To whom it may concern:

I've been wanting to 'get this off my chest' for some time now. Here goes:

I have been a professional bassist for over 40 years. I have also been a guitar and bass repairman for nearly the same amount of time. I have worked on tens of thousands of Fender instruments in my long continuing career. I'm also a luthier, and build basses. Examples of my work are available to see on my Facebook page. I have several, wonderful Fender basses in my personal collection. I'm left handed. These basses were all made in Japan. Two custom color '62 re-issue p-basses were purchased new, through Ishibashi, and one used sunburst '62 reissue jazz bass, on Ebay.
I had, at one time, a used 1971 Olympic white Jazz bass, and a NEW 1973 Black lefty P-bass with a maple neck. These were off the line, AMERICAN made, lefty Fender basses. There was no Custom Shop, I paid 4 upcharges for the black Precision. It was $321.00 at Sam Ash in Manhattan. I also had lefty cases for them both. In my opinion, they were reasonably priced. I foolishly sold them both, in the eighties.

Here's my ongoing issue: I'm frustrated at your dis-allowing Ishibashi to sell and ship Fender Japan instruments here to us left handed players. This would be a moot point if Fender U.S.A. would make the same instruments and options available to us. There are, as you know, only a few lefty basses available, in two colors. I wanted an off the line, NON Custom shop stack knob '62 re-issue jazz bass in Daphne blue. This bass, like so many others seems to be made of Unobtainium.
Since I am familiar with guitar manufacturing, I do understand tooling and the change in templates necessary to produce lefty instruments. Aren't your CNC machines capable of doing fast program changes? That said, why is it so seemingly difficult to produce all of your products in either orientation? Do you realize just how MANY left handed players there are that want your instruments, but cannot afford the Custom Shop premium?
Two years ago, I was quoted at a local dealer, a price of $2,760.00 for a 1956 P-bass, lefty. I just do not have that kind of cash flow, much of the time. A stock lefty thousand dollar '56 p-bass would be a GREAT addition to your line, and you'd sell every one you could produce! I know I'd buy one for sure. There's a LARGE number of leftys out here! Can you say, "Market Share?"

Leo Fender's initial concept was to make practical, modular guitars and basses that people, professionals and amateurs alike could afford.

I want to buy AMERICAN! If you cannot do this, would you please allow us once again to get the instruments we'd like through Ishibashi?'

lhbassist, welcome to the Forum.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

lhbassist, thanks for this thoughtful post and I'll certainly forward it along to our bass guy.

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Welcome to the forum.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Isn't it true that Ishibashi can sell and ship used Fender Japan products to the USA?

That may not help much, as used lefties are ever rarer than new ones ....

I feel your pain.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

This would be cool for Left Handed guitars too!!!

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Forgive me for being naive here, and I really mean no disrespect in any way. But with the days of online shopping and worldwide "connection" to anywhere isn't there some way to obtain these "Japan" basses if you really want one?

I certainly agree that one should be made American, that would be great. When I had to find a replacement for the preamp in my Fender Montara A/E guitar I also ran into a seeming "roadblock" of "I can't help" when I contacted cust service for a replacement. But it's a big company and they can't make us all happy 100% of the time.

I'd never really thought about it being that difficult to get an instrument but I'm not left handed and don't know any left handed players. Your opinion was well thought out and presented so here's hoping that will work in your favor. Good luck on gettting the bass of your dreams.

THANKS!- Everyone, for viewing and for your kind welcomes!
Ishibashi was extremely helpful to me, and provided me the customer service a world-class company should. Yes, they can sell used Fender lefties. Trouble is twofold. I want a NEW Fender lefty custom color, off the line- or reissue bass, just like the right handed models- example: the early-mid 50's p-basses in butterscotch. They did not offer one, otherwise I'd have one of those, too. I also doubt that there are many lefty bassists and guitarists reading this, that are keen on selling ANY of their very hard to get Fender instruments.

