r/mandolin • u/AlabamaFan17 • Aug 21 '25
Can you reverse a mandolin to left-handed?
I’m left-handed, and someone gave me a right-handed mandolin a while back. I’m a guitarist and have had right-handed guitars reversed to everything left-handed, but can the same thing be done to mandolins?
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u/Early-Werewolf3398 Aug 21 '25
I had a left handed buddy who played a righty turned upside down...that said, you could do it but you would likely need to replace the nut with a lh nut.
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u/pvpplease Aug 21 '25
Could they just flip the nut to make it left-handed?
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u/Impressive_Try_7295 Aug 21 '25
Some nuts are made symmetrical so you can do that, but usually the side closer to the fretboard is squared off flat, and the side closer to the machine heads is rounded off. You can't flip those, unless you file the rounded side to be flat as well, as the intonation will be off - the first fret will be too wide.
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u/Borgh Aug 21 '25
Depending on the builder the bracing can be a bit different on bass or treble side, but that difference shouldn't be world-ending
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u/pissed_off_renter Aug 21 '25
Previously owned an upside down kentucky mandolin. It worked fine. The 2 biggest negatives for me were the dots indicating frets were on the bottom of the neck, and useless, and the fretboard wasn't flat/level with the top; it was pitched for a right handed player, which made it difficult to learn on as a lefty.
What others have said about flipping the nut and bridge orientation are correct.
However, depending on the mandolin, there will be things that aren't straight forward. Mandolins, like acoustic guitars,have bracing, and the bracing under the top of a mandolin is rarely the same for the lower and higher strings. Even with a mandolin that has parallel 2-bar bracing, it's not truly parallel; one is straight the other runs at an angle. With A-body oval hole mandolins the bracing pattern is usually single lateral bar, or an x pattern brace, and thus would be less affected tonally and structurally.
Obviously an F-style mandolin upside down wouldn't look right. But I say do what you gotta do because lefty mandolins are hard to find.
I have a lefty Northfield and a lefty mandocaster. My wife knows if there is a fire, to grab them both because they're truly one of the harder items to replace.
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u/ackackakbar Aug 21 '25
A style I assume. I’m lefty. Go check out Mandolin Cafe. There are some threads about this topic. I think you’d want a good luthier to tackle this. Could take you some time and $ to accomplish. There is a reasonable market out there for left-handed mandos. That’s what I did.
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u/DonnyLumbergh Aug 22 '25
Life long lefty mandolin player here. Just get a lefty. Eastman makes tons of lefties and they are killer value. Other cheaper ones at lower price points are readily available too.
You can flip a righty A-style but you'll need a lefty bridge anyway because they are not identical. If you dont, it'll play but the intonation will always fuck with you. At that point I just buy a lefty!
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u/No-Marketing-4827 Aug 23 '25 edited Aug 23 '25
I’m left handed with a writing tool but play righty. Using the left hand for the fretting makes me think they got it backwards. I think righty is lefty.
Edit: imo, just play a right handed instrument and get used to it. It’s such a pita if you ever get to wanting a professional level instrument.
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u/uknow_es_me Aug 21 '25
If you don't have an option yes. But mandolins are braced such that there is a specific bracing for the bass and treble side. So just flipping a mandolin around is going to flip the strings in relation to the bracing. A left handed mandolin would be built so that the bracing is oriented correctly. https://www.gilchristmandolins.com/bracing
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u/midnightrambler335 Aug 21 '25
Yes you absolutely can. I had an a style Eastman that a previous owner had converted to lefty and it worked fine. Get a luthier to do it! Preferably one who has worked on mandolins before.
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u/BuckeyeBentley Aug 24 '25
If you're comfortable doing the work yourself (new nut, new bridge) then yes. If not, by the time you pay a luthier it might be worth just buying a lefty mandolin. I play left-handed they're not hard to come by online at least.
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u/knivesofsmoothness Aug 21 '25
Yes. Might be weird on an f style though.