Is it possible to
apply a left handed nut to a right handed guitar? I am a left handed
player and my local music store doesn't carry many lefty guitars.
Nell
If this is a nylon string guitar with a saddle mounted straight across (no
compensation angle)...
it would be an easier conversion. Chances are a
simple re-stringing would do the trick. The grooves in the nut may be okay
because the strings are all closer to the same diameter.
If you have a steel sting guitar though, things are much more difficult and
should be done by an expert repair person. If you are buying a new guitar,
I would advise having the music store special order a lefty guitar of your
liking and price range.
A steel string flat top acoustic guitar has a compensated saddle. That
means it is installed at a slant to make up for differences in string diameter.
If you are converting this to a lefty, this saddle will have to be re-installed slanting the other way. Major rework to fill in slot re-groove, and make a new saddle. Also some of the string holes will have to be made larger.
The nut at the top of the neck can be removed and a new
one made fairly easily.
Then there's the marker dots on the side of the neck. If you want them on
the proper side of the neck for the lefty, new ones will have to be made and
installed.
If the guitar has a pick guard, it will also be on the wrong side after the
conversion. Removing the pick guard is not an option unless you want to
have the face of the guitar refinished. Most just add a replica pick guard
on the other side of the sound hole. You will have a lefty guitar with 2
pick guards.
Gman ( o )==#