When you are looking to purchase a guitar, you will be provided with a lot of choices from different brands, types, designs etc. The basics when it comes to a right hand guitar are it has right hand strumming with your left hand being on the fretboard. The reverse occurs for the left hand version.
A left handed and right handed guitar are mirror images of each other and it is so easy to see this when you keep them side by side. All components of the two guitars are the same with the same strings and order of tuners. If you are not sure whether you are seeing right or left handed guitars, there are a few ways to tell them apart. You have to hold the guitar in front of you in the vertical position and exam9ine the strings. In a left handed guitar, the thickest string will be seen on the right and vice versa on a right handed guitar. There are a few other ways to check the differences.
Sometimes there are right handed guitars that are strung upside down and sold as the left handed versions if you are buying guitars for cheap prices online. The strings are a big difference when it comes to these guitars as all you need to do is look at the direction of the strings; you need to check how the thickness differs. However, you also need to check for other identifiers.
Check where the pickguard is located on the guitar as well. You will notice this on the left when it comes to a left handed guitar. On a right handed guitar, this will be on the right. But this test will not be useful if the guitar you are looking for doesn’t have a pickguard. In this occasion, you can look at the nut which is a thin strip of material holding the strings in place. You will find this close to the headstock end of your fretboard. To identify whether this guitar has been strung upside down, check if the thinnest string of this guitar is moving about a lot in the wide slot. You will see that the thickest string is not fitting properly in its spot either. But sometimes, the nuts can be flipped to accommodate for this so don’t let this be your final test.
Check if the front strap peg of your guitar is on the lower part of the body. If this is so, it is a good indication that it has been flipped. But this can also be hidden if the owner has refinished the guitar. Then you need to look for the little dots on the side of the fretboard which are called fretboard side markers. If these are on the bottom side of the fretboard when you are playing the guitar, the guitar has been flipped.
There are a few guitar players that play the instrument in a left handed orientation where they have the string upside down. But there is very little instruction for playing like this. Both left handed and right handed guitars cost more or less the same. However, you will find it a little difficult to find a left handed guitar compared to a right handed one. So if you are playing left handed, you will need to research a little bit to find the right guitar.