Buying a vintage guitar

Andy79

Have a look at Mark Stutman, Folkway music. He does that on his demo guitars. Pretty good at it 

Hattigol

guitars4you said:

ICBM said:

For £1K you’re unlikely to find anything that is left-handed, vintage, and good - maybe difficult even at £2K.

As Funkfingers said, you can’t flip most vintage Gibsons - I would go further than just the stoptail ones too, you can’t even really do it with a normal angled tune-o-matic. That probably leaves a 70s SG with a ‘harmonica’ bridge as the best option, and even then you will need to do work on the saddles and the nut. And the controls and pickguard will still be in the wrong place.

I would look for an older CS or standard US Fender, which are rare but not non-existent in left-handed. Even those have some irritations that need fixing, like the wrong taper pots for LH, and RH-numbered knobs.

Old is cool, but good is better...

probably the best sentence I've read on FB

Couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, there are many who would happily disregard the middle 4 words.

johnhe

Just thinking aloud. Couldn’t you buy a right handed guitar - for example an SG or 330 or Junior or such. Then flip it to the way you play. Not perfect, but manageable?

The problem I’m reading about in the above posts is the bridge intonation. But could you not simply swap to a modern bridge - only for when you play the guitar, then if you ever want to sell, just refit the original bridge back on and you’re good to go. No?

Luke29

johnhe said:

Just thinking aloud. Couldn’t you buy a right handed guitar - for example an SG or 330 or Junior or such. Then flip it to the way you play. Not perfect, but manageable?

The problem I’m reading about in the above posts is the bridge intonation. But could you not simply swap to a modern bridge - only for when you play the guitar, then if you ever want to sell, just refit the original bridge back on and you’re good to go. No?

This was my initial thinking too. I’m not a player who needs the ‘best’ equipment, so something that plays ok and stays half in tune is good enough for me! Just adds to the experience...:D

Henrytwang

Funkfingers said:

Flipping a right-handed mk2 or mk3 Gibson Melody Maker to use left-handed will create several problems.

1) The control knobs and the cable plugged into the output jack socket will be directly in the way of your strumming/picking hand.

2) Unless you play with the low E string closest to the ground, the preset intonation ridge along the wrapover bridge will be the reverse of what you require. It will be necessary to obtain a replacement part whose intonation ridge is preset for a plain G string.

3) The nut will need either reslotting or replacing. This will negatively affect the guitar’s monetary worth.

I’m inclined to agree, the intonation would probably be a big problem with a Melody Maker . There are a couple of grub screws in the basic bridge/tailpiece arrangement allowing for some adjustments but probably not enough for what you want to do.

Henrytwang

Luke29 said:

Thanks everyone for the insight, it’s appreciated.

I’ll do my research and have a think as to what to do next and take the advice on board. 

I quite like the idea of leaving it completely standard and just learning to play upside down. Easy, no doubt, eh...

If anyone does see a decent deal on something in my criteria, please do shoot it my way. I’m serious when I say I’d give learning to play upside down a go! Bonus if it actually is a lefty...

Cheers again.

Flipping a right handed guitar to play left handed with the strings upside down certainly didn’t do Albert King any harm.

SteveRobinson

I just checked Reverb for left-hand 60s Gibson guitars and this absolute dog was the only one listed
https://reverb.com/item/33255920-left-handed-gibson-sg-special-1960-s-cherry-red

Strangefan

SteveRobinson said:

I just checked Reverb for left-hand 60s Gibson guitars and this absolute dog was the only one listed
https://reverb.com/item/33255920-left-handed-gibson-sg-special-1960-s-cherry-red

I'd rather eat my own face than pay £1200 for that! 

Funkfingers

SteveRobinson said:

Reverb ... absolute dog

Reported to the RSPCG.