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It's an economies of scale thing. 10% or thereabouts of the population in the US and Europe are left handed, so automatically that's a vastly smaller niche market. For a company of the sort of size where they want to be selling 100,000 units or it's not worth tooling up for, you can see why the numbers don't add up on paper to provide the full range left-handed. It's not that they can't afford it, more that the market just isn't big enough for them to see it as worth it much of the time. Smaller companies are usually more open to smaller niche markets because they don't 'need' to sell 100,000 of everything to make it viable. Notably, although they don't export Westwards much since the MIM plant opened, CIJ Fender have a much better range of left handed options. The Japanese are unusual compared to the rest of the world in that the proportion of their population that are left handed is closer 20%. Definitely makes a difference. On average, left handers used to be without fail 10-15% more expensive in the UK, though in recent years I've noticed that price premium gradually disappear from most things.

I've never really thought about the lefty market apart from LH instruments used to be thought of as more expensive. The big makers are missing a trick if they dont make lefties, surely they can do it

Thanks mate, sorry I haven't been on here for a while. The neck was just one I got from eBay. I put the decal on myself. I am never going to sell it as a Fender so wasn't bothered. The relic'ing I did myself and I didn't want to over do it, So as you say just a light touch. I bought the pick ups from KiOgon over on Basschat who does a great service if you are looking for any electrical hardware.

It's a lot better than it used to be when I started. Fender have gotten a *lot* better than they used to be. Not so many years ago, you had to go all the way up the Fender line to the MIA 57 P Bass before there was a left handed option with a maple fingerboard; at a time, there was also no standard P Bass option available left handed south of the US Std one (rosewood board only). Most makers now have at least one token lefty model, though generally smaller brands are better this way than the big boys. You get a lot of limitations on cosmetics. Maple boards are rare at the cheaper end; of a half dozen colour options, you'll often find only one left handed, usually - sigh - yet another sunburst. Quirky models - i.e. anything not aping a Strat, Tele, LP or *maybe* an SG, you can often forget about. Fender have gotten much better for left handers, though I well remember when the first run of Mexican Jagstangs arrived, and the model was not available left handed. Yeah, the Jagstang, as designed by Kurt Cobain... Mn. That said, Squier recently dropped the 50s CV Strat from being available left handed, though they still do the 60s one. Can't be entirely that weird preference for rosewood (or similarly dark) board at the affordable end of the market, though, as they still have the CV 50s Tele lefty. Whenever I get around to the Gretsch 5420, it's going to mean more expense. Gretsch don't do a l/h 5420T because Bigsby don't do a licensed trem in left handed configuration - for a southpaw, there's only the US version. They did a lovely LE run of 5420T L/H a couple of years ago in Pelham blue purely because there was a foul-up in some sort of ordering process and they ended up with a bunch of lefty trems, but they don't do it as of standard because it hits the profit margin at that priceband too hard. I hold out hope they'll do some decent colours lefthanded soon. I mean, the orange is a classic, but it's as overdone now as burst. I might consider the black and get it pinstriped, though... Ironically, I think the left handed market, while still not fantastic, has improved enormously in the last decade in part due to the guitar market shrinking overall, so lefties suddenly matter a bit more in terms of sales. Other than that, it's not so much a big deal. I occasionally wish I could have my pedals re-configured so I could plug the lead in the left so it's not running across my body so much, but that's not the end of the world. The one bonus of the limitations of left handed availability is that it does push you to consider what's available rather than just buying from the Big Brands (e.g. Tokai will often offer a left hander that the "real thing" simply don't make), plus it typically also means you don't get caught up in fads!