The weird world of left-handed offsets

[sal paradise]

I think there’s a few more lefties here now… Let’s see yours - from the weird to the rare, and of course the most recent of occurrences: the everyday left-handed offset.

One I’ve always been interested in:

[GreenKnee]

Yeah man looks awesome!

[sal paradise]

[GreenKnee]

That actually broke my heart, sorry!

[sal paradise]

That actually broke my heart, sorry!

That actually broke my heart, sorry!

Executed perfectly

A potted history of my offsets? Thanks for asking!

It’s crazy to think when I was young, none of my friends could find offsets, let alone left handed ones. And when they did appear, they were £££, One guy had a Jaguar, and we all thought him spoilt cos we were rocking squiers & other no-name guitars.

Skip forward 30 years and I’ve owned 11 offsets. An embarrassment of riches really.

In 1999, at 17 and well past my nirvana obsession, I ran into this on Denmark Street. Needless to say it came home with me. The neck was perfect. But the guitar was awkward as hell, and the humbucker was nothing on the Dimarzio SD I’d put in my pacifica. It lasted a few years playing in 60s style band before I started a never-ending love affair with Telecasters. I’m pleased to say this guitar is still with a friend in Canada (even if she never gave me any money for it).


<2003-2011 were my wilderness years, where for a while I only had a battered acoustic & later on, a USA Telecaster (possibly only sentimental guitar I consistently wish I’d kept)>

Skip to 2013, I chanced upon an unfinished factory 2nd Cobain Jag body. Stratosphere sent me a mustang neck & I made this mess. That neck, gosh it’s just perfect. It was light and sounded insanely good. Should have kept this, too, and refinished it/new pickguard etc.


The neck, and my lifelong Mustang desire led me to this when they were going silly cheap. The JB never worked for, and the bigger boys in my hardcore band laughed at the colour.


It was raining cool guitars. A guy in Bulgaria sold me this beautiful 95 Jag, all yellowed, for £650. Pickups were awful, so it went really quickly even though it was a joy to play.



2015, leftyguitars.be persuaded Fender to do a Jazzmaster FSR. Awful electrics again, but that was fixed by some creamery’s. Saw me through a few years playing with an indie band. Sold it last year when I needed cash.


Never say no to a cheap Jag. Or so I thought. Man, the neck on this was uncomfortable, the body was super heavy… it just all felt wrong (in retrospect, it might just have been because it was strung with 14s). In & out, this one was.


Cue more mustang gas. I was playing a lot of humbuckers in a band at this point, and even with the tele style bridge pickup it just wasn’t kicking. And the u shaped neck just wasn’t quite there.


a cheap KC Mustang in 2022. Ugly AF though. And nope, the JB still wasn’t doing it for me. I swapped it out for a PAF and learnt an important lesson- it’s too close to strings & way too boomy. I don’t want a humbucker in my mustang.


The 1969 Mustang. (Actually almost forgot about this one…!) neck was a bit chunky, but played nicely. It was a boat anchor & coated in about a foot of Poly. Sounded great with a cool rails. In the end, it just wasn’t that pretty & had a fair amount of profit sat in it at a time when i was buying & selling too many guitars (ok, yes when am I not doing that?). It didn’t survive. Somewhere in the USA now.



YOLO! I don’t like red guitars (although faded fiesta does look lovely on other guitars. White headstock, and hearing the vintera 2 jags - I wanted that sound. It sounds cool, but didn’t blow me away. And honestly, I can’t tell you what’s special about a CS guitar beyond AAA woods, nitro finishes & case candy. Plenty of my MIJ guitars feel and play better. My AVRI tele easily matches this guitar for feel/quality. I was silly to expect magic, I realise. (It’s currently for sale in Denmark st if you ever wanted to try it, or buy it from me for less than they are asking. The lesson- don’t buy expensive, obscure guitars on a whim if you’re expected you can flip it easily. You can’t.)


I was all at sea- would I ever get the glory & comfort of those early Jags? Then boom! MG69 for 2015 prices not far from me. Stick a cool rails in. Perfect neck, perfect sound. Just need to one day find a guard that actually fits so I can rid myself of that ugly tort.

[ainm]

Ah, the CS didn’t work out for you? Shame. It’s a pretty guitar, but I think you’re probably right on the lack of quality gap vs factory Japan stuff.

Glad you’re enjoying the MG-69. I love mine - don’t play it very often because I’m a bridge humbucker person and I haven’t gotten around to a pickup swap yet, but it’s superb across the board and is probably my most comfortable guitar to play.

That 95 Jag, though Man, what I’d give for a guitar like that. I might tear the electrics out of all my Japanese Fenders but you just can’t beat them when it comes to playability.

I’m a righty, so no pics unless the reversed image thing is the new trend.

[Footbutt]

Oh, man… so many…
Most are bittersweet because I had to sell...

MIJ Jazzmaster w/ Spitfire Tort by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

Fender Jaguar CIJ Left Handed by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

[JVG]

Yay - a lefty thread!

I’ll start with these three:

Olympic White Jazzmaster-ish thing. Warmoth body, Musikraft neck (which has recently been replaced with a dots+ binding neck because i’ve really gone off blocks). I’ve got a thing for messing with decals on my parts casters - a few have mirror imaged logos like this one. The pickups have been changed from Strat to Jag style since these photos.





Sonic Blue ‘Aguar’. USACG body (remember them? Tommy was a legend) and Musikraft neck. Intended as a rough approximation of an early 60s Jag, but those with a keen eye will spot inconsistencies. It’s as heavy as the proverbial boat anchor but sounds amazing with its Pickup Wizard pickups.





Fiesta Red Cobain Mustang. Bought new in about 2013 for AUD $750, it’s crazy that they now go for so much more. It is a nice guitar, but does get a whole lot of attention. I’ve struggled to find the right pickup combo - it currently has a Novak WRHB (in normal HB form) and a Dimarzio Chopper in the neck (i can’t remember what neck pickup it had in this photo). Reckon i might look for a really low wind HB for the bridge, as the Novak gets a bit woofy.

[simonhpieman]

That actually broke my heart, sorry!

That actually broke my heart, sorry!

Executed perfectly

A potted history of my offsets? Thanks for asking!

It’s crazy to think when I was young, none of my friends could find offsets, let alone left handed ones. And when they did appear, they were £££, One guy had a Jaguar, and we all thought him spoilt cos we were rocking squiers & other no-name guitars.

Skip forward 30 years and I’ve owned 11 offsets. An embarrassment of riches really.

In 1999, at 17 and well past my nirvana obsession, I ran into this on Denmark Street. Needless to say it came home with me. The neck was perfect. But the guitar was awkward as hell, and the humbucker was nothing on the Dimarzio SD I’d put in my pacifica. It lasted a few years playing in 60s style band before I started a never-ending love affair with Telecasters. I’m pleased to say this guitar is still with a friend in Canada (even if she never gave me any money for it).


<2003-2011 were my wilderness years, where for a while I only had a battered acoustic & later on, a USA Telecaster (possibly only sentimental guitar I consistently wish I’d kept)>

Skip to 2013, I chanced upon an unfinished factory 2nd Cobain Jag body. Stratosphere sent me a mustang neck & I made this mess. That neck, gosh it’s just perfect. It was light and sounded insanely good. Should have kept this, too, and refinished it/new pickguard etc.


The neck, and my lifelong Mustang desire led me to this when they were going silly cheap. The JB never worked for, and the bigger boys in my hardcore band laughed at the colour.


It was raining cool guitars. A guy in Bulgaria sold me this beautiful 95 Jag, all yellowed, for £650. Pickups were awful, so it went really quickly even though it was a joy to play.



2015, leftyguitars.be persuaded Fender to do a Jazzmaster FSR. Awful electrics again, but that was fixed by some creamery’s. Saw me through a few years playing with an indie band. Sold it last year when I needed cash.


Never say no to a cheap Jag. Or so I thought. Man, the neck on this was uncomfortable, the body was super heavy… it just all felt wrong (in retrospect, it might just have been because it was strung with 14s). In & out, this one was.


Cue more mustang gas. I was playing a lot of humbuckers in a band at this point, and even with the tele style bridge pickup it just wasn’t kicking. And the u shaped neck just wasn’t quite there.


a cheap KC Mustang in 2022. Ugly AF though. And nope, the JB still wasn’t doing it for me. I swapped it out for a PAF and learnt an important lesson- it’s too close to strings & way too boomy. I don’t want a humbucker in my mustang.


The 1969 Mustang. (Actually almost forgot about this one…!) neck was a bit chunky, but played nicely. It was a boat anchor & coated in about a foot of Poly. Sounded great with a cool rails. In the end, it just wasn’t that pretty & had a fair amount of profit sat in it at a time when i was buying & selling too many guitars (ok, yes when am I not doing that?). It didn’t survive. Somewhere in the USA now.



YOLO! I don’t like red guitars (although faded fiesta does look lovely on other guitars. White headstock, and hearing the vintera 2 jags - I wanted that sound. It sounds cool, but didn’t blow me away. And honestly, I can’t tell you what’s special about a CS guitar beyond AAA woods, nitro finishes & case candy. Plenty of my MIJ guitars feel and play better. My AVRI tele easily matches this guitar for feel/quality. I was silly to expect magic, I realise. (It’s currently for sale in Denmark st if you ever wanted to try it, or buy it from me for less than they are asking. The lesson- don’t buy expensive, obscure guitars on a whim if you’re expected you can flip it easily. You can’t.)


I was all at sea- would I ever get the glory & comfort of those early Jags? Then boom! MG69 for 2015 prices not far from me. Stick a cool rails in. Perfect neck, perfect sound. Just need to one day find a guard that actually fits so I can rid myself of that ugly tort.

Amazing array of guitars from over the years! Late 90s/early 00s was such a weird time for offsets. They were all I wanted and I'd never seen a single one in any of the shops I'd been to bad a Squier Venus and Jagmaster. It was all midnight blue Standard Teles and Strats and the odd Ibanez. Fender were missing the biggest trick, insane to think it took them so long to make offsets mass market.

[armyofbees]

here are mine

[s_mcsleazy]

Oh, man… so many…
Most are bittersweet because I had to sell...

MIJ Jazzmaster w/ Spitfire Tort by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

Fender Jaguar CIJ Left Handed by Adam Langdon, on Flickr

god i miss all these builds. i think i was following the threads for some of these and thinking "fuck, i gotta make my builds look this clean"

[sal paradise]

That b&b with cream is incredible

here are mine

The LPB Jag was such a great score. I hesitated due to the original cost, and having to undo the, erm, mods… you saved it, great job

[ThePearDream]

Made this one a few years ago. 22.5" scale Duo-Sonic with Jaguar pickups.





Jazzmaster headstock, cause it looks the best.

[sal paradise]

Made this one a few years ago. 22.5" scale Duo-Sonic with Jaguar pickups.

I should have bought this from you Doug. Beautiful. Just not sure what I’d do with that scale. Still love it

[ThePearDream]

Made this one a few years ago. 22.5" scale Duo-Sonic with Jaguar pickups.

I should have bought this from you Doug. Beautiful. Just not sure what I’d do with that scale. Still love it

My right handed one, is awesome in Nashville tuning. I haven't tried it with normal strings, but I'd think that tuning it up to G would be pretty cool too.