Guitar Nerds Anonymous

They look fun dude. Do you have an amp?

Oh and black all day long for me.

Nah no amp. Might pick a small practice one up one day, but no rush.

Black with a maple fretboard, white with rosewood. Looks nice!

A landslide victory for team blackguard! Thanks all. Next thing to address on that guitar is the chronic ringing behind the nut, le sigh.

@Fatberg update on the pick situation, I’m finding the regular tortex feel a bit large, which is weird, because they’re the same size & shape as the JD nylons. I also miss the actual moulded grippy bits, I think they helped me to orient the pick properly. Now trying a .73 Flow (standard, not tortex) and enjoying it so far…

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I hope Doug hasn't started making Black Machines with memes in the fretboard.

I kind of worry that belongs to one of my band as a really elaborate prank against me

My daughter has started showing an interest in guitar (yes!). She’ll be 6 in September and is tall for her age. I have an old 3/4 size acoustic that belonged to my wife when she was a teenager but it’s a righty and the girl is lefty.

So... do I teach her right handed, left handed with an upsidedown righty or (current thinking) get her 3/4 lefty for her birthday?

Anyone link me too a decent but affordable 3/4 lefty acoustic? Yamaha do a nice looking one but I can’t find a lefty.

I’m left handed but have always played right handed- how I was taught and felt natural from the start (same with cricket bat bizarrely!) so maybe see if she is comfortable with a standard guitar first?

If you really love her...

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Also a left-hander playing right handed, and my old man is the same. I do think for many people it's fine to learn that way. You end up needing dexterity and co-ordination in both hands anyway.

And nice video, @rodan, just watched it... Enjoyed that series! Looking forward to the demo...

Yeah I wonder how much it matters really. Lefties do look cool tho!

I've never had to worry about this, but I've alway thought I'd teach them right handed. There's so much less guitar choice later on, and makes it trickier to pick up someone elses guitar etc.

Also, a mate of mine is a sinister left handed type but plays right handed. It's made him ambidextrous at lots of other stuff (like stiring tea), which is always handy.

My brother is also a left handed person and has always played the bass the right handed way - it does seem how you learn is what decides it ultimately. Think a handful of very famous guitarists are lefties playing right handed, possibly Knopfler being one of them?

Definitely makes it easier to pick up instruments in the future, though the ultimate PITA left-playing musicians are drummers. If you've ever shared the bill with a band with a left-playing drummer you'll know what I mean 😂

To add to all the others - I'm left handed and play right handed (and do lots of other things right handed). It's definitely what I'd choose, since it would be a pain to get a left handed instrument/much less choice. As far as I know I'm my playing isn't any worse off for it.

I reckon the left hand needs more dexterity when playing RH-ed anyway, certainly when playing electric with a pick in the right hand. More evenly balanced when it comes to fingerstyle, I suppose.

Cheers man. Here’s the final build video for anyone else who’s interested:

https://youtu.be/2rfqwBcLUG8

Nice vid. That's a lovely looking guitar. Where does the design cue for the longer lower horn come from?

Thanks! Not sure, just fancied trying it. There’s a very slight reverse offset to the whole thing, if you look closely.

Interesting. That's slightly doing my noodle TBH, because I'm so used to seeing offsets the other way, even in guitars that you initially think are totally symmetrical.

Makes me really wanna have a go at doing something... I'd buy a pre-fabricated neck, obvs, but really fancy making a simple rectangular shaped Bo Diddley type body to mate it with...

I’m used to 25.5” Fender scale lengths, and the bridge on a 24.75” guitar like this sits much further up the body. I suppose I thought a reverse offset would bring it into a more natural playing position for me. Also, it looked gnarly.

You totally should. You don’t really need a lot of tools - there are low-tech ways of doing most things, and you can buy kits with all the routing done and the neck already built, ready for the body outline and headstock shape to be carved:

Thanks for the lefty/righty testimonials dudes.

I guess I was worried about forcing her to do something that was unnatural for her. Sounds like all the lefties on here who play righty don't feel like it's in any way detrimental to their playing. I guess starting to play is inherently unnatural anyway so perhaps it matters less than i thought. I'd be interested to see how many lefty players were completely self-taught or at least started that way.

The guitar player in my old band was l/h and had learned on upside down r/h guitars belong to his big bro. He ended up playing l/h guitars strung backwards with the strings reversed. It made some of his playing really unique sounding. Some totally basic stuff that r/h players take for granted was a royal PITA for him though. I remember the contortions he had to go though to finger an upside down open C chord. Ouch.