Southpaws: are there many out there?

[billcrawford]

Why are we discriminated against by guitar manufacturers? Surely there must be enough of us out there to demand access to the same choices and prices as our R/H brothers. I even heard of a guitar teacher who teaches lefthand students to play conventional R/H guitars upside down! Can this be OK?
CODA

[zepo]

Flipping a R/H upside down isn't new (Jimi Hendrix did it) Plus it is a cool way to get new tonal possiblities because of how the pickups are set. When you flip you guitar you flip the settings the part of the pickup that is suppsosed to pickup the bass strings now picks up the treble and vice a versa. I flipped my middle single on my fat strat it has a pretty cool sound to it. But I do agree you leftys should have the same selection and price we have.

[PonyOne]

I'm a lefty, and other than guitar and saxophone playing, my right hand is more or less useless.

If you are a leftie starting out and need a good, cheap guitar that you can flip left, get an Epi SG. They only cost about 200 dollars, the bridge is easy to reset, and the fact that is has the double-cutaway devil horns makes it so you have better access to the frets than if you did it to, say, a strat, LP or tele. The double hum config gives you more of a range of options; the stock pickups are only so-so, but you have a plethora of options out there.

I can play either right or left handed, and can play the strings either way as well. My SG is a flipped rightie, my 12 string and my Tele are both normal righties, and I am saving up for a lefty fat strat or a fat strat copy.
I usually play rythm right handed, but play speed metal, shred, and that sort of sort of stuff lefty.

[Raskolnikov]

Being left handed is only an issue if you learn that way. Most guitar teachers I know point out that your fretting hand does most of the work, not the picking hand. So being left handed would be an advantage there.

[Bardsley]

I'm a lefty to a degree, but I play guitar right handed. I figure I have more dexterity in my left hand, so it is good, but hten, I have always been part right-handed, I hold bats and throw with my right hand, kick with my right foot, and I am a left handed cook.

[billcrawford]

Bill's back. Flip a multi-pole single coil pickup and hear the difference? I don't think so!
However, Zepo should be a politician (reading the end of his reply).
Flip a r/h guitar (i.e. strings transposed) and you've immediately lost intonation as well as string slide through the nut. The typical bridge rake doesn't allow for saddle adjustment to compensate, so the guitar can't be tuned properly. Come on, admit it, a lefthander has real obstacles if he can't afford a bespoke instrument!
PonyOne, you must be unique!

[Raskolnikov]

1). Intonation is usually adjustable.
2). Nuts can be replaced
3). Single coil pole peices are often stagard, so if you have good ears their is an audable difference. This isn't even getting into coil windings, hum cancelation/ no longer canceled...

But yes, if you choose to play a guitar left handed, you're going to run into some real problems. That's why it's probably better to just play right handed. After all, the guy who invented the format that Guitars, Mandolines, Lutes, etc on back take wasn't left handed and everybody just assumed that's the way it's supposed to be? Maybe what we consider a "right handed" guitar really is a left handed one.