Occasionally, I’m asked about left-handed violins. Yes, you can get them—but no, I don’t recommend it unless you absolutely have to.
A left-handed violin is much more than simply tucking the instrument under the other chin and swapping the chinrest. The entire geometry of the violin is set up for right-handed playing. At a surface level, the string order needs to be reversed, the bridge reshaped with the lower side on the opposite end, and the slight fingerboard tilt adjusted as well. This also means the pegs in the pegbox must be rearranged. Strings are manufactured with lengths designed for the peg order G, D, A, E (from closest to furthest away from the fingerboard). For example, a D string usually won’t reach the A peg, so they must be swapped around. Since pegs are tapered, there’s a good chance some peg holes will need to be bushed and re-drilled to fit properly.
Inside the violin, under the G-string side of the bridge foot, is the bass bar—a fitted, carved piece of spruce about 15 cm long that supports the top. To convert to a left-handed setup, this would need to be removed and a new one fitted on the opposite side. In other words, converting a standard violin to left-handed requires a lot of work, which is why so few are made.
There are also practical reasons against it. The violin is an orchestral instrument, and in an orchestra, your violin faces the audience with bows moving in the same direction. A left-handed player moving their bow the opposite way simply doesn’t work—it’s a bit like asking a ballerina to perform the reverse choreography in Swan Lake just because they’re left-handed.
Then there’s the health and safety challenge (and where “One-Eyed Bob” got his nickname): seating left- and right-handed violinists side by side could mean someone loses an eye midway through a Brandenburg Concerto if you’re not careful.
Being somewhat ambidextrous myself, I actually think playing the violin the conventional way puts your best hand in charge of intonation—which can’t be a bad thing, even if bowing feels a bit awkward at first.
My advice: stick with it for six months. If you still want to switch (and you’re not aiming to play in a big symphony orchestra), then maybe a left-handed violin is an option. Just bear in mind it’s likely to be a special order wherever you go(yes I can source them), and your selection will be quite limited.