Left Handed Guitarists? How we Fixed the Raw Deal Lefties get From the Guitar Industry

If you speak to a left handed person, you will almost certainly find that they have spent most of their life struggling to get on in a life that is primarily designed for right handers. Whether it is fighting with a pair of scissors, opening a tin, or even just writing in ink, the world is set up for right handed people.

Most right handed people have no concept of how difficult it is for lefties to carry out seemingly simple tasks – writing in a spiral notebook, or inputting numbers on a keyboard keypad, for example. Munson Guitars co-founder, Carl Munson, who is himself a lefty, understands the difficulties for left-handed people.

Left Handed Creatives

It is estimated that between 10% and 12% of the world population is left handed. Although there is not enough scientific evidence to back this up (yet), it appears to be the case that left-handed people tend to be more creative. Some of the world’s most creative people are left-handed – Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), Morgan Freeman, Ross Kemp, and artists such as Picasso and Michelangelo are also suspected to have been left-handed, for example.

When it comes to music, hundreds of the world’s most prolific artists are (or were) left handed. Some of the most famous left handed guitarists include Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Tony Iommi, and, of course, the great Jimi Hendrix. In other words, some of the best guitarists to have walked on this planet are left handed.

Left Handed Guitarists and Right handed Instruments

Ever since the beginning of music-making, instruments have been designed for right handed people. Wind instruments have been created so that the right hand does the majority of the moving work, and string instruments have been created so that the right hand does the work that needs the strength. Even pianos are set out so that the stronger melody is normally played by the right hand and the chords and harmony the left.

This makes the whole playing process more difficult for people who are left handed. Many of them struggle through, trying to adapt to playing right handed instruments, and maybe the resilience that is needed by left handed people is part of the reason why they have been so successful, but regardless of this, here at Munson Guitars, we don’t think that it’s right.

Left handed guitarists often have two options – learn to play right handed or to modify and play their guitars upside down. Learning to play a right handed guitar automatically puts you at a disadvantage, and there are plenty of downfalls to playing a guitar upside down:

• Most guitars are not symmetrical, meaning that an upside-down guitar is not comfortable and ergonomic to play.
• Features such as the pickguard and whammy bar will be in the wrong place

For us, this is not good enough.

It is possible to get left handed guitars, but often the choice that is available to left handers is very limited. There is usually just a small area dedicated to left handed guitars in a music shop – and they are usually more expensive than their right handed counterparts, for example.

And for us, here at Munson Guitars, this is also not good enough.

Righting the Wrongs for Leftie Players

Here at Munson Guitars, we are keen to start to redress the balance. This does not mean taking away the choice for right handed players, but it does mean giving left handed guitarists the same options as the right handed.

We give all of our customers – whether custom shop or bespoke guitar buyers the same choices whether they are left handed or right handed.

Our bespoke guitars are designed specifically according to what you want and how you want them. Right handed or left handed.

Our custom shop guitars enable you to choose general styles, then the smaller details such as the body wood, electronic set-up, colours, and neck size for both our right handed and left handed guitars. And instead of making our left handed guitars more expensive, we have made them cheaper.

Left handed guitarists are very close to our hearts – indeed, amongst us, we are keen to do what we can to support all left handed guitar players – whether you are a seasoned professional or just love playing for fun. Our left handed guitars are automatically set to cost 5% less than our right handed guitars. It’s our way to show you that we understand your pain and want to help to rectify that.

5% discount on all Munson left handed custom guitars

We can craft all of our guitars for left handed or right handed people, so you have complete flexibility over what you choose. Why not have a look at what we can offer you? Drop us a line and let’s design and build you an exceptional left handed custom guitar.