Am I Crazy?

[ab4usa]

Am I crazy to be thinking about buying an older gibson A and converting it to lefty? What are the pitfalls and dangers if any?

[Darryl Wolfe]

None..I'm doing one right now. You'll need a new nut and either a bridge top/saddle or complete bridge depending on the bridge it has. Essentially we're talking simply an extensive set-up job.

I can provide a left handed pickguard if you need..and Steve Smith has left handed adjustable repro bridges (or saddle alone)

[Harry H]

Darryl,

Do you think it would be a good idea to replace the diagonal
top brace with one that would go the 'lefty way'?

[Ragamuffin]

I rebuilt a cheapy Washburn, I think it was, this way and it seemed to work out fine. I am a lefty and have built one kit (Stew-Mac) and am finishing my second from scratch, both as lefties. Beyond tone bars, nut and bridge compensation A's are all the same. Go for it!

[Ragamuffin]

Darryl,

Where can I find Steve Smith?

Steve Ragsdale

[sunburst]

Darryl,

Do you think it would be a good idea to replace the diagonal
top brace with one that would go the 'lefty way'?
Well, I'm not Darryl, but the old Gibson "A"s didn't have a diagonal brace. There was one brace, straight across, between the bridge and the sound hole. It's the same lefty or righty.

[WoodyMcKenzie]

I have an Alvarez copy "Handmade" of a twopoint Gibson that I set up lefty and it worked fine. It is braced with the same kind of brace parallel to the bridge that you have.

I believe that *any* conventional bracing pattern would work just as well strung up lefty. I believe that the top vibrates as a unit (really a part of a unit that is the whole instrument) and doesn't "know" how the strings are strung across the bridge. That's just what I believe though!

Woody

Play left handed if you are left handed! (http://mckenziemusic.com/Lefthanded.htm)

[Harry H]

Darryl,

Do you think it would be a good idea to replace the diagonal
top brace with one that would go the 'lefty way'?
Well, I'm not Darryl, but the old Gibson "A"s didn't have a diagonal brace. There was one brace, straight across, between the bridge and the sound hole. It's the same lefty or righty.
Sunburst, I didn't know that!
I'm trying to figure out why I thought they were on a diagonal!

Hmm, I remember looking at a Gilchrist catalog in the '90's,
with these 'x-ray' drawings of all the different models
(you could see the neck blocks, scroll blocks, point blocks,
tone bar and x bar bracing, etc.).

The model 2 (A model) drawing also showed it's bracing.
My memory has the top brace was in front of the bridge
and very slightly on the diagonal. I guess, I figured it was a
Gibson feature. Now, I'm going to have to stick a mirror in my A-4.

Well, I'm probably wrong about the Gils, too. If anybody knows
the answer, be a pal and don't tell me.

[mandroid]

Frets don't get notches worn in them so much under the G an D pairs, what a way to extend fretwear lifespan...

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

the openback repair of the 'A' snakehead, shows transverse brace is centered, symetrical,...
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif