Before you spend anything, check one thing. Kala — the largest ukulele maker in the United States — publishes a support article on exactly this question, and its answer is that most ukuleles convert: “Yes, in many cases, a right handed ukulele can be converted rather easily to be left handed, you will just need to place the strings in reverse order.” It then names the four things that stop it working. If your ukulele has none of them, you do not need a left-handed instrument at all.
If it has one of them, or you are buying from scratch and would rather have the side dots facing the right way, the shelf is small. Three left-handed ukuleles are worth buying today, and the two brands that make them charge the same for a lefty as for a righty.
Ranch Left Handed Concert Ukulele, 23″
A properly mirrored build — sapele top, back and sides over an okoume neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, Aquila strings from the factory, a padded gig bag in the box. No cutaway, no electronics, a straight saddle. It is the best-reviewed left-handed ukulele of the lot by a wide margin, and Ranch’s own list price for it sits below several of its right-handed concerts rather than above them.
Kala’s four-point test
This is the whole of it, in Kala’s own words: “An instrument with built-in electronics, an angled bridge, a compensated saddle, or a cutaway cannot be easily converted to be left handed.”
Two of the four you can check without touching the instrument, because Kala prints them as spec rows on every ukulele it makes. The KA-15C, its standard concert, reads cutaway: none and electronics: N/A. Most makers publish the same two facts somewhere on the product page, and a cutaway is visible in any photograph anyway — it is the scoop cut out of the upper body where the neck joins.
The other two you check by looking at the bridge. An angled bridge sits skewed across the top rather than square to the strings, so that the string furthest from your face has a fractionally longer run than the nearest one. A compensated saddle does the same job in a smaller space: instead of one straight white strip, it has steps or notches cut into it, each string’s contact point set slightly forward or back. Both are there to correct intonation for a specific string in a specific position, and reversing the strings puts every one of those corrections on the wrong string. On the KA-15C the saddle is a plain straight strip sitting square in a tie-bar bridge, which is what most laminate ukuleles under $150 have.
Kala names one cost even when the conversion works: “the side dot position markers will be facing away from view after this modification has been done.” The dots on the edge of the fingerboard — the ones you glance at to find the fifth and seventh frets — end up on the underside. The dots on the face of the fingerboard are still there and still in the right places.
One more thing to expect. Ukulele nut slots are cut to fit the string that belongs in each one, and a standard ukulele set is not in thickness order — the third string is the fat one. Reverse the set and a couple of strings will sit in slots cut for a different gauge. Sometimes that is fine and sometimes it buzzes or binds, and the fix is the same nut work that is part of any setup. Budget $40 to $75 if it comes to that, which on a $60 ukulele is enough money to change the decision.
There is no lefty tax, and two makers prove it
A left-handed ukulele does not cost more than the right-handed version of the same model, and that is checkable in two makers’ own published prices.
Kala lists three left-handed ukuleles under $500 and a right-handed version of each. The prices are identical to the cent.
| Kala model | Right-handed | Left-handed |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific Walnut Concert | $149 | $149 |
| Pacific Walnut Tenor | $159 | $159 |
| Satin Mahogany Baritone with EQ | $219 | $219 |
Ortega says it outright. Its left-handed program covers 60 models across “guitars, ukuleles, acoustic basses, mandolins, and banjos specifically designed for the wide variety of left-handed players” — and it sells them, in its own words, “without the typical ‘lefty upcharge’!”
What limits the choice is how few of these get built at all.
The shelf is thin, and the guitar world shows how thin
Count what each maker actually builds and the picture is consistent. Fender publishes 85 acoustic guitars and 232 electrics, of which 18 are left-handed — the Player II Telecaster and Stratocaster, the California Redondo, the CD-60S, the Kurt Cobain Jaguar and others. It publishes 11 ukuleles, of which none is left-handed. Córdoba carries a Lefty heading in its guitar navigation and has no equivalent anywhere in its ukulele range. Enya lists 79 products and not one left-handed instrument. Kala, out of 590 catalog items, builds three left-handed ukuleles under $500 and three Revelator Nautilus models at $1,899 to $2,199. Oscar Schmidt‘s current ukulele line runs to 31 models, exactly one of which — the OU7T Lefty, a spalted mango tenor — is left-handed; its own description says the model “is specifically made for left-handed players.”
That is the useful shape of the market. The same companies that will sell a left-handed guitar in six finishes have not extended it to the ukulele, which is why the left-handed range runs out at around $75 and does not resume until about $500. It is also why Kala’s conversion article matters more here than it would on a guitar page: on this instrument, converting is not a compromise you settle for, it is what most left-handed players end up doing.
