Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wildwood has posted a couple 4003 MG lefties... I'm not a south paw myself, but I know many have been waiting on this.

Never seen a lefty without a plexi TRC.

iamthebassman wrote:Never seen a lefty without a plexi TRC.

They don't have a mold for it. So all lefties have plexi TRC's. Lucky feature for lefties!

Indeed!

iamthebassman wrote:Indeed!

It would make alot more sense just to make a mold, to cut the costs.
I understand that the manufacture of the mold would be an initial investment, but it would work out in the long run.

Yeah, but the "long run" on lefties will take a "long time" to make up for the initial cost. I'll be willing to bet they make one lefty for every 100 righties. No way to prove that, just a hunch. I'm sure that was considered when they designed the mold for the raised-letter TRC which appears to be used for all "non-vintage" guitars and basses. They just trim it a bit differently to fit certain instruments or mold it in different colored plastic for some models (4004 series, for example).

Hopefully they never change it, I don't care for the raised letter version.

bassduke49 wrote:I'll be willing to bet they make one lefty for every 100 righties. No way to prove that, just a hunch.

I'll bet that number is closer to one in a thousand, at least in recent history.

Considering a lot of guitarists and bassists "convert" to right-handed early on from being left-handed at most other things, like me, I can imagine the demand for lefties in the guitar market is much lower than the proportion of lefties to righties in the general population. I have met lots of people who share my story or a similar one: only guitar to learn on was a righty, parent/teacher said to switch, etc., even that the extra left hand strength helped fretting a lot making right-handed guitar playing feel more natural.

I do think these TRCs look really neat, and lefties, I'm really happy for you as RIC couldn't have picked a better time to bring the lefty back than when the 4003 was already being made at such a great peak in overall quality.

One thing I've never quite understood is a left-handed guitar. I mean the idea seems counter-intuitive to me.

The better part of playing is dexterity with the fretting hand, so wouldn't a left handed player be using the best hand for the job if he played a conventional guitar?

To test this theory, I could, of course, try to learn to play again on a left handed guitar . . . well, maybe not.

Try it out on your left-handed piano first John.

johnhall wrote:One thing I've never quite understood is a left-handed guitar. I mean the idea seems counter-intuitive to me.

The better part of playing is dexterity with the fretting hand, so wouldn't a left handed player be using the best hand for the job if he played a conventional guitar?

To test this theory, I could, of course, try to learn to play again on a left handed guitar . . . well, maybe not.

To the same degree, I have never understood how some baseball players can switch-hit, but they do.

If I picked up a right-handed bass and tried to play it, it would feel weird and out of place. I can chord and finger-pick better on a right-handed guitar, because I only owned basses for years (which were all lefty) and all my friends had right-handed guitars...I learned out of necessity and used what was available....I own some lefty guitars now and endeavor to learn 'properly'...

A new 2012 4003 LH for me..? Soon.

johnhall wrote:One thing I've never quite understood is a left-handed guitar. I mean the idea seems counter-intuitive to me.

The better part of playing is dexterity with the fretting hand, so wouldn't a left handed player be using the best hand for the job if he played a conventional guitar?

To test this theory, I could, of course, try to learn to play again on a left handed guitar . . . well, maybe not.

I thought the same thing too. I'm a righty, but I naturally played guitar lefty when I started. My dad told me to convert, so I did.
I know it sounds silly, but thats the biggest regret of my life (so far). I could have been so much more suitable for a Beatles Cover Band.

IvanMunoz wrote:I know it sounds silly, but thats the biggest regret of my life (so far). I could have been so much more suitable for a Beatles Cover Band.

I'm sure there are other things a musician can aspire to... and if that's the biggest regret of your life then you're doing pretty good.

leftybass wrote:If I picked up a right-handed bass and tried to play it, it would feel weird and out of place.

Let's suppose there never was such a thing as a left-handed guitar. So, would it be any harder for a lefty to learn the guitar? I can't imagine that it would and I suspect that the lefty might find it easier to learn chording using his dominant hand.

I suppose that finger-picking would level out the field, however, but using a pick I can't imagine that a lefty's right hand wouldn't easily be up to the task.