This is a very important point here- I left this out of the first post. I have also spent a portion of my adult life as a repair tech at Sam Ash Brooklyn, N.Y. 1979-1982, and several Reno Nevada music stores. I do referral work for Guitar Center here, and major string bass rebuilding. I know exactly what is and is not happening from right at the sales point, back to the manufacturer. I'm 57 years old, and have a SH*T load of experience! I dare say, I know as much or more about this business than a LOT of reps, collectors and management types from major M.I. manufacturers. I HAVE TO. It is my business.
I know the following to be true. Music stores always claim they have a harder time selling lefty instruments. It's true. I've seen lefty instruments hang in a store for quite a while. This is for a number of understandable, correctable reasons.
1. Unawareness of lefty players as to just where to find the instruments we want. Translation: We assume we cant get the guitars and basses at a regular store, and we are usually right. I don't want a 200 dollar Ibanez soundgear bass, or a Chinese slave labor made lefty Squier p-bass. THIS is what we're offered. No thanks.
Southpaw Guitars has a lot of cool stuff, but they charge a LOT of money, way out of line- in my opinion. If the re-issue AMERICAN made guitars and basses were available, in custom colors, and the same models available as righty, at say Guitar Center in Reno, and listed online as such, guess what? WE SEARCH for this stuff!!! I DO, constantly!
So, reason #2. Simple unavailability of full line products in left hand orientation.
I firmly believe that Fender, the most amazingly successful guitar makers for the masses on Earth, should finally have a full on left handed facility to provide those of us born this way, made left handed by God, with the same killer guitars and basses we all love. What is there to lose? You wouldn't have to re-tool and designate a special period to make lefty instruments, would you? That would save time and money. If it is not a tremendous success, which it will be! - just retool and make something else. Or, just make it a seasonal operation.

This would be a dream come true for all of us left handed Fender enthusiasts. Even bigger dream come true if I ran it! LOL!

The above for your kind consideration. I'll always love Fender stuff!

Ihbassist so your an old Brooklynite.lol I miss the old Ash. Do you remember Maggio Music on 86th and 18th as that is where I hang.

I agree with your point totally as you lefties really get a raw deal on so much gear. You can if you want get one on ebay new if you want to go that route. There are a few stores that will ship new. About 10 years ago I had a 72 Thinline Tele shipped from Japan and everything went perfect.

Mate, I am the total opposite. a right handed guitarist. But I can see your fustrated. Fender Japan do have a much larger range of lefty instruments. They also dare I say have an impressive range of re-issues that rival the MIM/MIA.

I find it fustrating that I cannot buy from Musicians Friend because I am bound by international distrubiter agreements. I cannot by a Fender Special Run guitar from GC as much as I would love to own something like that, or a wildwood instrument- Hell I cant even buy a keyring off this site. My retailers have a monopoly over Fender and the prices here are painful. You can buy a strat here for NZD $2400 for an Am. Std strat, yet USD $1149. It's like paying USD$1660.56 for a american standard strat and that in my opinion is not right. Convert to my currency, and that strat on GC online is NZD $1600.

Can someone at fender explain the huge difference? a few hundred dollars is fair I think. $800 price difference? come on. I can get one in from Japan a lot cheaper. Even if it is out of Fenders control, our retailers need to be told to lighten up on the prices.

Whatever the reason, unless they are individually air frieghted on an overnight service to NZ I cannot see the reason for the price difference.
I just cant justify it. That is why I source my stuff from overseas. Dont get me wrong, I would love a brand spanking new MIA strat to call my own- but it is just not feasible to buy one new here, when I can buy the same much cheaper elsewhere.

Ishibashi are fantastic to deal with. I recommend Hiroaki to you. He used to live not far from where I lived as he lived in Auckland as a student on exchange. Professional and friendly- that guy is a top bloke.

So for the lefty part- unless you are willing to go CS, in all honesty Ishibashi at the end of the day may well be the way to go my friend. Not your ideal, but it's a solution nonetheless.

I dont want to come off like Im bashing the Fender brand- I love Fender and they are the most customer focussed and loyal corporate brands out there I reckon, I know that they cannot control what international retailers sell the products for & lefties arent a huge market.. I just hope that someone somehow will enable you to get what you want and hear your voice.

