Searching for left-handed bass in New York City
December 3, 2018 6:05 PM Subscribe
I am looking to spend $300-$500 on a left-hand bass, new or used. Ideally, I'd like to play 4 or 5 and find one I like. I've done some research online to find instruments that sell new in that price range, but finding a place to try out left-hand basses in NYC is proving hard.
Guitar Center and Sam Ash in Brooklyn each have 1, both of them used gear way outside my price range. Any advice for a left-handed player looking to try, then buy, a bass that's a little better than beginning but not over $500? Or just know of any stores in the city that tend to keep multiple left-handed basses in stock? If it takes a couple of trips to find what I want, that's not a problem, so long as I know anytime I visit I'll have a chance to try out something that might be what I'm looking for.
Guitar Center and Sam Ash in Brooklyn each have 1, both of them used gear way outside my price range. Any advice for a left-handed player looking to try, then buy, a bass that's a little better than beginning but not over $500? Or just know of any stores in the city that tend to keep multiple left-handed basses in stock? If it takes a couple of trips to find what I want, that's not a problem, so long as I know anytime I visit I'll have a chance to try out something that might be what I'm looking for.
Hit up used music gear stores; they will likely have a wall of left handed basses for you to try.
My thoughts as well. There are at least a couple of second hand instrument shops in Melbourne Australia that would regularly have half a dozen left handed basses. It wouldn't be worse in NYC.
posted by mewsic at 1:59 AM on December 4, 2018
My thoughts as well. There are at least a couple of second hand instrument shops in Melbourne Australia that would regularly have half a dozen left handed basses. It wouldn't be worse in NYC.
posted by mewsic at 1:59 AM on December 4, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far. I have been playing for a couple of years with a $100 Rogue bass I got off Craigslist. It's beginning to have some problems, and instead of investing in fixing it, I thought I'd spend a little more. I have an amp that satisfies my practice needs, so the $300-$500 is for the instrument only.
I have the Squire Jag bass (and a couple of other specific instruments) on my radar, but I wasn't sure it made sense to buy an instrument based on trying a more expensive version. It's not so much necks and scale length but action and tone that I would want to try before I buy.
I would have expected second hand shops to have a half dozen lefty basses as well, but I've checked out quite a few (online and by calling) and in fact most of the ones I have contacted have none in stock.
Still hoping someone knows the store that's a nirvana for lefties in NYC.
posted by layceepee at 4:56 AM on December 4, 2018
I have the Squire Jag bass (and a couple of other specific instruments) on my radar, but I wasn't sure it made sense to buy an instrument based on trying a more expensive version. It's not so much necks and scale length but action and tone that I would want to try before I buy.
I would have expected second hand shops to have a half dozen lefty basses as well, but I've checked out quite a few (online and by calling) and in fact most of the ones I have contacted have none in stock.
Still hoping someone knows the store that's a nirvana for lefties in NYC.
posted by layceepee at 4:56 AM on December 4, 2018
"It's beginning to have some problems, and instead of investing in fixing it, I thought I'd spend a little more."
For what it's worth, if you wanted to be more specific about the problems, people might be able to offer suggestions. Also, a guitar tech might be able to give you a free estimate on any repairs. They're not terribly complicated instruments, and it might be a cheap fix.
posted by bfields at 8:34 AM on December 4, 2018
For what it's worth, if you wanted to be more specific about the problems, people might be able to offer suggestions. Also, a guitar tech might be able to give you a free estimate on any repairs. They're not terribly complicated instruments, and it might be a cheap fix.
posted by bfields at 8:34 AM on December 4, 2018
Response by poster: It's a very cheap fix, but I've done it once before and now 6 months later the problem is recurring. My teacher is advising I invest in a new instrument, and I trust his judgement. So I really am looking for specific places to find a left-handed bass.
posted by layceepee at 9:02 AM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by layceepee at 9:02 AM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would go to Manhattan and hit up the main store of Sam Ash, along with Rudy's and Rogue.
While Squier models are in your price range, you are only $100 below the price point of an new Fender Precision say (the "Player" model in current branding, generally referred to by musos as MIM for "made in Mexico"). The quality of those is great these days, and you can order them LH from Amazon at the same price as RH.
posted by w0mbat at 11:58 AM on December 4, 2018
While Squier models are in your price range, you are only $100 below the price point of an new Fender Precision say (the "Player" model in current branding, generally referred to by musos as MIM for "made in Mexico"). The quality of those is great these days, and you can order them LH from Amazon at the same price as RH.
posted by w0mbat at 11:58 AM on December 4, 2018
Best answer: so long as I know anytime I visit I'll have a chance to try out something that might be what I'm looking for.
I got curious and did some poking around, and I gotta say I just think the numbers are against you, man. (I played with a lefty bass player 30 years ago, and he hard a hard time just finding anything and often had to pay through the nose for it, believe me I have some sympathy). Refining a search on Reverb to "left handed basses" got me 154 choices out of 7,557 total basses $500 and under (and some of those 154 are some kind of weird "custom-made" guitar/bass combo.) On ebay, lefty basses $750 and under excluding Rogues = 180. Out of almost 49,000 "bass guitar" listings total. There just aren't that many lefty basses out there, so any store having any on a regular basis, let alone 4 or 5 at once, is pretty unlikely. (I worked in an instrument store back in the day before GC & SA seriously expanded, and if we had any lefty instruments in stock at all they were gonna be high-dollar instruments because those had the best profit margin.)
I honestly think your best choice for what you want to do is go to some of the stores people recommend (maybe ask a different version of this question along the lines of "what are your favorite non-GC/SA instrument stores in NYC" to get some more answers), talk to the staff and let them know what you're looking for so when they get something in along those lines they can shoot you a call or an email.
Does your teacher have any stores to recommend?
