Can you just restring a double left handed from right handed or do you have to buy a left handed one?

Question by Dredboy007: Can you just restring a double left handed from right handed or do you have to buy a left handed one?
I am a left handed bass player and i am look into buying a left handed double bass. I was just wondering can i get a right handed one and restring it or does it have to be left handed.

Best answer:

Answer by RachelS165
You really need to buy a left-handed instrument.

Double basses, like all of the other instruments in the bowed stringed instrument family (violins, violas, cellos, as well as basses), have a “soundpost” that is fitted between the underside of the top and the back, on the treble side of the instrument, usually just underneath or very close to the treble side leg of the bridge. The soundpost helps transmit vibrations between the top and the back. In addition, there is a “bass bar”, precisely fitted and glued in place on the underside of the top on the bass side of the instrument as well, which helps improve the bass response.

If you simply took a right-handed double bass and restrung it, the soundpost and bass bars would be on the wrong sides, which would adversely affect both the sound and the structural stability of the instrument.

You really need to either buy a bass that has been built for left-handed play, or buy a right-handed instrument and have a violin luthier switch the bass bar and soundpost to the opposite sides. In addition, you’d need a new nut installed with the string grooves re-cut to switch the strings.

What do you think? Answer below!