Sweetwater lists the left-handed Ibanez miKro GSRM20L at around $280, while Fender’s own product page puts the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand at roughly six times that. Both belong among left handed bass guitars worth owning in 2027, and each is the right answer for a very different player. A single ranking would hide that, so the picks below are matched to situations: a first bass, small hands, a budget gigging bass, active electronics and a professional Fender.
Spec pages from Fender and Sweetwater, review text on Sweetwater listings and owner threads on BassBuzz carry most of the weight here, and because Amazon.com listings for these models could not be checked, every price is a range taken from music retailers; the Amazon price can differ. MusicRadar’s roundup of left-handed guitars reports that lefty instruments are easier to find than they used to be and sometimes cost the same as right-handed ones. Owners of lefty basses still describe thin shelves.
Scale length, pickups and stock: how to find the best left handed bass guitar for you
Scale length decides more about comfort than brand does. Four of the five basses here use the standard 34-inch scale, so tab, lessons and a bandmate’s expectations carry straight over. The Ibanez miKro GSRM20L is the exception at 28.6 inches, roughly three-quarter size, which suits small hands and travel but feels different from a full-length neck.
Electronics are the second divider. Passive pickups, as on the Squier, the Fender and the miKro, give a fixed voice shaped by volume and tone knobs. Active circuits, such as the two-band preamp on the Sterling and the bass boost on the Ibanez Gio GSR200B Left-Handed, add shaping at the cost of a battery to remember.
Stock is the third, and the one a lefty cannot fix. A long BassBuzz thread on lefty basses reports limited choice and mostly black finishes, and a newer thread has posters describing local shops with perhaps three lefty basses on the wall, with one UK poster pointing to online marketplaces for selection. That is why the table also shows what ships in the box.
| Model | Scale | Electronics | Price range | Case in the box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ibanez Gio GSR200B Left-Handed | 34″ | P and J pickups, active bass boost | Between $280 and $300 | None listed |
| Ibanez miKro GSRM20L | 28.6″ | P and J pickups, passive | Around $280 | None listed |
| Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass Left-Handed | 34″ | Two alnico single-coils, passive | Around $530 | Sold separately |
| Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Left-Handed | 34″ | One ceramic humbucker, two-band active preamp | Between $370 and $440 | No gig bag; bundle costs extra |
| Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand | 34″ | Two V-Mod II single-coils, passive | Between $1,650 and $1,700 | Hardshell case included |
Only the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand ships with a case, according to Fender’s page, so the other four need a gig bag on top of the sticker price. Going by the spec sheets, the spread between $280 and $1,700 on the same 34-inch scale reflects build, pickups and that case, not a different instrument. Picking the best left handed bass guitar therefore starts with two plain questions: how big are your hands, and will this bass leave the house?
From under $300 to near $1,700: one bass per situation
1. Ibanez Gio GSR200B Left-Handed — a first bass near $300
Dealers price this one between $280 and $300, which is why it keeps surfacing for anyone buying a first lefty bass. A P-style neck pickup and a J-style bridge pickup cover the two classic electric-bass sounds, and Ibanez’s Phat II EQ adds an active bass boost, a tone shaper a beginner can use without buying a pedal. The 34-inch scale means anything a teacher shows on a right-handed bass mirrors straight onto this neck.
Materials are where sources part ways. Sweetwater describes a nyatoh body with a spalted maple top and a jatoba fretboard, other retailers list mahogany and rosewood, and Ibanez’s own US page lists okoume with a purpleheart fretboard, which points to changes between production runs. Read the listing you are about to buy rather than assuming. Sweetwater shows six reviews on this lefty version, against twelve for the miKro below.
A dealer bundle with a gig bag, tuner, strap and cable exists, a sensible route for someone starting from nothing. One dealer lists the bass at about six and a half pounds with a 1.614-inch nut.
2. Ibanez miKro GSRM20L — short scale for small hands
Short scale is the whole pitch: 28.6 inches against the usual 34, in a body a Sweetwater reviewer measured at about 39 inches long and 11 wide, small enough that an electric-guitar gig bag carried it. The price lands around $280, and the pickups are a P and a J, the same pairing as the Gio above.
Owners are happy but candid about setup. Sweetwater’s twelve reviews average 4.8 out of 5 with none below four stars, and the most frequent complaint is how much adjusting a bass at this price can need. One buyer reported a slack truss rod, nut slots he filed himself, and intonation and pickup-height work; another found loose solder joints that left the bass ungrounded, which he called an easy fix; a third had a pickup that popped until it was lowered. That is a pattern across several reviewers, not one outlier. One of them added that the price sits below Sweetwater’s setup-check threshold, so anyone who dislikes tinkering should plan on paying a shop.
