JB-4L (Jazz Bass Left Handed)

[WeirdBits]

It would seem the factory has just messed up on one pot (most likely). But, before swapping the connections, it would be best to know exactly what type of pots they have used. Can you post what values are stamped on the pots (250K A/B/C etc), if you can see them. Or, failing that, use a multimeter to measure the full and mid-point resistance values as that will tell us the type.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, you clearly understand all that, Keith. As Weirdbits say, it looks like a simple factory wiring error, so easy enough to reconfigure it with the shield/ground and output connections swapped over on the bridge pickup pot. Hopefully the pot is just labelled A250k, like the other volume pot should be (although this is often on the reverse side of the insulation material holding the 3 pot wiring lugs on).

[Keith Walters]

Here we are; it was just a factory stuff-up

[Simon Barden]

Great. So you must be almost done now?

[Keith Walters]

Yes, I have the neck straight now and just need to do a bit of "fine tuning" on the intonation.
I haven't touched the frets yet, but checking with a steel ruler shows they don't need a lot of adjustment and it it plays pretty well just as it is.

[Keith Walters]

I never actually noticed until last night that BOTH volume pots are wired back-to-front.
I guess somebody has assumed that since everything else on a left-handed guitar is a mirror-image, the pots should be too!
No, I don't think mastering "Clockwise = louder" is any more difficult for a left-handed person.

Besides, I'm not actually left handed. I have two damaged fingers of my left hand which makes fretting impossible but I can hold a pick OK.
(Incidentally, if you enter "Jimi Hendrix" + "Signing Autographs" into Google Image Search, you'll note that he wasn't actually left-handed either!)

I finally excavated my old 1970s Vase Trendsetter 60 guitar amp from all the cushions and other stuff that had been stacked on top of it and plugged the bass into it. (I wish I'd tidied up the shelf above it a bit; funny how you never see that until after you've taken the photo).
It's not a proper bass amp, but it still sounded pretty good. It took about 15 minutes for my hands and fingers to "remember" how to play but it all came back pretty quickly. My fingertips need a bit of hardening up though.

[Fretworn]

(Incidentally, if you enter "Jimi Hendrix" + "Signing Autographs" into Google Image Search, you'll note that he wasn't actually left-handed either!)

Steve Morse, Gary Moore, Joe Perry, Nils Lofgren were/are all leftys who play righty. It almost makes sense that you fret with your primary hand.

[pablopepper]

I've had a lefty who played righty in almost every band I've been in. Weird. BTW it's fine to play a bass through a guitar head, it will damage the speakers (eventually), but not the amp.

[Keith Walters]

Your brain definitely works differently when you play an instrument of the opposite "polarity" to your handed-ness.
If that wasn't the case, and it was just as easy to learn either way round, there wouldn't be any market for left-handed instruments.
You can understand a left-handed person deciding to persevere with a right-handed instrument, because basically, just like everything else, the world is set up for right-handed people, and it gives you more options.
A right-handed person playing a left-handed instrument is far more unusual.

"it will damage the speakers (eventually), but not the amp."
Not with this amp :-) The 6CA7s are almost completely knackered, but it still sounds OK.
I've actually got a 100 Watt subwoofer that I'm going to try plugging into one of the spare sockets on the speaker box.
It's truly astonishing what that can do.

[Fretworn]

Steve Morse, Gary Moore, Joe Perry, Nils Lofgren were/are all leftys who play righty. It almost makes sense that you fret with your primary hand.

Add Mark Knopfler to that list as well.