Left-Handed Guitars

Hufschmid H6 Left Handed Tele style! -Salvaged Bastogne Walnut Top -Premium and 'Rift-Sawn' one piece Sapelli Mahogany neck -Premium and 'Rift-Sawn' one piece Sapelli Mahogany body -Indian Rosewood fingerboard, 25.5'' scale, 24 frets, 12'' radius -Custom built Kent Armstrong 12 poles by Kent Armstrong himself -Luminlay photo-luminescent side dots -Hipshot tuning machines and bridge -West African Ebony control buttons -Excusive Techtron HPV® nut -Tru-Oil finish 15 coats UTILIZATION This is the most amazing instrument I have ever played! I have owned just about every brand of guitar made that is available left handed. I have always been looking for that one guitar that just fit and not having to hear you'll get use to it. I ran across Patrick Hufschmids brand by accident and was quite intrigued. After months of conversations with Patrick and him agreeing to make a lefty for me the process began. I could only go by what I read and saw on the internet due to the fact that he is located in Switzerland. After a couple months of waiting I received a guitar that oozed quality and feel. I have never had a guitar melt in my hands upon first picking it up and this one did. No plastic pieces on this gem. I have never felt like a guitar just fit until now. I have nothing negative to say about it. SOUNDS I run through a British Made Gibson Super Goldtone 30 watt Tube Amp dual channel switchable I'm using a TC Electronics G-System with a TC Nova Drive and 2 expression pedals As far as sound I can produce just about any style you want to create. Settings? You could spend all day listing this stuff......... As far as suiting a style of music, I have not found it's limitations....... OVERALL OPINION The thing I really liked was that the neck and body both came from the same Mahogany Rift-Sawn board and both are one piece not glued pieces to make a body or neck. Most neck and bodies don't even come from the same forest. I was asked for a hand trace so he could create a neck radius to suit the size of my hand. Call up any of the Brand names and see what they think, NOT! The fact that Patrick hand makes these is amazing. No production line here waiting for the noon whistle. Simply put, the Best Guitar I've ever owned or played and I've had about all of them...... I have nothing negative to say about this guitar. The feel, the looks, everything is quality with no shortcuts. I've read a few things where people have stated they can spend less and get a better guitar and I'm thinking they are the type that the free guitar strap and window sticker is the sell point. Sure your going to spend a little more then if you walked into your 50% off sale at the local mass produced big money guitar store, but a better quality, better playing, better sounding!? Not even close! I would not hesitate to purchase another Hufschmid guitar if I was looking for another Great guitar or if something happened to mine. Jam On and I Thank You Patrick Hufschmid Guitars.....

Carvin is a small guitar maker who makes everything to order to the customer specs. Because every guitar is made to order there is no up-charge for lefty models. They make the lefty models as they are ordered. There is no middle man when it comes to Carvin guitars and this allows them to give everyone factory direct prices. They save the cost of selling to suppliers and pass the savings on to the customer. The customer is able to customize any part of their guitar and get any kind of wood or electronics configuration they want. The CT series is a newer line from Carvin. It was introduced in 2004 and has a shape similar to most PRS guitars. The CT6 is the top of the line model in the CT carved top series. For these guitars they select the highest quality AAAA woods for the tops and they are all real lookers. The body and neck are made from mahogany from Honduras. The top wood on the body is 20mm of super high quality flamed maple with quilts available as options. The fretboard is ebony of course with big beautiful block inlays. It has dual carvin C22 pickups with master tone and volume knobs. The tone knob has a push/pull coil split function to give you single coil sounds. The bridge is your choice of Floyd Rose, Wilkinson Fender style tremolo or Tune-o-matic string through the body bridge. This one I had has a tune-o-matic. The string through tune-o-matic is well setup and is not standing up high on the posts. UTILIZATION Carvins neck is what they call a "Rapid Play" action on the neck. You can select the fretboard radius you want all the way up to 20 inches. The neck is lined up with the body to ensure you get the lowest fastest action possible. The neck is the standard Carvin 25 inch scale which gives you the best of both worlds between a Fender and a Gibson. The Carvin bridge is locking so it doesnt fall off when you are changing strings and it is laying right on the body. On some tune-o-matic bridges the bridge is way up high on the posts. Carvin does not do that. The ebony fretboard is great under your fingers. I feel that ebony is the best wood for fretboards. There is a reason orchestral instruments