"Hendrixising" a guitar

goreill2

i'm left handed i've been playing for a good few years but am only now thinking about upgrading from a squier strat to a fender strat. I figure I could save a bit if I bought a right handed strat and turned it upside down. (the thomann price is only 380 for a right handed strat on special - I know most shops have only a small price variance between left and right handed ones). I've tried this with a friends strat and bar not being able reach the highest frets properly i can't see a difference.

so to make it short:

What are the disadvantages playing a restrung right handed strat upside down a la Hendrix?

cheers..

Thomas from Presence

I suppose the most obvious one is that the controls will be all arseways and you'll probably end up hitting the pick-up selector switch more often than is right if you strum with gusto. The guitar you buy will also have to be set-up to account for the new stringing arrangements.

david

Intonation will be messed up if you dont get it set up properly, I could never play a reverse strung guitar, its way to awkward for me, the €100 more or so for a lefty is only a small premium to pay for ease of playing etc

goreill2

yeah i figured the intonation would have to be set and it is awkward having the controls on the wrong side but i dunno €100 seems a lot to play for a small increase in playability.. you might be right tho..

does anyone have first hand experience of playing/ choosing to play a right handed guitar upside down?

cheers for the input guys

libriumbum

There is a lot of down sides to doing this,
You will have to setup the intonation and sort out the thruss rod more than likely,
the nut at the headstock will have to be changed to accommodate the difference in string size,
You probably wont be able to use the trem on it as it will be on the top of the bridge instead of the bottom,
the control pots will be on the wrong side but some find it an advantage as its easier to reachquickley while playing,
you mentioned that you had trouble reaching the higher frets, this might not mean much now but in the future as your playing improves you will most likely need want to reach them,
to a lesser degree there is the small things like having to change the strap button to the small arm, and the spring tension on the bridge will have to be sorted out.
Personnally i would steer away from buying a righty guitar and spending a little more on a guitar setup for your needs.

fish-head

Yeah it's simple really, buy a lefty if you're a lefty.

david

€100 isnt a lot to pay, you'll thank me, anyway a righty will prevent your guitar playing from improving because its a heck of a lot more awkward to play

gaffmaster

It would probably cozt you about €100 to get a pro to switch it to lefty for you? Unless you can do it yourself? There's more in it than meets the eye. Are you looking at a mexican standard strat? Maybe look for a second hand lefty while you're at it.

G'luck

Nidge

I must say I really don't think that's a good idea. As has been mentioned it'll probably cost you more than €100 to adjust everything for left-handed guitar playing. The most important two things for me that are the most important when buying a guitar:playability and tone in particular order. As far as I can see both will be effected, of course you can spend money to adjust it so the intonation and all will be normal so eventually the tone will be set right. But playability effects tone. I can imagine you will eventually get pissed off with the higher register being unreachable. I can only see that this is a novelty, and one that will wear off fairly quickly once it dawns on you that you'll have to live with it. Finally, what if you hate it? Then you've spent the guts of €100 or over making a Hendrix-played righty that potentially no one else will want, who'll buy it? You may then have to spend money to set it right for right-handed players. By that stage you've spent far too much money on a guitar you were meant to save on and you'll barely recoup at all. Long story short: NO

Patricide

I dunno if this has been mentioned but the most obvious one to me is that youl have less of a cutaway and therefor wont have easy access to the higher frets, could be a problem soloing.

X-SL

hendrix played an upside down guitar?

david

Yes

X-SL

what a 'tard

david

Yeah that pic is priceless, that tard sure gots soul though