]

Im lefthanded and I play lefthanded too. I only do so from habit. I've gotte nto good to relearn it all again right hadned. I would if i had the chance og back and learn to play from scratch righthanded, simply because there is no real choice for left handers, its so amazingly frustrating, its like your discimnated against. lol. I can however play chords upside down on a righthanded guitar. some chords are easier for instance. playing a righthanded guitar upside (and vice versa for any righthanded people who're bored) can give you a pretty cooky sound, kinda backwards strumming,

[NirvanaRox13]

why the hell would you want to switch....

[LeoKhenir]

The problem with the tuners is easy solved: Simple switch them. They aren't so hard to take off (If you don't want to do it, take it to your store, they do it for you. If they mess up (unlikely) you'll get a new by warranty.

And stores usually don't mind ordering a special lefty for you, and it doesn't cost ALL that much more.

[playgtr055]

yea well im left handed but i learned right handed and i had no trouble. if your a lefty and just starting out dont learn left handed unless you just absolutely want to. the reason being there are so many guitars that are only made for righties and only a handful made for lefties. thats the reason i didnt learn left handed.

[pinion18]

Wish kurt had learned to play the left-handed guitar before he pretended to....

[innuendo_247]

NO! You need to learn lefty if you are lefty, unless it feels naatural for you to play right-handed. Most people complain about not having enough lefty guitars out there, but we can still get Gibson SGs, Les Pauls, Strats/Teles, most ibanez guitars. Every playing style fits into those guitars, o you don't hve an excuse, unless you like $700 BC Rich or £300 Mavericks...

[Pennyroyal Tea]

Lefty here. When i was a kid i learnt classical guitar right handedly, coz i didn't think it was important to tell my teacher i was a lefty.... as a result i kindof can play with both quite easily, but i picked playing left handed, simply coz i'm proud to be one.

Regarding choice of guitars i didn't have much of a problem. I wanted a standard fender strat, and found one without many problems (got quite a discount on it too, i got it down to 500 euros from 600)

[hardcoreatheist]

my gf plays a right handed guitar shes a lefty, tip for beginers u dont need a left handed guitar just use opposite hands to everyone else. I wouldnt recomend gettin a righty guitar if uve been playin left for a while though, my gf tried playin a lefty and it was 'wierd'

[sexy-man]

yeah im a lefty but if its not that big a deal start righty, and you ll spend less and have a much bigger selection, example a small local guitar/music store usually has 50 to 60 guitars (including electrics, acoustics, mandolins, banjos ect) and uslually only 1 or 2 is a lefty but if ur like me when i started i do everything w/ my left and it just felt strange or foreign to me to play right handed, good article

[BloodSugarMegan]

i have a left handed strat and i restrung the strings to where the E is at the bottom e at the top...kinna unusual but it works

[break_it down]

yeah im left handed and originally picked up a guitar left handed but i decieded that i didnt wanna go through all the "not enough left handed guitars crud" and changing rightys to leftys so i stuck it out and learned right handed. heaps good

[JustaDude]

Just wanted to bring up a question regarding the pickups. Do they need to be flopped as well. All of you mean spirited (htin type)people really cant be musicians can you. Peace to all. Rock on

[JustaDude]

Just wanted to bring up a question regarding the pickups. Do they need to be flopped as well. Lay off the leftys. All of you mean spirited (hatin type)people really cant be musicians can you. Peace to all. Rock on

[Pennyroyal Tea]

lefties should play right handed, which is the strongest hand? yeah the left, so which hand do you use more for fretting? left. im a lefty and my teacher always taught me to play right handed and i have no problems using my hands, just that for the first month i wanted to pick the guitar up the other way, it feels great once you get used to it.

So how come right handers don't play lefty guitars instead?

[VanHendrix_]

Its all a conspiracy, the righties are just jealous cause we have the greatest guitarist in our corner so they decide to take us down, discouraging us by deliberately taking out all the left handed guitars off the market. Then they come on acting like "lefties" and telling us the evils of our sinistrality and we have to "repent" and learn it right handed cause it will be easier. Pft, they're just doing that so we don't realize how boss we are on the guitar and they don't get owned by us during band auditions and concerts cause everyone knows the best people ever were left handed. Jimi was left handed, and Jesus was left handed (true! read the bible). So all you righties and so-called "lefties" who have a nice selection of guitars wherever you go, while we lefties have to get ours from the backroom, need to stfu because you never have to worry about not finding a guitar that suits you and getting the only one you can find or having to restring. Let us rock and leave us alone. Peace

[not_dead_enough]

If you are a left-handed person and learn right-handed guitar you will never be as good a player as you would be learning left from the start, as any time spent overcoming the awkwardness and adjusting to the right-handed style of playing could have been spent further practising just playing guitar (left handed).

[ET112]

I'm ambidextrous so it really doesn't really matter what hand I play with but I always turn a guitar from right handed to left handed and left handed to right handed I just think it looks cooler and better I prefer playing left handed though

[AppleQueso]

My friend is left handed, and he plays an upside-down righty. He doesn't even restring it. He's been playing that way for over two years.

[apbell52]

i read this article out of boredom... i am a righty and i actually play leftie guitars about 25 percent of the time, for like songs that dont have alot of chords except for a few powers... because my right hand is more dominant, i can move up and down the neck faster than my left ripping out faster crazier solos.

[BobTheBlob]

i'm a lefty who sorta regrets not playing righty now that im looking for a new guitar. it's not really a big deal though, unless you plan on becoming a gearhead. our selection might be limited, but we can still get all the the really popular/famous stuff.

[OldShopGuitar]

i'm a lefty and i had this righty guitar that i got in a pawn shop for $50 in the corner of my room for about 3 years..thanks to this article i just ordered a new nut off ebay for about $6, so i can do this. vary nice article

[t3l3caster]

All these people saying that leftys should play righty... I was told the same thing yet I would be absolutely no where near as good as I am now on guitar if I had learnt to play right handed. Alright, there is definately a much larger choice of guitars for right handers, but if it feels natural to play lefty, then play lefty.
Good article by the way, I'm gonna try this on my dad's right handed yamaha pacifica.