My wife and I attended a concert in the NCH Dublin last weekend. It always amazes me that a composer/arranger/conductor can piece together, in real time, so many different bits of music to make a very interesting piece of music.
I have often thought that all or most orchestral instruments are right handed. The bow for the violin/viola/cello etc is held in the right hand and the left hand is for stopping the strings. All the bows point in the same direction! Of course it would be chaotic and dangerous if one or two violin players played left handed.
We guitar or bass players are spoiled by having a choice of hand when we go to buy our instruments. Left handed are less common but available.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
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One thing that makes even acoustic guitars necessarily 'handed' is that the bridge needs to be compensated for intonation, because they're fretted - so a steel-string guitar is either right or left-handed depending on the angle of the bridge saddle, even if it has symmetrical bracing and no pickguard. A classical guitar will just need a new nut, unless it has a compensated saddle.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Also, a few people I know are right handed but play golf left handed. Confuses me even more
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I eat right handed
I cut with scissors right handed
I play guitar/bass right handed
I play cricket left handed (including batting and bowling)
I play golf right handed
I play snooker right handed
I play darts left handed
I will pick a glass up to drink with my right hand
I need both hands to wank tho.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
Try it.
Wis awarded.
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I follow your thinking about left handed mandolins (which could be considered part of the guitar/bass family) but a left handed violin in an orchestra is a recipe for a disaster. Or the loss of an eye.....
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Kolisch
The novelty of an all left-handed string quartet of a decent standard would make it a potential social-media click magnet owing to the rarity of practitioners and their likely unwillingness to be treated as a freak show.
Through my better half's work I know and know of a huge number of string players and can think only of one professional violist who only has the full complement of fingers on his right hand, so uses his left to bow.
All that said, she also plays the Froghorn, and we're considering catching this chap when he comes to town:
https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/hannover_weser-leinegebiet/hornist108_v-podcast.jpg