have used ebony for hundreds of years. The carved top body fits your body like a clove and does not dig in anywhere. You can get a satin finish also which will make the body even more comfortable. SOUNDS Carvin pickups are made to be good all around pickups so they are not great at any one thing. They are medium output and have their own distinct sounds. The neck pickup can give you the good creamy neck pickup tones that you always like. The push pull coil splitting tone knob gives even more tonal variety. The single coil tones are nice but without a middle pickup you cant really emulate many of the iconic strat tones. The bridge pickup is pretty weak for the type of music I play. It would be good for clean playing or some classic rock but it does not have the output or clarity for heavy music. Dropping a Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio in the bridge could really wake this guitar up. If you are playing metal you could install some EMG's but that would require changing all of the electronics. OVERALL OPINION The extra money most companies charge for lefty guitars is crazy and you will have to sell your house to get a lefty built to your specs from most companies. The Carvin CT6M is right up there with Gibsons and PRS guitars in terms of quality and is pretty much half the price. Gibson or PRS wont make a guitar for your specs without charging atleast 5000 dollars and dont even ask for a lefty. Carvin does that for pretty much every model up and down the range. Carvin gives the working guitarist realistic prices for high quality custom gear. If you cant find a guitar with the woods or specs you want you should check out Carvin. It is more than likely that they have or can build you a guitar that meets your exceeds your expectations.

For a long time this was the only Prestige lefty guitar Ibanez made. It is a lefty version of the 1570 which is just a modern version of the 570. The Ibanez Prestige factory in Japan is where they make their best guitars. These guitars get more attention and quality control than all the other Ibanez guitars. The RG1570 is the modern version of the classic RG570. It is made in the Ibanez Prestige factory in Japan and the quality really shows. Like most Ibanez RG's it features a basswood body with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The prestige models get a 5 piece neck for extra stability. This means the neck is made from 5 pieces of wood to help prevent warping. This is important when you have a neck as thin as an Ibanez RG neck. The Edge Pro tremolo system is one of the best on the market and once setup it holds tune perfectly. It has a set of Ibanez pickups in an HSH configuration and a master volume and master tone control with a 5 way switch. UTILIZATION There are not many lefty guitars out there so one that plays this good really stands out. Ibanez got it right in the 80s and they havent messed it up. A superstrat body with deep cutaways connected to a super thin neck makes playing everywhere on the neck a breeze. Ibanez gives special care to the fretwork on the prestige models, this is the greatest difference between the prestige models and the normal models. Like many of the new Ibanez RG models the 1570 features the all access neck joint so you can comfortably play in the high registers of the neck. The tremolo is a great quality unit and will stay in tune well when properly setup. One minor thing is that the lower cutaway is so sharp it kind of pokes me when i rest my hand on it. This is not a big deal but its something that only happens to me on Ibanez RG's SOUNDS The factory pickups hold this guitar back a bit. Basswood is a decent tone wood. It is not the best the the pickups are clearly inferior. The neck pickup provides an okay sound. It can be smooth for solos and leads and clean stuff. The bridge pickup is too weak. I had to check if my volume knob what up all the way when I plugged it in. Coming from a guitar with high output pickups to this shows you how bad some factory pickups can be. Their guitars match up well with aftermarket pickups. Most people only put Dimarzios in Ibanez guitars but other brands work well too. A pickup change can help get a heavier sound out of the basswood. With the single coil in the middle you must remember that the single coil will produce much more ambient noise than the two humbuckers. So keep this in mind when you are switching pickups. If you are looking for a straight metal tone a set of EMG's could make this guitar a monster if you dont mind changing out all the electronics. OVERALL OPINION Ibanez only offers a handfull of lefty RG models currently and this is one of them. I am still waiting for them to make an RGA in lefty with a hardtail. I have been waiting for years for that one and will probably be waiting a long time to come. Finding a decently priced players guitar that comes in lefty is pretty rare so this Ibanez is a real gem. I regret selling it but I have now replaced it with another lefty Ibanez that plays just as well. If you are left handed and looking for a great playing guitar the RG1570L is on of a few.

