HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

[Dr. Vegetable]

I notice there seems to be a large number of left-handed modders on this forum. I hope you can help!

A good friend of mine is left-handed. Many years ago, he made a new one-piece body to correct his upside-down strat copy, and he played it for a long time. But the guitar eventually fell into disrepair, and I somehow ended up with the box of remnants. So I've been thinking about putting it back together as a surprise for him. (I hope he doesn't read SDUGF!) Truth be told, the original guitar was a Montaya strat copy which I believe was purchased at Sears in the 1970's, so I really doubt I'll reuse any of those parts - just the body. So I'll be on the market for a neck, pickups, tremolo, pick guard, etc.

Here is the body. I think it could be maple, but I really don't know. I am not very good at identifying wood on sight. I think he actually got the wood from a tree that came down in a snowstorm.

Before I start wasting time/money on the wrong stuff, I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who have done left-handed setups. What kind of special considerations are there when setting up a guitar in reverse? I know it probably makes sense to install the pickups rotated 180-degrees from a righty, and I suspect any bridge can be intonated for either orientation. Where can I get a new scratch plate? Does anyone manufacture a reverse tremolo unit that would have the whammy bar below the strings? How important do you think it is to get a reverse headstock? What else should I keep in mind?

I really want to do a good job on this restoration, so any advice is appreciated, even from Northpaws. I would like to get quality hardware and a nice set of pickups that would be well-suited to classic rock tones. I'll probably stick with a maple neck and an S-S-S configuration.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

 

[Kam]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

I notice there seems to be a large number of left-handed modders on this forum. I hope you can help!

A good friend of mine is left-handed. Many years ago, he made a new one-piece body to correct his upside-down strat copy, and he played it for a long time. But the guitar eventually fell into disrepair, and I somehow ended up with the box of remnants. So I've been thinking about putting it back together as a surprise for him. (I hope he doesn't read SDUGF!) Truth be told, the original guitar was a Montaya strat copy which I believe was purchased at Sears in the 1970's, so I really doubt I'll reuse any of those parts - just the body. So I'll be on the market for a neck, pickups, tremolo, pick guard, etc.

Here is the body. I think it could be maple, but I really don't know. I am not very good at identifying wood on sight. I think he actually got the wood from a tree that came down in a snowstorm.

Before I start wasting time/money on the wrong stuff, I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who have done left-handed setups. What kind of special considerations are there when setting up a guitar in reverse? I know it probably makes sense to install the pickups rotated 180-degrees from a righty, and I suspect any bridge can be intonated for either orientation. Where can I get a new scratch plate? Does anyone manufacture a reverse tremolo unit that would have the whammy bar below the strings? How important do you think it is to get a reverse headstock? What else should I keep in mind?

I really want to do a good job on this restoration, so any advice is appreciated, even from Northpaws. I would like to get quality hardware and a nice set of pickups that would be well-suited to classic rock tones. I'll probably stick with a maple neck and an S-S-S configuration.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

Welcome to the wonderful pain in the balls that modding lefty guitars is! :beerchug:

That's a cool looking guitar and a cool project.

1) I can't really think of any special considerations in setting up a lefty, though I've never set up a righty. Just do (most) things in reverse and you should be good.

2) Pickups might need to be positioned differently, but you won't need left handed pickups. The one excetion here is if you're getting single coils with staggered polepieces; putting righty staggered pups in a lefty will result in string imbalance. You should either use flatpole pickups or do a little searching for the lefty model of whatever pup you want.

3) New lefty scratch plates and trem bridges can be obtained in any number of places.

Here's a pretty handy link: http://www.allparts.com/Left-handed-Parts-s/342.htm

Bear in mind that if the body is routed for a right-handed trem, you'll need to modify the body to fit a lefty. Some people like the bar on top, anyway.

Other places that would sell lefty scratchplates off the top of my head: Greasy Groove, Warmoth and Axesrus. I'm sure you could find plenty more through Google. There's probably plenty available on Ebay, too.

Of course, that's all assuming that your friend's custom built body will fit a regular Strat scratchplate.

Good luck with the project.

EDIT: About the headstock; someone with more exerience than me will have to comment on what effects an upside down headstock will have on setup. I think it might affect the tension across the strings, but I''m really not sure. If that's what your friend's used to, practically and aesthetically, then that's what I would probably go for if I was in your shoes. It keeps some of the original character of the instrument intact, when you're changing so much else. Besides that, righty necks are cheaper and easier to find than leftys.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

WTH, this body appears to have some spalting on it, cool!!!

Other than putting the strings and nut upside down I don't believe there's anything else different.
The pickups as long as they're not staggered are fine either way, when staggered they'll need to indeed be manufactured reversely, you cannot put them upside down (unless the body was specifically built with the intention of doing just that ?)

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

Thanks for the responses! This is exactly the kind of info that I need.

The body definitely has some nice grain going on. I don't know if it was the optimal blank of wood for him to have used, but it looks good and the guitar always sounded great. I do plan to sand it down and refinish it, but I'll probably stick with the same simple clear coat that he used originally. The neck pocket will need some work. The original neck has a slight warp in it, and he had actually shimmed it on one side to compensate.

