camhello

Yeah, it's a tough call...but, for the $225 I've got into the guitar, I can live w/ losing the resale value. Plus, if I do it the way I'm thinking, I plan on keeping a control cavity on both sides so that eventually I can reconvert it to right and give it to one of my nephews. Unless, hopefully, one turns out to be a lefty....

Of course, I've also gotta figure out how to shave down the neck joint w/o making it too weak, but allowing for better upper fret acces....kinda like on newer guitars and some of the '80s Aria models....

Routing's easy, carving I'm a novice at...

Plus, if I really like the result, I'll probably add a Kahler at some point down the road.

Oh yeah - I'm gonna refinish the headstock too - gonna 'personalize' it a bit....

Thanx for the replies!

also being a lefty ive mulled over the same idea, and realized (IMO) its a waste of time and money,

why butcher a perfectly good body?

the conversion is almost as much labor as a built from scratch body and you destroy resale value in the process

(2nd hand lefty's are in my experience very cheap because of lack of demand).

why not build a new body and keep the righty body for when you want to sell it? (i said when because every bc rich owner ive meet, including myself soon grow out of them )

but either way you will still have the logo on the headstock upside down, unless you refinish that too.....

the routing and refinishing isn't big deal, nor is filling the holes, etc... I'm just paranoid about measuring the bridge correctly to make sure that I put it back in correctly...knowing me, there's a good chance I'll have to redo it a few times....and, since I'm a lazy bastard, I'd prefer not to have to...

thanx for the replies!

So...I'm gonna pick up a BC Rich Virgo guitar and convert it to a lefty. I know about routing the body for the controls and swapping the nut and flipping the pickups (I'm swapping them out anyhow...)...but I'm lost as far as the bridge goes.

The bridge is at an angle - so will I be able to set the intonation w/ the bridge angled for a righty? If not, this means I have to pull the bridge, plug the holes, and redrill the mounting holes for the bridge?

Please help!! I'm hoping not to have to fill and redrill the bridge mounting holes....

Thanx!!!!

Yup - definitely intone the guitar. I also own a Westbury - it's an amazing guitar, the height of the Japanese invasion in the late '70s/early 80's.

just wondering - i've got an ibanez edge tremolo that i'm going to convert to lefty and use on my tokai flying v project. i don't have the height adjustable mounting posts. does it matter if i reuse the posts that are stock on the tokai?

thanx!

Thanx for the help - I found some info. Now to read it and try to make a decision...

Has anyone got any links for any projects that use shortened bolts and have a shaved-down neck/body joint?

Thanx for the help!!

cool man - thanx! any suggestions as to what terms to do a search for? i did a few searches and drew a blank...

This has been discussed, just do a search to get some other viewpoints.

There's no need to glue though --you can reshape the heel, then use inserts and shorter screws instead of a plate. Should work--plan it out ahead, of course. And you'll need to refinish the guitar too. Gluing the neck in will likely change the tone, and loses the advantages of the bolt on style.

Howdy. I just found this forum - nice! And thanx to the tutorials, I'm going to be converting an Ibanez Edge trem to lefty...very nice!!!

Basically, I'm converting a Tokai Flying V (FV-65 I think) to lefty - rerouting the body for the electronics, putting in an EMG '81/'85 set, swapping out the Ayers Rocker trem for the Ibanez...and...

I'd like to glue the neck onto the guitar. I'm wondering if this is possible? I want better upper fret access, and don't like the square 'hump' where the body/neck joint is. I figure if I glue the neck in, I can shave it down.

Any thoughts on this? Anybody ever done it? Any tutorials? I've gotta hope...

Thanx!!!