Can I restring my left-handed guitar and make it a right-handed guitar?

Question

I'm left handed and my mom got an acoustic guitar that's left handed but I want to play right handed. Is there anyway for me to restring it to make it right handed? Here's the link so you can see what it looks like:
http://www.girl.com.au/gypsy-rose-guitars-for-girls.htm
it's the pink one second from the top.

Answer 1

You can but it will eventually ruin the guitar. Acoustic guitars are braced asymmetrically since the bass strings exert more force than the treble strings do. In addition you'll have to switch the nut and the saddle and if the saddle is intonated or at an angle to the strings other than 90 degrees your intonation will be off.



It's really a bad idea. See if you can exchange it for a righty guitar. Good luck.

Answer 2

It's totally possible (Jimi Hendrix). Things you'll need to change: The nut (where the strings come on to the neck from the tuning/machine heads) - you'll need to get a left-handed one, with the thicknesses of the grooves cut the other way. The bridge - this may need reversing, or just changes made to the intonation (altering the length of the string slightly, so the guitar is in tune further up the neck) and action (how high the strings are away from the fretboard) The truss-rod - the rod that runs through the neck - may need adjusting if the strings are reversed, as the tension in the neck will change. I'd recommend getting this checked professionally to see if any adjustment is needed. The pickups - most pickups are designed to give slightly different sounds depending on the string they're used with. Which is why you'll see those 6/12 metal circles on pickups. Rotating the pickups will ensure the tone stays constant (Hendrix didn't, which is why his tone is a little different). The pickguard and tone/volume controls will be on the wrong side of the guitar, and depending on the guitar itself, it may now have the cutaway (the bit that's missing so you can reach the higher frets easily) on the top, instead of the bottom. ...and after all that, you'll have a perfectly functioning, identical-sounding, lefty-flipped guitar. I'm not sure if I'd buy a guitar off eBay, though... I'd want to test it out in a shop first! :P

Answer 3

Left Handed Pink Guitar

Answer 4

yeah, you can. since its an acoustic, it will only make a small difference. because on the electric you have all the tone and volume things.



do you know how to restring a guitar? if you do, make sure you have a peg winder. if you don't take it to your local music shop and they can help you out. also, you can check out videos on youtube on how to restring strings. good luck

Answer 5

in addition to what everyone has said, you need to flip the bridge and the nut. (acoustic guitar)



it might be better to get someone to do this for you... the bridge is easy but the nut will need popped out because it is glued.

Answer 6

Definitely. Like Jimi Henrdix, Kurt Cobain did it too. Here's a couple of interesting stories I found while surfing for examples of left-handed guitarists: http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/lefties-anonymous/ and http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/lefties-anonymous/

Answer 7

i don't see why not. that's what jimi hendrix used to do. he was left-handed but played a right-handed stratocaster. he re-strung it upside down and just flipped it around. rather unconventional, but i daresay it worked for him.