A BassBuzz poster describes it as about three-quarter size and warns it will not suit everyone, while a Sweetwater reviewer says it plays more like a guitar. For a hypothetical kid moving over from a left-handed guitar, that guitar-like feel is the point; for an adult who expects to buy a full-length bass later, expect an adjustment. Another BassBuzz poster got theirs during a 15 percent sale that brought it close to the right-handed price.
Spotted a size that suits your hands? Take a closer look on Amazon.com.
3. Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass Left-Handed — Jazz Bass feel at a mid-range price
Slim necks sell Jazz Basses, and this one has a C-shaped maple neck with a 1.5-inch bone nut, a 9.5-inch radius and 20 narrow-tall frets on a 34-inch scale. Two Fender-designed alnico single-coils sit under a poplar body, wired to two volumes and one master tone, with a vintage-style four-saddle bridge. It sells around $530 at Sweetwater, and a dealer spec sheet gives Indonesia as the country of build.
All six Sweetwater reviews give it five stars, a small sample but a consistent one. A reviewer who also owns a Fender Player Precision found the two hard to tell apart in playability and sound despite paying roughly $400 less, and needed only new strings and minor adjustments. Another credited the out-of-box setup, and a guitarist new to bass played it through a guitar amp at low volume before planning to try a bass amp. One buyer wished it came as a left-handed five-string.
Pros:
- ✅ Slim C-shaped maple neck with a bone nut and a 9.5-inch radius
- ✅ Two alnico single-coils for the classic Jazz Bass voice, with two volumes and a tone knob
Cons:
- ❌ Dealer listings show the gig bag as a separate purchase
- ❌ Passive electronics only, so any boost has to come from a pedal or the amp’s EQ
Adorama’s page lists a two-year limited warranty from Squier.
4. Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Left-Handed — active punch on a budget
Between $370 and $440 buys active electronics that few lefty basses in this range offer: one ceramic humbucker with a two-band active preamp, in the StingRay’s slab-body shape, with 21 medium frets on a maple fretboard and a 34-inch scale. Dealers disagree on small details (Sweetwater lists a jabon body where others say basswood, and one shop lists a roasted maple neck where another says hard maple), which is worth knowing when comparing listings.
One Sweetwater buyer reports receiving a lefty Ray4 whose pickup sat uneven, with the G-string side caught in the pickguard, a single report but a reason to inspect any bass on arrival. A zZounds reviewer says the bass is audible unplugged while practicing yet quiet enough for a sleeping household. A BassBuzz thread also records a new lefty who would consider a Sterling StingRay only with dual pickups, a fair point: one humbucker gives one punchy voice, where the Squier above lets you blend two pickups.
Sweetwater sells it without a gig bag and offers a bundle that adds one for more money.
5. Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand — the genuine Fender, hardshell case included
Between $1,650 and $1,700 at retailers, with Fender’s own page showing a discount of a couple hundred dollars, this is the only bass here sold under the Fender name itself. The spec sheet lists an alder body in gloss urethane, a slim-C maple neck with a satin back, a rosewood fingerboard with a 9.5-inch radius and bone nut, 20 narrow-tall frets, two V-Mod II single-coil Jazz Bass pickups, a HiMass vintage-style bridge and Fender USA 7250M strings in a .045–.105 gauge. A deluxe molded hardshell case is included. Guitar Chalk’s under-$2,000 roundup shows rosewood versions in 3-Color Sunburst and Olympic White.
Going by the spec sheets, the Squier above shares the neck shape, scale and bone nut, so the extra $1,100 or so buys the V-Mod II pickups, the alder body, the HiMass bridge and the case. For a hypothetical gigging lefty who would otherwise buy a hardshell case and upgraded pickups for the Squier, the arithmetic narrows.
Pros:
- ✅ Hardshell case included, which none of the other four ships with
- ✅ Alder body and V-Mod II single-coils in the classic Jazz layout
Cons:
- ❌ Costs about six times as much as the miKro
- ❌ Two single-coils and no switching, so tone control is volume and tone knobs only
Sweetwater’s category page, by contrast, shows only a handful of Fender-branded lefty basses at all.
Weighing the Fender against the Squier? Take a closer look at both on Amazon.com.