The three at a glance
| Ukulele | Size | Body | Cutaway | In the box | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranch lefty concert | 23″ concert | Sapele, arched back | No | Padded gig bag | ~$70 |
| Donner DUC-100L | 23″ concert | Mahogany | Yes | Bag, tuner, spare strings, picks, cloth | ~$70 |
| Ranch lefty tenor | 26″ tenor | Sapele, arched back | No | Padded gig bag | ~$73 |
The three picks
Ranch Left Handed Concert Ukulele, 23″
- 23″ concert, built left-handed rather than restrung
- Sapele top, back and sides, arched back
- Okoume neck and headstock, rosewood fingerboard and bridge
- Aquila strings fitted at the factory
- Straight saddle, no cutaway, no electronics
- 10mm padded gig bag included
- Around $70
- 4.6 stars across more than 400 ratings, far more than anything else here
- Aquila strings from new, which is the first upgrade most people make anyway
- Ranch’s own list price for it is below several of its right-handed concerts
- Concert is the size most adults get on with
- No tuner in the box
- Ranch publishes no nut width, so you cannot compare it on paper
- Laminate rather than solid wood, as everything is at this money
Ranch’s own catalog is the clearest evidence that a left-handed build at this money is not a compromised special order. It lists the left-handed concert at $64.95 and the left-handed tenor at $72.95, in the middle of a right-handed range running from about $60 to $160 — below several of the right-handed models beside them, not above any of them. The description is the same five lines as its right-handed instruments, word for word. It is the same ukulele, made the other way round.
Donner DUC-100L Left-Handed Concert Ukulele
- 23″ concert, cutaway body
- Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge
- Bone nut and saddle
- 18 brass frets, markers at 5, 7, 9 and 12
- Aquila strings, geared chrome tuners
- Gig bag, clip-on tuner, spare strings, picks and cloth in the box
- Around $70
- Bone nut and saddle rather than molded plastic, which is the part that decides whether a cheap ukulele plays in tune
- The cutaway is the case Kala’s test rules out, so a left-handed build is the only way to get one
- Everything a beginner needs is in the box, tuner included
- Geared chrome tuners rather than friction pegs
- Fewer than half the Ranch’s ratings
- A cutaway on a concert ukulele buys access to frets most players never use
- The bundled accessories are the cheap versions of each thing
Ranch 26″ Left Handed Tenor Ukulele
- 26″ tenor, built left-handed
- Sapele top, back and sides, arched back
- Okoume neck and headstock, rosewood fingerboard and bridge
- Aquila strings fitted
- Straight saddle, no cutaway, no electronics
- 10mm padded gig bag included
- Around $73
- Wider fret spacing, which suits adult hands and large fingers
- Ranch’s own list price matches its right-handed tenors of the same size
- Identical specification to the concert, so the choice is purely size
- Only 35 ratings against the concert’s 400-plus
- No tuner in the box
- A tenor is the size least likely to be handled before you buy it
Our concert versus tenor comparison goes through the size decision properly. It applies unchanged here, because nothing about being left-handed changes which size fits your hands.
The other route: buy the good right-handed one and reverse the strings
If you are buying a first ukulele and you would rather have better hardware than a mirrored body, this is the honest alternative and it is not a downgrade. The Kala KA-15C passes all four of Kala’s own tests — no cutaway, no electronics, a straight saddle sitting square in a plain tie-bar bridge — and it is the instrument Kala had in mind when it wrote that article.
Kala KA-15C Satin Mahogany Concert Ukulele
- Concert, 14.875″ scale, 24.25″ overall, 18 frets
- 1.39″ at the nut, 1.77″ at the neck joint
- Laminated mahogany top, back, sides and neck
- Rosewood fingerboard, satin finish
- Graph Tech NuBone nut and saddle
- Aquila Super Nylgut strings fitted
- Cutaway: none. Electronics: N/A. Straight saddle.
- Around $85
- NuBone nut and saddle, which is better hardware than any left-handed ukulele at this price
- Kala’s own spec rows answer two of the four conversion questions for you
- Reversing the strings costs a set of strings and half an hour
- Resells easily, because it is right-handed again the moment you restring it
- The side dots end up underneath, which Kala says plainly
- A couple of strings may need the nut easing, and that is a $40 to $75 job
- Fifteen dollars more than the left-handed builds
- Nothing in the box — no bag, no tuner
One thing that catches people out on the way in. A standard ukulele is re-entrant: the string nearest your face is tuned higher than the two below it, not lower. Reversing the string order preserves that, because the string that was nearest a right-handed player’s face ends up nearest yours. What you are reversing is the physical order, not the tuning. It stays gCEA and every chord chart still applies.
