Lefty needs new axe!

[Govmnt_Lacky]

So I have been playing my Ibanez Artist guitar for the last few years (living room rock god... not good enough to gig  ) and lately I have been getting some nasty fret buzzing. A friend of mine is a guitar tech wiz so I let him have it for a weekend and the news came back grim.

The neck is twisted and he could not get it straightened. He did the best he could and it plays for now but the action is outrageously high and it will not last for long. I will most likely piece it out (Its got some SWEET Seymour Duncan Dave Mustaine signature actives in there...... AWESOME pickups!)

So...... I am soliciting inputs for a good mid-level guitar. I don't need anything overpriced and out of my league BUT... I don't want to play on a terrible sounding piece of junk either.

Im a lefty so my options are already limited 

Suggestions??

[LaceSensor]

is it  a bolt on? how about a new neck?

[Govmnt_Lacky]

is it  a bolt on? how about a new neck?

It is a bolt on however, the neck issue is not the only thing. The bridge is not the best either. Couple this with the fact that I am ready to move on to something new..... means new axe possibly 

[midwayfair]

This one's pretty killer for low level:

[GermanCdn]

Lefty mid-level guitar - that's a pretty narrow selection, but here goes:

Lefty MIM strats (used) - can be found for generally <$350, budget another $100 - $150 if you want new pickups.  Can be a bit of a bitch to find good hardware for them though.

Lefty MIK Epi LPs (used) - not the easiest thing to find, but they do exist, again probably in the <$350 range

Left Agile AL (new) - Rondo's got a bunch of LH options, and you can get a pretty decent spec'd out guitar for <$400, but you can't try it before you buy it.

If you want to spend a bit more money, you can get a lefty Carvin base model built for you for <$900 (either a DC or a bolt).

Cheapest solution would be to bite the bullet and convert to right handed.

[LaceSensor]

Personally it took me about 10 years but I am convinced a strat is the best alrounder
Im sure the MIM offer something reasonable for a range of budgets
the 60s ones look pretty cool, too.

just be careful to check the hardware, pickups, neck profile and radius. play a few, if you can.

[pickdropper]

I think a bit more info is needed.  What type of guitar are you looking for?  Set neck, bolt-on?  Humbuckers, single coils?  There are a lot of options out there.  Also, what's the target price range?  Mid-level means different things to different people.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

As far as particulars.... I am not too picky as far as bolt-on or set neck guitars. I have had both. In all honesty... I am not a good enough player to even demand one or the other.  I am more familiar with dual humbucker setups though... Also prefer a good hard tail bridge. I cannot stand stringing Floyd Rose tremolos 

As far as price range.... I could go out right now and get a PRS if I wanted to. I just don't see the point in buying a $3000-4000 guitar for my skill level. I like to play rock, blues, and metal (not very well though...)

I have been thinking about a LP SGJ or a Studio as they seem very abundant in LH. Thoughts??

[jkokura]

If I were in the market for a dual humbucker guitar right now, I can't say which I'd be getting for certain, but consider something like an Epiphone Dot or 339 - both are great guitars. I got my Dot used for about $400 including a case. They come in lefties for sure, because in my local store (which is quite small) they make up the most commonly sold lefty guitar that doesn't come as a beginner setup with amp and gigbag.

After that - take a look at some of the PRS SE line. Their guitars are quite good, made in Korea, and I've owned several and been quite happy. I currently have a Soapbar single cut, and it plays really, really well. If you could spend more money, you could also look at the new PRS S2 lineup. There's a few guitars there that I wouldn't mind taking home.

Also, I will agree with the Strat sentiments, but a tele might fit you better because of the hard tail. You can get pick guards and load them with dual hum buckers if you want, and you can lock down the bridge of a strat for a hard tail feel, however I'd install single coil size humbuckers like the Dimarzio Areas in either type of guitar. Either upgrade a MIM, or look for a good deal on a USA ($600-700 is doable sometimes).

Jacob

[jubal81]

One of the great things about the times we live in is the abundance of quality guitars that cost less than $1,000.

Already some good suggestions and Jacob sounds right on to me. Another question is how likely it is you will want to flip it later. SGs, LPs and strats are a lot easier to sell than say, a reverend or something more offbeat.

