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Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Four ? lefty Iceman guitar

by Fat Chords

March 8th, 2011

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Four ? lefty Iceman guitar

These days, with more and more major guitar manufacturers ceasing to make their products in left hand, one might well ask the question “where do I go for left-handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars these days?”

In actual fact, there are guitar and bass models that are popular with guitarists that you cannot get left handed at all. Some have never been available in left hand.

Fortunately there is one guitar brand in the world that makes left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars only: Gaskell Guitars.

Gaskell Guitars (http://www.gaskellguitars.com) is from Australia, and was started by New Zealand-born left-handed guitarist Kevin Gaskell.

Gaskell Guitars is international renowned for “lefty guitars and basses, designed by a lefty, for lefties only.”

Gaskell makes guitars and basses that are otherwise not available in left hand option by original manufacturers. Here is another one in our series of articles on this subject:

Ibanez, a renowned Japanese guitar manufacturer that is strongly identified with excellent quality “superstrat” style guitars (Fender Strat style bodies with Floyd Rose tremolos) have a model called the Iceman. It is more widely known as a “Paul Stanley guitar” by the more casual guitarists.

Today, it has been re-popularized by Sam Totman, from Dragonforce.

It was designed by Ibanez and Greco working together in 1974. It was released in 1975 by Ibanez as the “Iceman” and by Greco as the “Mirage.” Greco sold theirs to the Japanese market only and Ibanez sold theirs internationally.

Even though it has been in and out of production for 35 years it has never been made in left hand by Ibanez!

Gaskell Guitars makes a left handed Iceman style guitar!

Gaskell’s is called the “Ice-Axe” and is inspired by the 1990′s version.

No matter where you live in the world you can get a Gaskell guitar or bass without too much hassle. And now you can get an Iceman style guitar for the first time!

I suggest you look at their website for more info. It is worth it! You will be surprised!

Left-handed guitars and left-handed basses only. Designed by a lefty, for lefties. How much more better than that can you get it?

Kevin Gaskell is the business owner and designer of Gaskell Guitars which is a manufacturer of left handed guitars and basses, located in Sydney Australia. Gaskell guitars are available world wide. http://www.gaskellguitars.com

Article from articlesbase.com

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Free Beginner Bass Lesson Video – Chord Theory

by Fat Chords

February 19th, 2011

Major and Minor Triads – how to use them on bass guitar. More at www.creativebasslessons.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Three ? lefty Explorer Bass

by Fat Chords

January 20th, 2011

by nnc07

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Three ? lefty Explorer Bass

These days, with more and more major guitar manufacturers ceasing to make their products in left hand as well, one might well ask the question “where do I go for left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars these days?”

In actual fact, there are definite guitar and bass models that are popular with guitarists that you cannot get left handed at all. Some have never been available in left hand.

Fortunately there is one guitar brand in the world that makes left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars only: Gaskell Guitars.

Gaskell Guitars (http://www.gaskellguitars.com) is from Australia, and was started by New Zealand-born left-handed guitarist Kevin Gaskell.

Gaskell Guitars has been going strong formally since 2006 and has become international renowned for left handed guitars and basses, designed by a lefty, for lefties only.

Gaskell makes left handed guitars and basses that are otherwise not available in left hand option by original manufacturers. Here are some examples:

If you are a left-handed bassist and you want to play, for example, an EXPLORER BASS style bass you will be faced with these hard truths first up:

a) Gibson, the original maker of the Explorer guitar and Explorer bass only ever made their Explorer bass once, in 1981. They never made it again.

b) When the made the Explorer bass, it was only a right-handed model and there were only 500 or so made in total.

c) Epiphone Guitars which is Gibson’s non-USA, cheaper brand make the same guitars as USA made Gibsons but in the Gibson factory in China. Using cheaper materials and mass production methods they can make very good versions of the Gibson originals, and they are made under the Epiphone brand. Since the factory started in 2002, Epiphone have been turning out better and better instruments all the time. Today’s Epiphones are very good guitars, and excellent value for their price point. Epiphone have made some Explorer bass guitars but are not making them now.

d) Epiphone have also never produced left handed Explorer bass guitars.

e) The very cheap and nasty instrument makers whose guitars sell from about 0 to 0 also don’t make this guitar, in either right hand or left hand. The many thousands of instrument making factories in China, don’t seem to know how or want to do this model.

f) This is a bass guitar that is pretty much impossible to get – period. If one was really keen, one would have to go to a boutique builder and then be prepared to spend 00 and upwards for one.