I am older and wanted to learn how to play and my wife purchased it for Christmas. Being Left handed left me limited options and I did my homework and fell upon this particular model for a quality guitar. Now over a decade later it looks and plays as good as the first day I unboxed it. I was told that the sound bars are a weakness in lower end acoustics but Yamaha did a great job in designing and assembling it. No issues or problems and hold tune very well. Just minor adjustments for humidity, I have restrung many times experimenting with different materials and gauges and it is able to conform to the many sounds I brought upon it. It will be with me for the rest of my life and I am not looking to ever replace it.

Crafted in Indonesia - American Design and Engineering by Greg Bennett S/N: SI30600581 Description from the Greg Bennett Guitar website: When you consider the various parts of the guitar, the top is clearly the most critical element. The top, in the most basic sense, acts like an air pump. The more flexible the top material, the more efficiently it translates the energy from the string into the sound waves that we hear as music. Instruments made with solid tops produce greater volume, fuller tone, and have stronger projection. The WORTHINGTON™ series acoustics have a solid spruce top, in a package with striped mahogany sides and back for clarity and balance. Mahogany may be the best overall wood if you need an evenly balanced sound. The balance lets the serious player determine the tone by the way he plays the guitar. The soft corner bridge design helps prevent finish cracking at the corners. Grover™ tuners round out a truly professional package. D 5 LH FEATURES: •Left handed Dreadnought cutaway body •Solid Spruce top, Mahogany back and sides •Nato Mahogany neck •Rosewood fingerboard (12” radius) •Nut width 1 11/16” •20 fret, 25 1/2”scale •Dot inlay •5-ply cream binding •Grover™ A102C, 14:1 ratio tuners •Rosewood bridge AVAILABLE FINISHES: Natural (gloss) UTILIZATION A typical Dreadnought that is well balanced from head stock to strap pin. It has a very nice, relatively loud bass with clear highs for a solid spruce top acoustic in this price range. This guitar was lightly used, came with a Fender gig bag and still had the original strings on it. The protective film was still on the pick guard. Being a used guitar, I don't know if the action had been lowered or it came that way from the factory but it is low and plays very good up the neck w/o any string buzz. At the 12th fret, it is exactly in tune on 5 strings. The B string is just a wee bit on the flat side. I don't know what material the nut and saddle are made of but they appear to be of much better quality than plastic. The saddle looks to be hand fitted. SOUNDS I am impressed by it's overall balanced sound. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is probably one of the most underrated acoustic guitars for under $400. It is no longer in production in a lefty version but there are a few used ones out there. You just have to look for them. The right handed specifications are the same. This guitar is very nice looking with the reddish hue of the Mahogany back and sides. It appears to be made with pride by the Samick employees who in the past have made lots of guitars for "other brands". In comparison, this guitar sounds as good as my Fender DG-14S, Washburn D-10S, and Epiphone PR350S which are all lefty solid top acoustics.

I've played guitar for over 30 years. I've played different stuff over the years--mostly blues & rock, but now primarily play my 12 string at church I had tried a Mustang a couple of years before I actually bought one--they weren't to common around here in the late 70's/early 80's. I bought it in 81. I was in a music store to buy a phase shifter--instead I put a down payment on a Mustang. The store was having a moving sale and the lower price was impossible to pass up! (I later got the phase shifter as well.) The small neck. I have long fingers, and can handle larger scales--but it's fun to really stretch out on the smaller scale. Also it's great for learning tricky pieces before trying them on another guitar.Also the sound--I love the out of phase setting.I also love the floating trem--it's smooth, subtle and works well. I'm more a humbucker guy than single coil, but I think if I put humbuckers on this, it would ruin it. It can be quiet--as far as volume, but I guess that's why amps have volume controls! In any case having the pickups out of phase sort of, (but not exactly), gives a humbucker sound--although the coils are separated. (Humbuckers have 2 coils out of phase.) Sturdy, bolt on neck.Electronics on pickguard. There were 2 Mustangs at the store--one a beautiful sunburst with a maple neck, and an ugly brown one with a rosewood neck. At first I was hesitant in a way as I don't like maple fingerboards. The salesman said they could swap necks--so I did that. Sunburst with rosewood fingerboard! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

