LeftyBassist.com

hi there,

I'm looking for one of these three

http://www.westone.info/superheadlessbass.html -

http://www.ratcliffe.co.za/gear/thejack/index.shtml

or a washburn status


cash waiting or will trade...

I have a westone thunder 1A - http://www.westone.info/thunder1abass.html

or a Dean bass (not sure what model).

Andy

None of those 3 basses were ever made lefty to my knowledge. Westone had the Quantum stick, Hohner the B2A & Washburn also did a lefty stick, but nothing with a body. The only bodied headless lefty I know was the Musicyo Steinberger Q series in 4 or 5 strings.

There was a Clover Slapper headless a while back on Bass Chat UK's lefty thread, it looks similar to the ones you're looking for:

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/36318-big-l ... ket-thread

NJ GUITAR AND BASS CENTER HERE IN JERSEY HAS A CUSTOM LEFTY HEADLESS BASS MADE BY A COMPANY CALLED FRETSONG. CHECK IT OUT HERE WWW.NEWJERSEYGUITARANDBASSCENTER.COM

glefty5 wrote:None of those 3 basses were ever made lefty to my knowledge. Westone had the Quantum stick, Hohner the B2A & Washburn also did a lefty stick, but nothing with a body. The only bodied headless lefty I know was the Musicyo Steinberger Q series in 4 or 5 strings.

The Washburn Status was indeed made left handed. I've seen 3 in my lifetime. Taken from Arni's site:

This one's owned by Kevin Hamilton And this one's owned by Jörn Sörensen (Note the righty body)

Wow! That's exactly what I'm after! Let me know if anyone's selling one.

Thanks

glefty5 wrote:...Washburn also did a lefty stick, but nothing with a body. The only bodied headless lefty I know was the Musicyo Steinberger Q series in 4 or 5 strings.

The Musicyo Steinberger headless with body was the XZ series bass; I have an XZ5, and aside from the somewhat generic tone of the EMG select humbuckers (I'll get around to replacing someday), I love mine, very solid and balanced, easy to play. Assuming you set expectations accordingly for a Korean built Steinberger, it's FAR better than I had expected and I would recommend picking one up if you come across one reasonably priced and in very good condition.

I also have a Washburn Bantam- might appear to be a Steinberger clone but actually is an alder body with a maple set neck, rosewood board, and a proprietary bridge and nut design that uses normal strings. Excellent tone from the passive humbuckers- and the first bass I ever got with a very cool locking input jack.

The most rare headless lefty I ever had was a Kramer Voyager (essentially a bodied version of the Kramer Duke) that I sold several years back. You don't see those everyday but there's probably a few out there somewhere....BTW, that transparent blue is the original factory finish.

glefty5 - , thanks for posting. That's something to go on. I like the XZ5 and the Washburn. Not so sure about the Kramer! Looks a little wild for me. But I love the colour.
I've got a Hohner B2A which looks like the Washburn.
The B2A sounds great and is easy to play sitting down thanks to the metal strip that swings down to accommodate the thigh. Alas the strap peg is positioned just behind the heel such that when standing, the head of the bass tends to swing away from the user (out into the audience.) It feels like you have to reach forward to find the first frets. This was so uncomfortable for me that I developed my own 2-strap system (using a baritone sax strap and a second strap round the waist) It's a bit of a faff but once it's on, it's the most stable of all my instruments, including my guitars (which I play RH, oh the shame.)
I see that the Washburn has a little extension of the body above the neck where the strap would attach, I suppose that this was a development to address the swing-out issue. Do you have any problems with it?
Another problem with the B2A is the bridge saddle system. The 4 saddles are held in place by 2 small grub screws which, when tightened, lock them in place. There is no way to move the saddles back and forward via an adjusting bolt as in a traditional bridge. You have to tap tap tap on the saddle to move it with a small hammer or something, then screw the grubs tight to lock them. It's a little undignified. What's the Washburn like?
One positive side to the B2As symmetrical design is that when leant against an amp or wall it is very stable. I teach guitar and bass in a school so I'm forever switching from one to the other. It never falls over.