Best left handed Fender bass: what the Fender and Squier shelf actually holds
Fender’s lefty range is narrower than the brand’s reputation suggests. Sweetwater’s category page lists a handful of Fender-branded left-handed basses among dozens from Sire, Sadowsky, Ibanez and Schecter, plus three Squier models, only one of which was visible in the part of the page that loaded. The Mexican-made Fender Player Precision Left-Handed appears as a closeout at Adorama, and Equipboard dates it 2018 to 2025, so treat it as a find-it-while-it-lasts option. A Fender American Vintage II 1966 Jazz Bass Left-Hand also sits in the lineup for buyers who want vintage-style specs.
The best left handed Fender bass therefore depends on budget: the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand when cost is secondary, the Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass Left-Handed when it is not. Yamaha, a common name on right-handed lists, reportedly has no lefty basses at present according to a BassBuzz poster, and Sweetwater’s category page showed none either.
Left handed bass guitar and amp: what to plug into
Handedness never reaches the amp. A bass amp has one input and no left or right, so a left handed bass guitar and amp pairing is chosen on watts, speaker size and features.
The Fender Rumble 25 V3 is the example here because Adorama’s page documents it fully: 25 watts into one 8-inch speaker, a quarter-inch instrument input, an auxiliary input for playing along with tracks, a headphone jack and 21 pounds of weight, at around $150. Adorama frames it for practice sessions, and Sweetwater reviewers describe similar use: a beginner guitarist paired the miKro with a Rumble 15 and called the sound good enough for his needs, while the Squier reviewer new to bass tried it through a guitar amp at low volume first. Treat 25 watts as a bedroom amp, not a band amp.
Left handed bass guitars reviews: where owners agree and where they split
Owners agree on scarcity. A long BassBuzz thread on lefty basses has posters describing limited choice, mostly black finishes and a price premium, with one noting that Sandberg offers every model left-handed without a price change. A newer thread adds that local shops stock a few at best and that online options are much better, and no single lefty bass was widely recommended there.
They also agree on setup, loosely. Across Sweetwater’s reviews, the Squier needed only strings and small adjustments, the miKro needed more, and the lone Ray4 report involved a pickup alignment problem. Truss rod, nut slot and pickup-height comments cluster on the cheapest bass in the group, the miKro, which is a small sample but a consistent one.
Where they split is hand choice itself. Several posters in that newer thread are lefties who play right-handed, some from early training on another instrument, while the original poster says right-handed playing would be nearly impossible for him. Size and pickup count split opinion too: the miKro‘s three-quarter body delights some owners and limits others, and a single humbucker pleases some Sterling buyers while a BassBuzz newcomer wanted two pickups.
Where lefty buyers lose money: flipped basses, bare setups and missing cases
Flipping a right-handed bass looks cheap until the bills arrive. Musician’s Friend’s guide to choosing a left-handed guitar or bass, written around guitars, lists knobs and switches placed for the wrong hand, intonation trouble with fixed bridges, awkward input-jack placement and pickups that suit the original string order, and says most fixes are possible but add to the price. LeftyFretz puts an electric-guitar conversion at roughly $100 to $150, covering a new nut and a setup, and warns that converted instruments are hard to resell to lefties. None of that rules it out; several BassBuzz posters play right-handed happily. It does mean a purpose-built lefty bass is often the cheaper route.
The second leak is the bare bass. None of the four basses under $600 here lists a case, and the budget models may need setup work: strings, a gig bag, a strap, a cable and an amp all come on top. The third is waiting for the perfect finish: with mostly black options on lefty shelves, the model that fits your hands beats the colour you wanted.
Lefty bass answers: price premium, flipping, amps and short scale
❓ Are left handed bass guitars more expensive than right-handed ones?
❓ Can I play a right-handed bass left-handed?
❓ Do I need a special amp for a left handed bass?
❓ Is a short-scale bass a good first bass for a left-handed beginner?
❓ What is the best left handed Fender bass?
Which lefty bass to buy: the decision in one paragraph
Match the bass to your hands and your room. Small hands or a first bass point to the Ibanez miKro GSRM20L, with a little setup money set aside, while a standard-size first bass points to the Ibanez Gio GSR200B Left-Handed. For gigs on a tight budget, the Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass Left-Handed has the strongest review record of the five on Sweetwater, with the Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Left-Handed as the active alternative. The Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Left-Hand is for players who want the Fender name and a hardshell case. Whichever of these left handed bass guitars you choose, budget for a gig bag, strings and a small amp.
Seen a lefty bass that fits your hands? Take a closer look below.
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Lefty or not, the best bass is the one you pick up every day. 🎸