My musical tastes and playing style have always revolved around 1980's Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. I play a lot of fast lead guitar, think Satch/Vai/Gilbert/Van Halen etc. Basically I needed a good guitar - a decent, quality guitar that had that Hard Rock/HM sound and had a good neck for fast playing. I had always loved the Yamaha RGX series guitars, but was yearning for something... "more". Enter the Ibanez... Having tried an Ibanez RG in a local music shop a few years back, I knew this was my ideal guitar; "the one". The looks. The way it played. The sound. I eventually got round to looking for one. I decided upon the Prestige model RG2550. I paid £640 for it at GuitarGuitar in Edinburgh in December 2005. Er... erm... well... everything!!! It looks great, the shape is very comfortable and the guitar is light. The wizard neck feels absolutely delightful to play, very fast and with big frets. The Dimarzio/IBZ pick-ups sound fantastic, especially through my stock Marshall Valvestate (I run the guitar straight to the amp, no effects). The pick-ups are so powerful they can add a bit of drive to a clean channel on your amp. And backing of the mids with the bridge humbucker selected gives "that" oh-so-80's sound. Lovely. Plus, due to the Edge-Pro vibrato (basically a Floyd Rose), I rarely have to tune it - and that's saying something, because I SHRED. It also comes with a durable hard case, and an instruction manual, something that is all to often absent in guitars. You even get an allen key set and a small pouch to store it all in. Yep, this is one DECENT guitar! The guitar is also very well made, you can feel the quality of the woods and finish when you pick it up. One small niggle - for some reason, the tone control was faulty and didn't work - something that didn't really bother me anyway since I never use it, but a niggle nonetheless. It was simple to sort out. The guitar is very well made. Ibanez guitars are all well made, but you can really tell that this is a "Prestige" model. The hardware seems very robust, and - shock horror - the volume knobs aren't loose! Quite simple really. This is one heck of a guitar. I have tried various Fender Strats, Gibson Les Pauls, even Jacksons (which I love too!) but nothing comes close to the quality of my Ibanez. If you have a spare 700 quid and want a quality rock guitar, this is it. People can have their PRSs, custom shop Fenders and limited-edition Gibsons or whatever. I am now a fully-fledged Ibanez devotee. I'm joining the Ibanez Register right away! The bottom line is: if you are looking at buying an Ibanez RG2550 Prestige, and read this review, then go ahead and buy the guitar. You have my word on it. I hope this review has helped. Shred on! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Play: Prog Rock, Classic Rock and Metal Playing for: 9 Months Not in a band Favourite Bands: Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, MetallicA, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Chimaira, Tool, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead and ACDC I bought this guitar off-the-shelf from our local music store. I paid 680 Australian Dollars though the price-tag WAS 1400. It's my first guitar. I walked in and I intended to buy an Epiphone Les Paul. I played both in the store and quite simply: The Yamaha blows the Epiphone out of the water. It's the most comfortable guitar I've ever played. The contours kinda wrap around your body keeping it nice and close and comfortable. My pots "fart" a bit when fiddling with them, but I generally keep them at the same spot. I'm sure cleaning them would clear that up regardless. The tone is maaaggnificant. I can play whatever the hell I want and get a good noise out of it. With the pickup switch flicked up, I get a nice deep sound, good for rythyms and when flicked down, I get a sharper sound which is awesome for leads. Clean with a bit of chorus does wonders for Floyd, and when Distorted: I can do some pretty heavy chunks too. The neck is also pretty slippery, making slides nice and easy as well as changing chords\keys. The only thing that I dont like about this is the lack of markings. I have no idea where the knobs are set and occaisonally: Some mongrel will come along and shift 'em around on me. Absolutely top-notch. I've banged this guitar around a bit (I play in too small of a place) and I dont have a dent, nick or scratch in the body. Nothing moves (except the strings of course :P). It's a total rock-solid construction. An absolutely beautiful guitar. There's not a single thing wrong with this beauty. There's almost no reason to buy another guitar. But well...Gibson are still making Les Paul's right? This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I paid £499 GBP from Sound Control in Glasgow. I ordered this over the phone after seeing it advertised on special offer. Firstly I love the design of the SG and its probably my favourite guitar of all. I owned an Epiphone SG400 before because at the time I couldnt afford a Gibson and to me this was the natural set up. I love playing the SG because all parts of the neck are so accessible and its a really comfortable and easy