I read a thread a few weeks ago in the strat forum of someone wanting to buy a strat but a short scale one as they had a medical condition that made it difficult to play a full sized strat. After being told that Fender Mexico no longer do them, I said that Fender Japan did a short scale '62 re-issue which would have been ideal- though yet again he/she couldnt by one new and was probably disapointed & felt fustrated.

Whatever happens, good luck to you mate. I hope you get what your after

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Hi Straycat 113! I WANT A REAL BAGEL DAMMIT! Can't get 'em out west! Yes, I lived in Gravesend, Brooklyn for 13 years, on east 13th. between Kings Hwy. and Ave. R - right around the block from Crazy Eddie's and Sam Ash, on Coney Island Ave. where I was the guitar repairman. Yes, I also remember Maggio, but strangely, never went there once. Do you remember Big Barry's on Kings Hwy.? or Norm's Music, "We're the Good Guys" that took over Barry's store after he died? I worked nights part time, in the mid-80's at Slunky Studios on 86th., a friend owned it, and I helped out. I set up a repair bench there, but that didn't last long.

I'm still looking for lefty basses, all the time. Ishibashi cannot sell new basses to me any longer, as a private individual. There are some people acting as middlemen, online, and are seemingly successful at it- but as you might imagine, they are adding hundreds of dollars onto every instrument they make available to the U.S. players and others desirous of say, a 70's re-issue block marker j-bass. About 1200 bucks at last look. We're talkin' New Fender U.S. prices here, so it's a quandry as to what to do. I just built a parts bass, with a Japanese ocean turquoise metallic body, bought on E-bay from 'the Stratosphere', a terrific 20 fret lefty Allparts neck, scratch made mint-green pickguard, vintage thumbrest, stack-knobs, and all vintage style parts, except for a set of Samarium Cobalt Fender pickups. The headstock is painted to match the body. Remember, I am also a luthier. This bass is essentially a 1960, custom color, left-handed stack-knob reissue. It would cost about 3k from the custom shop, I assembled it for much less, and it smokes! I WISH it was a total, real Fender reissue...but it isn't available to me, for under $3,500.00. Hey, I paid that for my Nissan Pathfinder!

Hi Bertles...A lot of us are well aware of the disparity in prices of American made instruments overseas. Friends of mine used to buy a new Fender guitar here, in the early 70's, go to Europe, travel around, and then sell the Fender for a lot more than they paid, and buy the ticket home- voila' free vacation! This is known, I don't know why they are so much more in Australia, The UK, and N.Z. Fender instruments are made in six countries that I can think of, and I have NO idea why they can't be made in N.Z., or Australia, to make the pricing more in line with LEO'S concept. Hmmm.

P.S. I was at Guitar center in Las Vegas, in 2004, to rehearse a show and get supplies just before traveling to Atlantic City. There is a BASS specific room there. There are a lot of basses in that room. I counted ONE lefty, Mexican made black Jazz bass. There's a huge picture right above the entrance to that room. Only a lefty like me would see the irony in the person's photo they chose...Paul McCartney.

I, for one, would love to pick up a '72 Telecaster Deluxe. But I can't because Fender doesn't make a lefty version of this guitar. In fact, Fender doesn't produce a SINGLE lefty guitar with humbuckers.

I understand the concept of supply and demand, and that there are relatively few of us left-handed players out there. But I'm thinking Fender (and guitar manufacturers in general) are ignoring a largely untapped market segment by not catering more to lefty players.

I would be much more likely to buy more guitars if I had a greater selection from which to choose.

BINGO! He's NAILED IT! Are any of you guys in Fender management seeing this? I have MONEY to buy, I want a lefty, custom color, '62 -64 re-issue FENDER bass! Here's another guy that has MONEY to buy a Fender, and it's unavailable. I'll bet there's a whole lot of other, left-handed people you could be selling instruments to, He doesn't want an Ibanez, either!

Hi Ihbassist,

I am visiting the Forum for the first time and saw your post about music stores in Brooklyn. I bought my first guitar at Big Barrys. Its a 74 hardtail strat which I still have. Can you (anyone) tell me what happened to Barry and his store?

M