Otherwise: Any advice for a left-handed player looking to try, then buy, a bass that's a little better than beginning but not over $500?
but I wasn't sure it made sense to buy an instrument based on trying a more expensive version.
I would be leery of this myself - necks and electronics and hardware and build quality can be really different between the expensive versions and the cheaper versions, even when the cheaper instruments are perfectly fine or even quite good considered on their own.
It's not so much necks and scale length but action and tone that I would want to try before I buy.
So, scale length tends to be pretty standard within brands, unless the specific model specifies short or long scale. And the shape of the neck is often one of the big differences between brands and between expensive/mid-level/beginner models within the same brand - another reason to be cautious about trying instruments over your budget; you don't want to fall in love with the neck on the $2000 bass only to discover that part of the reason it's $2000 is because the neck is a hand-shaped exact copy of a vintage neck while the cheap version of the bass has a more "modern" neck shape.
Action and tone, however, are quite adjustable. Action is all about the relation of the height of the bridge saddles, the relief of the neck, and how the nut is cut, and everything but the nut can be DIY adjusted pretty easily, or take it to a repair place for a "set-up", which shouldn't cost too much and will probably include some nut work if the bass needs it. And tone is very much a function of the pickups (although certainly lots and lots of people will argue that other elements of the bass have as much to do with the tone as pickups . . . . ), and pickups are another thing replaced fairly easily and often relatively cheaply.
IOW, the things you say you're not concerned about are kind of intrinsic to each specific instrument, while the things you are concerned about can be adjusted or changed relatively simply.
Add it all up, and my other advice would be for you to go "try out" right-handed models in your budget - holding them upside down will certainly be a little awkward, but you can get your left hand on the necks and see how they feel, plug 'em in and hear what the pickups sound like, fiddle with the tuners & whatever. Then order the left-handed version of whichever bass you liked best (it would be cool of you to do that through the store you tried the bass out in . . .) Once it arrives go ahead and take it in for a set-up (or a smaller store might be able to do it on-site or even include a basic set-up as part of the deal), which is a thing I would recommend for any new axe almost regardless of price and especially for any budget/mid-level instrument, as part of what makes them cheaper, frankly, is laxer QC standards out the door of the factory, so expecting to need a little tweaking and fine-tuning is pretty normal.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:51 PM on December 4, 2018
I got curious and did some poking around, and I gotta say I just think the numbers are against you, man. (I played with a lefty bass player 30 years ago, and he hard a hard time just finding anything and often had to pay through the nose for it, believe me I have some sympathy). Refining a search on Reverb to "left handed basses" got me 154 choices out of 7,557 total basses $500 and under (and some of those 154 are some kind of weird "custom-made" guitar/bass combo.) On ebay, lefty basses $750 and under excluding Rogues = 180. Out of almost 49,000 "bass guitar" listings total. There just aren't that many lefty basses out there, so any store having any on a regular basis, let alone 4 or 5 at once, is pretty unlikely. (I worked in an instrument store back in the day before GC & SA seriously expanded, and if we had any lefty instruments in stock at all they were gonna be high-dollar instruments because those had the best profit margin.)
I honestly think your best choice for what you want to do is go to some of the stores people recommend (maybe ask a different version of this question along the lines of "what are your favorite non-GC/SA instrument stores in NYC" to get some more answers), talk to the staff and let them know what you're looking for so when they get something in along those lines they can shoot you a call or an email.
Does your teacher have any stores to recommend?
Otherwise: Any advice for a left-handed player looking to try, then buy, a bass that's a little better than beginning but not over $500?
but I wasn't sure it made sense to buy an instrument based on trying a more expensive version.
I would be leery of this myself - necks and electronics and hardware and build quality can be really different between the expensive versions and the cheaper versions, even when the cheaper instruments are perfectly fine or even quite good considered on their own.
It's not so much necks and scale length but action and tone that I would want to try before I buy.
So, scale length tends to be pretty standard within brands, unless the specific model specifies short or long scale. And the shape of the neck is often one of the big differences between brands and between expensive/mid-level/beginner models within the same brand - another reason to be cautious about trying instruments over your budget; you don't want to fall in love with the neck on the $2000 bass only to discover that part of the reason it's $2000 is because the neck is a hand-shaped exact copy of a vintage neck while the cheap version of the bass has a more "modern" neck shape.
Action and tone, however, are quite adjustable. Action is all about the relation of the height of the bridge saddles, the relief of the neck, and how the nut is cut, and everything but the nut can be DIY adjusted pretty easily, or take it to a repair place for a "set-up", which shouldn't cost too much and will probably include some nut work if the bass needs it. And tone is very much a function of the pickups (although certainly lots and lots of people will argue that other elements of the bass have as much to do with the tone as pickups . . . . ), and pickups are another thing replaced fairly easily and often relatively cheaply.
IOW, the things you say you're not concerned about are kind of intrinsic to each specific instrument, while the things you are concerned about can be adjusted or changed relatively simply.
Add it all up, and my other advice would be for you to go "try out" right-handed models in your budget - holding them upside down will certainly be a little awkward, but you can get your left hand on the necks and see how they feel, plug 'em in and hear what the pickups sound like, fiddle with the tuners & whatever. Then order the left-handed version of whichever bass you liked best (it would be cool of you to do that through the store you tried the bass out in . . .) Once it arrives go ahead and take it in for a set-up (or a smaller store might be able to do it on-site or even include a basic set-up as part of the deal), which is a thing I would recommend for any new axe almost regardless of price and especially for any budget/mid-level instrument, as part of what makes them cheaper, frankly, is laxer QC standards out the door of the factory, so expecting to need a little tweaking and fine-tuning is pretty normal.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:51 PM on December 4, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sweltering at 1:02 AM on December 4, 2018