We’ll kick this Repair Spotlight off with the disclaimer that not every guitar is a good candidate for a left-hand conversion. Bracing, neck shape, bridges, and saddle slot placement are all considerations that must be made when determining if the process will work well. This ladder braced Waterloo WL-14 however made for the perfect candidate! Just look how happy Mass Street General Manager Mike H is after wrapping this one up. Check out the captions below for a detailed explanation of the process.
To begin, the original saddle slot had to be filled with a new piece of ebony in order to route a new slot that’s properly orientated for left hand playing.
Here is a photo of the filled slot. That small strip of different colored ebony is the only evidence of the fill. Once the wood is condition and the new slot is cut you will barely be able to see it!
Here is the new slot that’s been routed for a lefty saddle.
This is a straight on angle to show that the original filled slot is very hard to pick out once the new slot is routed.
Next up to is to fit the new cut-through saddle and compensate it so that the guitar is properly intonated.
All strung up with a fresh set of strings and ready to be played!
One additional step to this process is making a new nut, in this case an ebony one to match the original. This insures that the nut slots are the proper size for the inverted string placement.
All in all this was a pretty straight forward process, but it’s just one of the many ways the Repair Shop here at the store can work wonders. Check out our Repair Page for all the contact info and details on what the shop can do for you!