Gaskell Guitars makes a left handed Explorer style BASS guitar!

Gaskell’s version of the Explorer bass is called the “X-bass.” (http://www.gaskellguitars.com/models)

With the shorter 32″ scale length and a basswood body, the Gaskell Xbass is an awesome, warm and alive sounding bass guitar for left handed bass players only. It shares the same body size as the Gaskell 6 string Explorer style guitar which is not only slightly smaller than the Gibson inspiration but is also more rounded. Hence the shape is not quite the same as a Gibson Explorer guitar.

The Gaskell headstock is a Gaskell design and is the same design as most of the guitars in the Gaskell range. Copyright infringement is thus totally avoided.

Left-handed guitarists wanting a quality, gig ready, Explorer bass style guitar can get one from one place: Gaskell Guitars.

No matter where you live in the world you can get a Gaskell guitar or bass without too much hassle.

I suggest you look at their website for more info. It is worth it! You will be surprised!

Left-handed guitars and left-handed basses only. Designed by a lefty, for lefties. How much more better than that can you get it?

Article from articlesbase.com

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Where to go for left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars. Part One: left-handed Explorers

by Fat Chords

December 7th, 2010

by Miss Emily Jane

Where to go for left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars. Part One: left-handed Explorers

In actual fact, there are definite guitar models that are popular with guitarists that you cannot get left handed at all. Some have never been available in left hand.

Fortunately there is one guitar brand in the world that makes left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars only: Gaskell Guitars.

Gaskell Guitars (http://www.gaskellguitars.com) is from Australia, and was started by New Zealand-born left-handed guitarist Kevin Gaskell.

Gaskell Guitars has been going strong formally since 2006 and has become international renowned for left handed guitars, designed by a lefty, for lefties only.

Gaskell makes left handed guitars and basses that are otherwise not available in left hand option by original manufacturers. Here are some examples:

If you are a left-handed guitarist and you want to play, for example, an Explorer style guitar you will be confronted with the following list of facts to contend with:

a) Gibson, the original maker of Explorer guitars does not make left handed Explorer guitars.

b) Gibson no longer makes left handed guitars at all and you will not even get a left handed Explorer through their Custom Shop.

c) Hamer who also make Explorer guitars do not make left handed Explorers.

d) Dean Guitars make an Explorer as well, with their unique V-shaped Headstock. From time to time they do a few lefties. Limited colours though. Still, kudos to Dean for doing that!

e) Peavey make an Explore-esque guitar not the same as an Explorer but similar, but they do not make left-handed ones.

f) ESP no longer make Explorer guitars based on the original Gibson style ones, but make a more pointy version. It is possible they make their variant in left hand through their Custom Shop. No production left-handed versions are made.

g) At the beginners, entry level of the market, we have Rondo Music in the USA who brings in a Chinese-made Explorer style guitar which they do in 3 colours in left hand. It’s not the same shape as Gibson Explorer but is very definitely Explorer-derived. People in forums, generally rave about how “good” they are but what they mean by “good” really means “cheap price.” And cheap price equals “good.” Any guitarist who says one of Rondo Music’s Agile, SX, or Douglas guitars are “good” does not know what a “good” guitar is. For the price you pay (US 0-700) you could say the guitar was “good” only if you meant the price. Still, people seem to buy these and then replace all the cheap hardware and electronics for good stuff. But by the time you have done that you could have just bought a better quality guitar! Getting back on the subject, you can buy a cheap Explorer style guitar from Rondo Music. Their customer service appears to be excellent, and good on them anyway for offering a lot of cheap lefty guitars as well as right handed guitars. Hat’s off to you guys!

h) If you live in the UK, there is Gordon Smith Guitars, the UK’s equivalent of USA’s Gibson. You can get a left handed Explorer guitar from them. It looks exactly like a Gisbon. However the wait time can be up to 12 months, per reports. They are about double the price of a Gaskell.

Gaskell Guitars makes left handed Explorer style guitars. Their production models, the Classic and Classic II ( http://www.gaskellguitars.com/models) are similar to the original Gibson Explorers but with slight smaller, more rounded bodies and with a Gaskell original headstock, different from Gibson. No legal violations there!

For the left-handed guitarist wanting a more pro level guitar there are two choices: the Gaskell Classic PRO or the Gaskell Huntsman.