I'd take a road trip to a largish guitar shop and feel out what necks feel good to me and go from there - make an adventure out of it.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I'd take a road trip to a largish guitar shop and feel out what necks feel good to me and go from there - make an adventure out of it.

Ha! That is EXACTLY what it would be.... an adventure! The closest "big" guitar retailer/shop to me is a 2 hour drive one way 

I would prefer a solid body guitar as that is what I have played almost exclusively.

The ONLY guitar that I truely fell in love with was a PRS McCarty Custom 22. It was actually the only lefty they had left in the GC about a decade ago! I sat down and it was like BUTTER! Phenomenal sound.... great feel.... then I saw the price! 

I could get one now but... I would just feel awful spending hefty dollars on a guitar that is nowhere near my experience level.

[GermanCdn]

OK, we're talking about a different price level than I was originally thinking.

Clearly my first vote would be PRS, and McCarty's can be had for ridiculous deals used.  Last one I bought I got for $900.  LH going to be tricky.

A used CE-22 or CE-24 would be the best bang for buck, LH do exist in those, but again finding one might be a problem.

I don't know if you can actually get S2s in LH models; intuitively I want to say yes you can, but an ebay search for "PRS S2 left" yielded zero results, and the philosophy behind the S2 line is not to have custom options which require custom tooling or machine algorithms, so maybe they don't exist.  Might want to invest in new pickups, as the electronics in the S2 line are the B&G Korean pups.  If you don't like restringing a Floyd, stay away from the Starla, Bigsby's are about as much fun to restring.

(Not taking resale into consideration with the following statement, cause you are going to lose money on it)

If I was a lefty and wanted the best VFM dual humbucker guitar out there, I'd order a Carvin CT4 (plain maple top) or CT6 (figured maple top), depending on how sexy you wanted to get.  But let's take a CT4 as the base case. You could get

- 22 or 24 fret
- rosewood, ebony, or maple board
- translucent burst finish
- tung oiled neck
- stainless steel frets
- TOM bridge
- Sperzel locking tuners
- HS case

All for around $1300 delivered to your door with a 10 day money back guarantee.  I'd budget another $200 for a new set of pickups, as nothing in the Carvin line has ever smacked me as "Wow".  So for $1500 and 10 minutes of pickup swap, you have a killer guitar that will never need a refret.

But......you'll lose 1/3 of that on resale.  If that's a consideration.

[pickdropper]

Since you don't seem all that particular (other than the Floyd Rose thing) and you want to play rock, blues and metal, I think you would be happy with a lot of different options as long as they have a bucker in the bridge.

On the lowest cost scale of things, a used MIM strat with H-S-S would probably make you happy. You could always change the bridge pickup to one of the hot pickups that you are pulling out of your old guitar.  The G&L tributes can be nice as well and are affordable.

PRS SE are pretty nice and can be had used for decent pricing and in lefty.  The S2 stuff is nice if the hard edge on the top of the guitar doesn't bother you (and if they exist, as JKS pointed out). 

As GermanCDN mentioned, you can find good pricing on used McCarty's (I see them for $1200-1300 quite regularly) but that might be more than you want to spend and they could be more once you pay the lefty tax.

The SGJ might be a good call if you can find one in lefty.  It's certainly reasonably priced and will hold much of its value if you decide to flip it later on.

There really are many nice instruments out there under $1k, it boils down to what you like more than anything.

[LaceSensor]

just throwing it out there my fave guitar is a hard tail strat

[Govmnt_Lacky]

As GermanCDN mentioned, you can find good pricing on used McCarty's (I see them for $1200-1300 quite regularly) but that might be more than you want to spend and they could be more once you pay the lefty tax.

The SGJ might be a good call if you can find one in lefty.  It's certainly reasonably priced and will hold much of its value if you decide to flip it later on.

Ha! If I could find a lefty McCarty out there for $1200-1300 I would buy it without a thought! 

I am leaning towards an SGJ or Studio LP. Does anyone have experience with these? Differences between models or between these and Traditional models? Any info is helpful...

Is it just cheaper electronics and hardware or is it something deeper in the manufacturing process?