The thing that actually removes the friction
Whichever route you take, the instrument is the easy half. Every chord diagram ever printed is drawn for a right-handed player, and a left-handed beginner spends the first month mentally flipping each one before their fingers move. Two books fix that by printing the diagrams the right way round, and they cost less than a set of strings.
Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1 — Left-Handed Edition
- 48 pages, by Lil’ Rev
- Every chord diagram and every tab drawn left-handed
- 46 audio tracks, streamed or downloaded with the code in the book
- PLAYBACK+ player — slow the audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change key
- Tuning, music reading, melody, chords, strumming, scales, tremolo
- Around $15
- The same method book most ukulele teachers start people on, mirrored
- The slow-down player is the single most useful thing in it for a beginner
- Cheap enough that it is not a decision
- 48 pages goes quickly if you practice
- Notation and tablature together, which some people find dense
Left-Handed Ukulele — The Complete Method
- 104 pages, by Barrett Tagliarino and John R. Nicholson
- Chords, melody, standard notation, tablature, scales
- Hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, fingerpicking
- Online audio included with the code in the book
- Around $18
- More than twice the length of the Method book for three dollars more
- Goes past chords into fingerpicking and technique
- Written as a left-handed book rather than adapted into one
- Steeper if the ukulele is your first instrument
- No audio slow-down player, unlike the Method book
One accessory, and it is not optional
Neither Ranch comes with a tuner, and a new ukulele goes out of tune several times a day for the first couple of weeks while the strings stretch. A clip-on reads the vibration through the headstock and does not care which way round the instrument is, so there is no left-handed version to hunt for.
Snark SN6X Clip-On Ukulele Tuner
- Clips to the headstock, reads vibration rather than sound
- Full-color display, rotates to any angle
- Calibrated for ukulele
- Around $18
- Works in a noisy room, unlike a phone app
- Rotates, so it faces you whichever shoulder the ukulele is on
- 4.7 stars across more than 7,000 ratings
- The Donner kit already includes a tuner, so skip it there
- The clip loosens over a year or two
FAQs
Should a left-handed person learn to play right-handed?
Plenty do, and it is a defensible choice, because on a ukulele the fretting hand is doing the harder work and that hand is your dominant one if you play right-handed. But it is a choice, not a rule, and a left-handed instrument costs no more and no less. If you have never played anything, try holding a ukulele both ways for a minute before you order. Whichever way feels less like a puzzle is the right answer.
Can I just flip a right-handed ukulele over?
Turning it over without changing the strings leaves them in the wrong order — you would be fretting and strumming a set arranged upside down. What Kala describes is taking the strings off and putting them back on in reverse order, which takes about half an hour and a fresh set. Do that and the instrument behaves normally.
Which ukuleles cannot be converted?
Kala’s list is built-in electronics, an angled bridge, a compensated saddle, or a cutaway. Electronics and a cutaway you can see; the bridge and saddle need a photograph of the bridge, where you are looking for a strip that sits square and straight rather than skewed or notched. Anything with a pickup and a preamp panel in the side is out, which rules out most acoustic-electric models.
Do left-handed ukuleles cost more?
No. Kala’s left-handed Pacific Walnut concert and tenor and its left-handed satin mahogany baritone are priced identically to the right-handed versions — $149, $159 and $219 across all three pairs. Ortega describes its 60-model left-handed range as being sold “without the typical ‘lefty upcharge’.” The scarcity is real; the premium is not.
Do I need left-handed strings?
There is no such thing. A ukulele set is four strings of different gauges, and they go on in whichever order the instrument needs. Our ukulele strings guide covers the materials and which sets suit which size, and every word of it applies whichever way round you play.
What size should a left-handed beginner start on?
Concert, for the same reasons as anyone else — it is big enough for adult fingers and small enough to be a ukulele. That is also where the left-handed shelf actually is: two of the three instruments above are 23-inch concerts, and no maker currently builds a left-handed soprano worth recommending. Our guide to choosing a ukulele goes through the sizes in full.
Is a left-handed ukulele harder to resell?
Yes, and it is the one real cost of choosing one. The buyers are the same small fraction of the market that made the shelf thin in the first place. A converted right-handed instrument does not have this problem, because reversing the strings again takes it straight back.
The short version
Look at the bridge of any ukulele you already own or already want. If the saddle is a straight strip sitting square, and there is no cutaway and no pickup, reverse the strings and you are done — that is the maker’s own advice, and the Kala KA-15C at around $85 is the best instrument you can do it to. If you want it built the right way round, the Ranch left-handed concert at around $70 is the one, with the Donner DUC-100L alongside it if you want a cutaway and a full kit. Either way, spend the fifteen dollars on the left-handed edition of the Hal Leonard method. Flipping every chord diagram in your head is the part that actually makes this harder, and it is the part a book solves outright.