guitar to play. It has two 490 series humbuckers which produce just the sound I like and are perfect for blues/hard rock. I play Black Sabbath, Led Zep, Deep Purple etc but I am in a band that plays more punky and modern style numbers but this is still perfect for the job. When you wind down the gain for softer numbers it still sounds sweet and soulful too. In retrospect I wish I'd saved up a bit more and bought a better colour. Mine is in Faded Cherry which is ok if you like the "vintage" look but I'd personally prefer the wine red or solid cherry colours. I don't like the uncovered pickups personally, mainly because they look tacky because you can see where they've got insulation tape wound round them. You can tell this is the base model, they don't even give you a truss rod cover with "SG" written on it! Gibson build quality is faultless as far as I'm concerned. The wood and finish is of a superb quality and the fittings such as machine heads, pickups, pickup switches, tone controls etc etc are all built, fitted and finished to a very high standard indeed. This may be the base model of its class but it still benefits from the high standards of the entire Gibson range. The dot inlays on my guitar were not finished perfectly, as the wood from the fretboard overlapped the circles by a tiny amount, but this is a minor issue. I'll try to summarise the guitar with respect to both my opinions, and to the point of view of someone looking to buy an SG without having owned one before. This guitar is an excellent choice if you want to upgrade from a cheaper brand or perhaps are looking for something a little different, say if you've only played Strats or Teles. This is because its of excellent predigree and build quality and will last you a lifetime of playing. Its a lovely guitar to play and is fairly versatile with respect to the sounds you can produce with it, although it is best of bluesy rock. Although the Les Paul is I suppose tonally superior the SG is far lighter and more pleasant to play. If this were stolen/lost/destroyed I'd maybe not get exactly the same model but I'd definatley get another Gibson SG. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this unit at a guitar center in town. I thought it looked appealing and semed to ask me to buy it. So I went ahead and shelled out $850. I like the high output on the humbuckers The only thing I have to complain about is the body shape. if they made it single cutaway it would be better The construction is solid and sturdy. When i first bought the unit it was nice and shinny, but after playing it its become a little worn. I thought this was a great guitar for all levels of playing and the Humbuckers give out an amazing sound. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought it for about 150$ from ProMusic in Sofia, Bulgaria. I was looking for a good starter guitar and this lokked like a good deal. It has a very nice smooth neck. It stays in tune for a long time with Ernie Ball stings(but not with the oriiginal Fender bullet ended stings, which are suposed to be the ideal strings for their tremolo bridges!) The pickups are noisy and the neck and middle pickups are useles as they sound very bad and only add more weight to the guitar. The volume conrol is in a very bad position just inder the bridge pickup and it is very easy to turn it accidently if you are playng or palm muting on the first string. The two tone controls are not easily accessible as the tremolo arm is in the way. The guitar has onli 21 frets and the the last two are not very easy to access. It doesn have a Floyd Rose tremolo and it has no Hummbuckers. It was built in China. It has a nice finnish. The overall quality is good but it can be way better. The pickups have a nasty cheap look. If I only understood more about guitars i would have never bought it. If you are looking for a starter guitar DO NOT BUY THIS. Get some second hand guitar and save some more money and when you learn to play the thing you can get e very nice Jackson for about 450$. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this ax at ROCK Block in Nashville. I paid $449.00. The DK-2 has a fast neck, with 24 jumbo frets, that are scalloped at the top of the neck. Very easy to play fast. It also provide a nice variety of sound from the 5-position switch, though I mostly play using the humbuckers. The floyd stays in tune, and I like the sacle of the body. It's light, and it fits body much better than any Les Paul or Strat I've played. Tuning the Floyd Rose was a bear, till I'leard how to do it. After that, it was quite easy, reminding me a bit like when I would torque order on an engine block. But it does stay in tune. I've had it six month so far, and it seems rather rugged. But I'm an amature player. I think the DK-@ is a great value, and an outstanding guitar. I had played for a several years, but with axes of far less, and sometimes better pedigrees. It seemed to be the one of the best axes arround, esspecially for the money. Throw in Jenna, and I'll pop for the Rhondes model! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com