Guitar stores all share one common issue: the lack of options for left-handed musicians.
Many big-name guitar chain stores, like Guitar Center or Sam Ash Music, have massive walls of both electric and acoustic guitars within the store, yet less than a fourth of those guitars are built for left-handed players. Despite only 10% of the world population being left-handed, many left-handed players have the same issue regarding in-person guitar shopping. Not only are these guitars harder to find, but they’re more expensive than right-handed guitars.
“It’s a combination of manufacturing costs plus supply and demand issues. It costs a guitar company more money to tool up to make a guitar in ‘reverse’ from standard. It does cost more to make, and fewer are done, so you add extra cost and low supply and costs can go up. It’s not really the store’s fault, it’s just economics,” says Michael Simmons, an instructor for Huntington Beach High School’s Music, Media, and Entertainment Technology Department (MMET).
Because a small percentage of the world population is left-handed, guitar manufacturers produce more right-handed (RH) guitars than left-handed (LH) guitars. The production costs of making LH guitars are higher than RH guitars, therefore their selling prices will also be higher, despite the low supply. Since the parts made for right-handed guitars are made in mass, it would take manufacturers more time to make separate parts for left-handed players.
Regardless of whether guitar manufacturers produce more or less left-handed guitars, the retailers will still up-charge left-handed guitar prices not just to afford manufacturing costs but to compensate for the lower demand.
Usually, a left-handed player’s best bet to find guitars suitable for their needs is to search for them online rather than at a guitar store.
“Thanks to the internet, there is a global marketplace for instruments, especially on sites like reverb.com. At least there you can see what’s available and where the market values are,” says Simmons.
Like the aforementioned website, reverb.com, and other online stores sell a variety of different guitars. Additionally, those previously mentioned, big-name music stores, like Guitar Center, also have a selection of guitars on their website available for pick up or order from the store and get shipped to their home. Although the prices may still be higher than the prices for right-handed guitars, this is arguably the best option for left-handed musicians.
Because of the internet, buyers can order instruments that meet a player’s needs directly from the store’s website. There are many solutions to this problem that people who are either picking up a guitar for the first time or are current musicians buying a new guitar can take advantage of.