The Classic PRO is customizable and available by pre order. The Huntsman is a matt black gothic style Explorer with all the work to make it done in Australia, and fitted with EMGs.

Left-handed guitarists wanting a quality, gig ready, Explorer style guitar, there is really one place to get one from: Gaskell Guitars.

No matter where you live in the world you can get a Gaskell guitar or bass without too much hassle.

I suggest you look at their website for more info. It is worth it! You will be surprised!

Left-handed guitars and left-handed basses only. Designed by a lefty, for lefties. How much more better than that can you get it? Go to http://www.gaskellguitars.com

Article from articlesbase.com

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Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Two ? left handed Firebirds

by Fat Chords

November 25th, 2010

by Stéfan

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Two ? left handed Firebirds

In actual fact, there are definite guitar models that are popular with guitarists that you cannot get left handed at all. Some have never been available in left hand.

Fortunately there is one guitar brand in the world that makes left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars only: Gaskell Guitars.

Gaskell Guitars (http://www.gaskellguitars.com) is from Australia, and was started by New Zealand-born left-handed guitarist Kevin Gaskell.

Gaskell Guitars has been going strong formally since 2006 and has become international renowned for left handed guitars, designed by a lefty, for lefties only.

Gaskell makes left handed guitars and basses that are otherwise not available in left hand option by original manufacturers. Here are some examples:

If you are a left-handed guitarist and you want to play, for example, a Firebird style guitar you will be confronted with the following list of facts:

a) Gibson, the original maker of Firebird guitars has never made a production reverse body Firebird. The model is nearly 50 years old!

b) It appears that Gibson has made a few non reverse body Firebirds over the years and people with them hold on to them. It is possible that this was mainly during the 1960′s and possibly the early 1970′s. The non reverse body Firebirds are the unpopular ones. No one plays them. People play reverse body Firebirds.

c) If you were to buy one of these non reverse body Firebirds expect to pay anything up to US$ 27,500.00 for one. (True case. A guitar was going for that amount in 2010!)

d) ESP Guitars also make a Firebird style guitar. Theirs is called the Phoenix. It may come in left hand through their custom shop (???) but has never been available as a production left handed model. It looks pretty similar but has some style differences.

e) Jackson Guitars USA used to make a reverse body Firebird guitar with their pointy Jackson headstock but the model has been discontinued for years and was never made left-handed any way.

f) Even the sub-0 entry level brands don’t do left-handed Firebirds. It might be because they are too expensive to make, even by the uber-cheap and nasty Chinese brands that mass produce junk guitars. Firebirds have 3 piece bodies and that cannot be done by computer (CNC machine.) A Firebird is probably THE most difficult guitar to make. It is not a slab body guitar which can be CNC’d without effort.

g) For those in the know, Tokai, from Japan, make left handed guitars and they do make a Firebird but theirs is a slab body guitar and bolt neck. That loses pretty much everything that makes a Firebird sound like a Firebird. It may as well be a Stratocaster!

Gaskell Guitars makes a left handed Firebird style guitar.

Their version, called the Firestarter ( http://www.gaskellguitars.com/models) has a 3 piece body with set in neck. The earliest models were neck thru but they had to be changed to set neck, due to the huge cost increase to make neck-thru and no resource in CNC technology to do it for that model of guitar.

The Gaskell Firestarter is a little smaller than the Gibson Firebird so is more manageable. Apart from the mahogany body, the neck is maple which makes the guitar a little lighter than a Gibson. Heavy guitars are not an option for the pro guitarist who has to stand on a stage for 1 – 3 hours holding a guitar. Heavy guitars are not needed and wanted by professional guitarists.

Left-handed guitarists wanting a quality, gig ready, Firebird style guitar, there is really one place to get one from: Gaskell Guitars.

No matter where you live in the world you can get a Gaskell guitar or bass without too much hassle.

I suggest you look at their website for more info. It is worth it! You will be surprised!

Left-handed guitars and left-handed basses only. Designed by a lefty, for lefties. How much more better than that can you get it?

Article from articlesbase.com

Archive for Bass

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Four ? lefty Iceman guitar

Free Beginner Bass Lesson Video – Chord Theory

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Three ? lefty Explorer Bass

Where to go for left handed guitars and left-handed bass guitars. Part One: left-handed Explorers

Where to go for left handed guitars and left handed bass guitars? Part Two ? left handed Firebirds