Are left handed Fender bass cases rare?

[Sparky Mark]

I have (accidentally) acquired a lefty mid to late 1970s Fender tolex P case and wondered how scarce they are as I've seen the vast majority of left handed Fender basses housed in right handed cases. A Google search has only resulted in a couple of examples (although my Google search skills aren't great). Here it is with a right handed bass inside.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Sparky Mark

[EdwardMarlowe]

I've never seen a Fender case designed exclusively for a left handed guitar. My MIS 94 US Std Strat came with a case that is obviosuly designed to accomodate either left or right hander. Same with any other fender case I've seen beofre or since...

[uk_lefty]

I've seen new ones for sale at prices I wouldn't be prepared to pay. I think your best bet would be to look at the specialist dealers of vintage guitars and basses and see if they sell, or even buy, the cases themselves to get an idea of market value. There may be a shop or two with a lefty 70s bass that would want a period correct case to sell it in so they can bump up the price a lot. Or there could be a BC'er or two who'd fancy one at a fair market price. 

[Sparky Mark]

On 30/05/2020 at 06:51, uk_lefty said:

I've seen new ones for sale at prices I wouldn't be prepared to pay. I think your best bet would be to look at the specialist dealers of vintage guitars and basses and see if they sell, or even buy, the cases themselves to get an idea of market value. There may be a shop or two with a lefty 70s bass that would want a period correct case to sell it in so they can bump up the price a lot. Or there could be a BC'er or two who'd fancy one at a fair market price. 

Thank you but my reason for asking was that as right handed I'd never come across a lefty Fender bass case before. I bought this on Basschat as I'm a bit of Fender fan and was looking for an aged case for my CS62 relic P. When it arrived it was evident it was for lefty P basses and prompted me to research its rarity. With shipping I was happy to pay about the same as a new righty deluxe G&G case, so not cheap but reasonable considering its scarcity. I put expensive cleaning materials and several hours labour into it to remove silver spray paint and black paint over that on both sides so it's not for sale at the moment, but who knows? Thanks again.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Sparky Mark

[uk_lefty]

Ah OK Mark, understand its hard to part with something you've put your own sweat in to restoring. Well, I'd hazard a guess that if you ever did want to sell it you'd be able to buy a same period RH case and have a wad of cash left over. 

[Kevin Plumley]

Hi,

Do you still have the L/H Fender case, if so is it for sale?

Kind regards,

Kevin

[DGBass]

Fender have made specific leftie cases on occasion. Some of them were contracted out to well known vintage case manufacturers like G&G.  My 90's USA Standard came with a vintage G&G leftie case as standard when the righties came with an ABS shaped cases.  I've not really seen many of these G&G vintage leftie cases over the years to be honest so I guess they are quite scarce. For the vintage case snobs and case sniffers, the G&G cases smell awesome and impart a really vintage smell on to your bass. Legit! 

  

[Sparky Mark]

On 02/06/2021 at 00:40, dangoose said:

Fender have made specific leftie cases on occasion. Some of them were contracted out to well known vintage case manufacturers like G&G.  My 90's USA Standard came with a vintage G&G leftie case as standard when the righties came with an ABS shaped cases.  I've not really seen many of these G&G vintage leftie cases over the years to be honest so I guess they are quite scarce. For the vintage case snobs and case sniffers, the G&G cases smell awesome and impart a really vintage smell on to your bass. Legit! 

  

To me that is a right handed case because when you carry the case the bass is upside down.  When you open the case you should be able to pick the bass up in the correct orientation without having to flip it over and turn it correct side up.

[Reggaebass]

This is a 71 jazz with an original LH case

[DGBass]

14 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

To me that is a right handed case because when you carry the case the bass is upside down.  When you open the case you should be able to pick the bass up in the correct orientation without having to flip it over and turn it correct side up.

I see your point although looking at the 71 Jazz photo to compare, both cases would't accommodate a righty bass very well as the placement of the top horn on the body wouldn't allow the body to fit. The bottom horn is hard against the case edge. Both cases are a very neat fit body wise. I never really noticed case orientation until now and always lift my bass out of the case with my left hand. It looks more natural seeing the bass not upside down from the front of the case if that makes sense. My Jazz lefty case is also the same way around as my lefty P-bass and to me they are both proper lefty cases but obviously not the same as the 71 Jazz case. Knowing Fender they just changed it around at some point to standardise things. My Jazz case is perfectly moulded for a lefty and a righty won't fit at all. It's a 2012 model year. 

[Sparky Mark]

5 hours ago, dangoose said:

I see your point although looking at the 71 Jazz photo to compare, both cases would't accommodate a righty bass very well as the placement of the top horn on the body wouldn't allow the body to fit. The bottom horn is hard against the case edge. Both cases are a very neat fit body wise. I never really noticed case orientation until now and always lift my bass out of the case with my left hand. It looks more natural seeing the bass not upside down from the front of the case if that makes sense. My Jazz lefty case is also the same way around as my lefty P-bass and to me they are both proper lefty cases but obviously not the same as the 71 Jazz case. Knowing Fender they just changed it around at some point to standardise things. My Jazz case is perfectly moulded for a lefty and a righty won't fit at all. It's a 2012 model year. 

You can see in the first post that my right handed P bass fits fine (although upside down) in a lefty P case. It seems odd to me that Fender would adapt the internal configuration of the bottom part of a lefty case but attach the top part hinged such that you are carrying your bass upside down and the wrong way around? 

[PaulWarning]

my 2008 lefty USA P came with a left handed case, not very rare at all I wouldn't have thought

[Sparky Mark]

7 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

my 2008 lefty USA P came with a left handed case, not very rare at all I wouldn't have thought

You'd hope so, but it seems Fender supplied the majority of left handed basses in righty or "almost lefty" cases.

 

I will add that when Fender introduced the American Standards circa 2008 they upped their game, including their cases hopefully. 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Sparky Mark

[Sparky Mark]

Looking again at this case, why on Earth didn't Fender/SKB just place the foam inner components in this case so that the bass body was on the left hand side so it was correctly oriented when a left handed player takes it from the case? My guess is the operator in the factory was so used to the right handed orientation it was totally missed. 

Depending on how easy the foam inners are to remove from the shell that could be a simple mod.

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Sparky Mark

[Sparky Mark]

Having just acquired this Fender Custom Shop case for my right handed CS62 precision, I've decided to sell my left handed 1970s black tolex P bass case in the Accessories marketplace (link below).

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/463975-1970s-left-handed-vintage-fender-precision-case/

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Sparky Mark