# acoustic symmetry



## xuthal (May 15, 2007)

What is involved in building a left handed acoustic guitar?I know the braces have to be changed,and the side dots if there are any but what else?The fretboard is radiused to accommodate chording and in some cases as I've read on the treble side to get good intonation in the past but i don't think they do that with factory built acoustics.
I ask because i just got an email from a customer service rep when i inquired about them making a model made to lefty specs and they said the braces and other things would have to be changed.What are the "other" things that will need to be changed?


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

Isnt a Lefty just a mirror image of a righty?

I can see the bridge would have to be routed opposite (for the saddle). Nut is different. Bracincg is all a mirror image as is the bridge plate.

Nothing too terribly difficult. However, I cansee if a factpry has all its jigging and fixtures set of right handed, they may just tell you its too hard to do, basically they dont want to bother with a one-off lefty.

AJC


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

The top bracing of most guitar manufacturers is not symmetrical. 










Other than that, the angle of the bridge saddle would need to be changed for proper intonation.


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## Lab123 (May 27, 2007)

The bridge has to have the angle of saddle changed.
The nut has to be changed to fit the different size strings.
If you have a pick guard then that also has to be changed 
and the side dots has to go to the opposite side of the neck..
As for changing the braces ....Well, that's not necessary... The only thing that you could change is the tone bars....Braces are meant to stiffen the top and keep as much of the sound in the top as possible and give you the radius that you want...Tone bars are on the bass side of a guitar because that's the way it was always done...Tradition I guess....Larry
Oh yeah and of course if its a cutaway it goes on the opposite side..:smile:


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## xuthal (May 15, 2007)

Thanks for the info guys,other than that what am i missing here?I would think the setup and routing of the saddle slot should be done by hand,or maybe the saddle slot is done with a computer controlled router.The braces shouldn't be too hard,you just have to have them face the opposite way,IE the treble side for a lefty.A skilled worker or not so skilled worker can simply make that change with the same tool used to position a right handed one,just flip it over.Why is that so "expensive" to do? 
I've read a few threads on luthier forums and a book or two on guitar building and this doesn't seem to be allot of work and money lost to simply make an acoustic available to a lefty.An electric i can see the point of this argument but not with an acoustic.
Rant over


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