flipping a righty to a lefty

[chopper45hd]

hi all, can you flip a righty guitar over to a lefty and still get intoneation correct? i was thinking about getting a new bass and since i cant get a body style i like thats made in left handed i was just going to flip the strings around.
was checking a few basses out at a music store and the tech there said you cant do that and it be correct,that the bridge wasnt right and the nut was rounded to be right handed and that i would never get a good sound out of it and be happy with it.
is this true or was the guy just tryin to sell me a more expensive guitar?

[Matt_B]

What brand and model bass are we talking about here?

In general, you can flip a right-handed guitar/bass around for a lefty. The nut will need to be at least modified/probably replaced of course but unless it has some kind of whacky bridge, you should be able to intonate for a lefty. As far as being able to get a good sound of out it (righty converted to lefty), as long as it's set-up correctly, it will sound as good as the person playing it can make it sound.

[Jovu]

I know someone who plays a flipped righty, he's still fairly new to guitar though so I don't know if he could tell the difference, but sound is just the same.

[atdguitars]

hi all, can you flip a righty guitar over to a lefty and still get intoneation correct? i was thinking about getting a new bass and since i cant get a body style i like thats made in left handed i was just going to flip the strings around.
was checking a few basses out at a music store and the tech there said you cant do that and it be correct,that the bridge wasnt right and the nut was rounded to be right handed and that i would never get a good sound out of it and be happy with it.
is this true or was the guy just tryin to sell me a more expensive guitar?

I flip guitars here at the shop quite often. The nut will have to be replaced and cut for a lefty and if the bridge saddles are size specific , switch them around as well.
As far as the intonation is concerned, the guitar itself doesn't know the difference. If its a 2x2 headstock very little will change in feel. If its a straight 4 then you will feel a difference in string tension due to the string length changes.

[chopper45hd]

the bass i was looking at was an iceman, and while i know its not a jackson this is the place to get answers about guitars so dont slam me too bad lol.
anyway its the ibanez icemanbass.

[chopper45hd]

I flip guitars here at the shop quite often. The nut will have to be replaced and cut for a lefty and if the bridge saddles are size specific , switch them around as well.
As far as the intonation is concerned, the guitar itself doesn't know the difference. If its a 2x2 headstock very little will change in feel. If its a straight 4 then you will feel a difference in string tension due to the string length changes.

so there wouldnt be a truss rod issue when flipping?
i have a model 4 that has been flipped and its great really wish they had made the model series in leftys tho.

[Dred]

so there wouldnt be a truss rod issue when flipping?
i have a model 4 that has been flipped and its great really wish they had made the model series in leftys tho.

In a nutshell, truss rod won't be an issue if you keep the same tuning and gauge, no matter which way the bass is strung up. It shouldn't at least. I've looked at the Iceman basses, and the 2+2 heads they have pretty much ensure the chnge in string tension and feel will be minimal, as ATD pointed out!

Now about it never sounding right when flipped, if that tech told me that in his shop, he'd be getting a few guitar-fulls of wood in his teeth! I suspect he's simply too lazy to do his own work, or is a know-it-all teen/young adult.

The bass will sound right, don't worry. As others said, once the nut is replaced (size-specific slots) and if need be, saddles are rearranged due them being size specific as well, the bass will intonate, play, sound, whatever just fine!

[MartinBarre]

Isn't an Iceman going to be a major pain in the ass to play upside down?

[Super_shredder]

Isn't an Iceman going to be a major pain in the ass to play upside down?

tell that to paul gilbert his new ibanez is based on an upside down iceman

[Dred]

tell that to paul gilbert his new ibanez is based on an upside down iceman

Except he has a cutaway where the upper bout would be on an upright Iceman.

The access won't be any worse than a bass Ironbird, I don't think. Those are horrible as far as upper fret access goes.

[leftybob]

Except he has a cutaway where the upper bout would be on an upright Iceman.

The access won't be any worse than a bass Ironbird, I don't think. Those are horrible as far as upper fret access goes.

You mean like this ? I sent PM about flippin ...

[leftybob]

#1 of 2 flips of bass

[chopper45hd]

cool flips would love to see more stuff like that.
i got offered a bc rich innovator bass which i would have to flip are they any good ? worth having?
thoughts,comments?

[leftybob]

cool flips would love to see more stuff like that.
i got offered a bc rich innovator bass which i would have to flip are they any good ? worth having?
thoughts,comments?

If it's like this one I would say it would be right easy.

rest of pics ... http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/g...R%20Innovator/