New Strings New (bad) Action and Sound

[Ian Hinrichsen]

Ok, so I know this will sound absutely REDICULOUS to some of you, but here goes :

Us 5 string lefties here in South Africa have virtually nothing available to us (at the moment there are only 2 left hand hand options available to us in shops - the Cort B5 Plus and the Ibanez SR305EB)

I've more than had my share of Ibanez basses for now so was itching to get something completely different. 

Us lefties in SA are beggars, not choosers - i kid you not. So out of desperation, I decided to Google lefties playing upside down basses! I discovered to my surprise that it's not that uncommon. So that was it. I decided to buy a right hand bass and set  the nut strings and bridge to left. I bought an SX VTG Series P bass that has jazz pups. It s the 1st passive bass I've ever had and weighs a ton, (like the Fenders), but the tone was better than any Ibby I've ever played, and the sustain is amazing.

So I had the conversion done by a luthier here, and I'm SO dissapointed. The B string now, from the 5th fret down to the C is powerless. I've put Da"Adarria strings on it and they sound tinny (I was expecting that) I've used the exact Guage that is specified for that bass. It had Ernie balls on before, but because it's now strung upside down, the Ernies won't fit. 

Here's my question : 

Will the B be better when the strings wear in? And also, should the pickups also have been changed around? They are closed jazz pups. I've also raised the pickup height a bit on the B string side.