I am torn about how far to go with the conversion. (Kam, thanks for that AllParts link - a lot of great stuff there!) I am thinking that I will set it up with a left-hand trem. I know my friend has always lamented the fact that true lefty designs are rare and relatively expensive compared to the range of guitars I've always been able to choose from. I'll have to shoot a few close-ups of some of the crazy stuff he had to do when he reversed the Montaya originally... Some of the mods he did make me think he'd appreciate the full deal.

I'm not too worried about subtle changes to string tension or unexpected placement of the trem arm since he has been playing an Epi LP ever since this axe fell apart. So he hasn't really used a tremolo in many years, and he's had a 3+3 headstock as well.

I think a standard strat scratch plate will fit, but I might haul the body into a local music store to have a test fit. He had cut his own scratch plate when he made this body, but it is broken now. The original Montaya plate is beveled which is why he didn't just flip it over. I could try to rout a new bevel into the underside, but it will probably come out better if I just get a fresh one.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[uOpt]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

This body has been cut directly from one disk of the stem of a tree. The grain goes up.

Not to discourage you but that might put a very serious damper on the prospects of it sounding good. The grain doesn't even attempt to go alongside the bridge-neck axis.

 

[JaySwear]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

Damn that thing looks cool! Good on you for wanting to put it back together for him. AllParts has a great selection of parts, and guitarpartsresource might be worth checking out as well.

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

That's pretty awesome looking!

My vote's for maple. Got a lil spalting going on on the back there.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

This body has been cut directly from one disk of the stem of a tree. The grain goes up.

Not to discourage you but that might put a very serious damper on the prospects of it sounding good. The grain doesn't even attempt to go alongside the bridge-neck axis.

That's a good observation. I noticed that, too. I know the grain alignment is not optimal, and in fact may be the complete opposite. But the point of this project is to bring back a guitar that was built by a friend. If I replace the body I might as well just choose another project altogether. It always played pretty well back in the day, though, so I think it will be alright.

That's pretty awesome looking!

My vote's for maple. Got a lil spalting going on on the back there.

Yes, I think it probably is maple. That fits with my vague memory of what the original builder told me. My brain cells are all mushy!

I spent a couple hours on it today sanding off the poly clear coat. It took some serious elbow grease - I'm ready to kick some Karate Kid a$$. I need to spend a bit more time going over some of the stubborn areas, but it's almost ready for refinishing. I'm thinking of doing tung oil. Any pointers here are welcome.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

I'm thinking of doing tung oil. Any pointers here are welcome.

I spoke with a friend about this and he talked me out of going the tung oil route. I might try staining it to lift the grain, followed by a clear nitro finish instead.

Left-handed Fender-licensed neck has been ordered; I should have it before the weekend. I am holding off on ordering new hardware and a scratch plate until I decide on the final color scheme. I'm wondering if this would look good with tortoiseshell or if I should just stick with basic black or white. I'm also on the fence between gold-plate or chrome, but leaning toward chrome for that classic look, plus that gives me more options for what to buy. I probably won't decide until I see how the body comes out.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

I made some more progress on this project. I found a good deal on a left-handed Jay Turser that has some passable hardware. I got the whole guitar for less than it would have cost me to get a scratch plate and tremolo, so even if I don't use the pickups, tuners, or neck, I still come out ahead.

The mounting holes for the new tremolo are spaced differently than the ones on the original, so I glued toothpicks into the old holes, snipped them down, and sanded them flush. (The center two holes are fine where they are.) This will allow me to drill new holes with the correct spacing. It was a very easy procedure that took less than 10 minutes, not counting the glue drying time.

I also modified the rout to accommodate the left-handed tremolo using a Dremel tool with a sanding cylinder. (This is a tip I picked up here on SDUGF - thanks, bros!) It was very quick to do it this way, and was much easier to control than the router bit I tried first.

The next step is to test fit all the hardware and align and drill the new neck. Once I am satisfied with the fit of everything I will tear it down again and finish the body. The new tremolo doesn't fully cover the old rout, so I may try to glue some more wood back in there to fill the gap before I stain and seal the body.

I used the Fender Builder tool (thanks to StratFreak for the link!) to mock up an example of what I hope it will look like when I'm done:

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: HELP: Left Handed Guitar Restoration

I am still bumbling along with this project. Now I know why many folks insert a "D" into the middle of the name "Turser." Construction on that thing is just laughable.

1. The nut wasn't glued into the neck.
2. The pickguard mounting holes were poorly drilled, causing it to bubble.
3. No shielded wire anywhere to be found.
4. Pickups and pots are junk - not surprised by this, really.
5. They didn't mask off the neck pocket when they stained the body.
6. It looks like they used a circular saw to "fit" the neck into the pocket.

I'll still get my money's worth for the few bits of hardware I will be able to reuse, but this guitar looked really nice before I lifted up its skirt and had a peek. Not that I was expecting much for what I paid, but still... :eyecrazy: