Swapping hand - Spanish guitar

roundthebend

My mate has inherited a nice Spanish guitar. It's right-handed, but he's left-handed. He wants to swap it round. It's an "admira sevilla - made in Spain"

I've suggested it might not work well, may need some expert adjustments to the nut and bridge/saddle, and would not be good for the guitar.

But, the guitar has sentimental value. He doesn't actually play and says he doesn't want to buy another guitar.

Should I strongly advise against his idea or is it going to turn it ok?

ICBM

No problem at all. Almost all classical guitars are built symmetrically, and there’s certainly no risk of damage. Even the nut grooves will usually not need altering, nylon strings are a more uniform diameter than steel ones and the grooves are often all the same width.

You will probably need to reverse the bridge saddle since they’re usually slightly tapering towards the treble side. Occasionally you might find the saddle has a notched part for the G string which won’t work so well reversed, but if so you can replace it with a plain one - the difference is usually fairly negligible.

mart

If he doesn't actually play (yet), then you could suggest he just learns to play right-handedly, and leave the guitar as it is.

Winny_Pooh

Many famous players (Angus Young, knoplfer IIRC) are lefties who play righty.

ICBM

mart said:

If he doesn't actually play (yet), then you could suggest he just learns to play right-handedly, and leave the guitar as it is.

Actually, this. If he doesn’t play at all yet then give this a go first. Many left-handed people don’t have a problem learning to play right-handed, and there are several very famous guitarists who are left-handed even though they play right-handed.

If he really can’t get it to work, then swap the guitar round.

Tannin

There is absolutely no reason why a left-handed person should not play a right-handed guitar. The skills required of the two hands are different but equal in difficulty. No-one plays a left-handed piano. It's a beautiful old guitar, leave it be.

Jaycee

I would buy new nut and saddle suitable for left handed  (if they are handed) and put the current ones in a safe place