Reapraising GIG gear...

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57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
edited May 2014 in Live
I have had some serious thoughts about suitable alternative GIG gear recently. We all love our gear and often we want others to love it too but after having had a student knock my beloved Gibson 335 to the floor and experiencing that awful sick feeling at the realisation that someone can come into your space and carelessly demolish your dreams, I cannot imagine ever again taking it all out to be exposed to the idiot public.

So I have decided that Gigs and Jams from now on (unless in my own controlled space) will be with lesser gear. However, that does not mean lesser fun or quality, just that I will have to be viewed as perhaps more impoverished a musician than I actually am by those looking on!

So I suppose the trick is to have great tone and then let those doubting Thomas' then WOW(!) at what can be achieved without top brand labels...If anything, that counts for more... Don't you think??
<Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
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Comments

  • LooseMooseLooseMoose Frets: 908
    Yes.  I once turned up at a Jam night (never again) with a Melody Maker and got mildly derisory looks when it came out of the case.

    I got nothing but compliments on the tone once we finished and I spent the entire time playing whereas the other guitarists fiddled and fiddled with switches and multi effects patches.

    Tone mostly is in the hands, after all - I'm not a great player but I sound nice :)
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  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    edited May 2014
    /\ (yes - I am not a great player either but I smell nice!)
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  • IanSavageIanSavage Frets: 1319
    edited May 2014

    I'm enjoying the stripped-down approach too, have been for a while - Esquire for guitar or a Jazz bass, tuner and overdrive on the floor, nowt else. Takes me about three minutes to set up my entire rig.

     

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/smokingbeagle/d37757bb-d60e-4b21-b53d-b4e115c45e63_zps96e78ae1.jpg

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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    57Deluxe said:
    I have had some serious thoughts about suitable alternative GIG gear recently. We all love our gear and often we want others to love it too but after having had a student knock my beloved Gibson 335 to the floor and experiencing that awful sick feeling at the realisation that someone can come into your space and carelessly demolish your dreams, I cannot imagine ever again taking it all out to be exposed to the idiot public.

    So I have decided that Gigs and Jams from now on (unless in my own controlled space) will be with lesser gear. However, that does not mean lesser fun or quality, just that I will have to be viewed as perhaps more impoverished a musician than I actually am by those looking on!

    There is no substitute for putting a Gibson back in it's case once you've finished playing (I know I'm guilty of leaving mine on the stand too sometimes).

    There are those that say you need a good Tele and a good 335 to cover all the tonal bases. I'd add that a good tele is pretty solid and built to take life on the road too so that would be your default Jam session in a drunken pub weapon of choice.

    That said I do sometimes hanker after another guitar I left at home for that one song...

    First world problems eh!

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  • BranshenBranshen Frets: 1222
    I've always loved the idea of blowing people away with a squier. I only have 2 problems with this, I don't have a squier and I can't blow people away with my playing. 
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26459
    That's why I've always loved Jet City amps - they're cheap as chips to replace if something goes wrong (in fact, some of them don't cost that much more than a revalve + service, so they're almost disposable).

    When I take my babies (Jaden Rose Series 2 and Washburn N4) out, though, they live in flight cases whenever they're not in my hands.
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    I'm starting to wonder about this as I've kept my collection small, but replaced them with better guitars over the years. 

    Now my main guitar is a PRS, but I wouldn't want to take it to a rough gig. Same for my Gretsch. 

    Still can just about stomach taking my US Strat. 
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    I would hate to own something that's too precious to me to gig. Live music is what instruments were made for, I see them as tools that I take to do a certain job. Then again, I probably wouldn't buy something that is irreplaceable or scarily expensive. I do get attached to gear, but the attachment is due to experiences and memories that I attach to those pieces of gear and you can't get them if you baby stuff!
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Im with Cirrus, in fact i generally play my cheaper gear at home because my fave guitars come and go to rehearsal every week and i can never be bothered getting them out of their cases :)
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • flatoutflatout Frets: 16
    So far, so lucky. In nearly 500 gigs in the last nine years, the worst I've suffered so far is a mildly bent mic stand. I have a 335 that only comes out for gigs that I know are safe (stage with a barrier etc), and aside from that, me and the rest of the band watch the gear like hawks. Mostly I play telecasters, and they will at least survive a fall if the worst happens. 
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  • close2uclose2u Frets: 997
    @57Deluxe

    I read the story about your new student dropping the 335 to the floor ... and gulped at the sheer horror of it.
    I play reasonably cheap mid-budget guitars most of the time anyway so no major headaches and worries for me.
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  • mike257mike257 Frets: 374
    I buy 'em to play 'em.  I haven't got any bank-breaking guitars, the three that get gigged are my '04 USA Tele that came to me with a few battle scars already (like all good Teles should have) and I don't object to it picking up a few more; my Edwards LP which I probably baby a little bit more (battered Tele = good, battered LP = not so good!) and my '72 RI Tele Deluxe.  The cheap ones are the ones that stay on the stand at home for me to pick up and play.

    My bass stuff is a bit more high value but they're still working instruments and my Musicman Stingray has survived being nicked off the stand in a venue and dumped in a bush down the road when we gave chase, without even the tiniest mark on it!
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    I take almost all of my guitars gigging when I'm in a band. I bought my pre-neck-breaked-SG to cover for my CS-336 for rough pubs but other than that I'll take anything anywhere. 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • stedsted Frets: 259
    I got rid of my R8 for the same reason, it ended up just being played at home which just annoyed me, I was very wary of it getting nicked, dropped etc, it ended up with a small ding and I thought, right thats enough.
    I use my Jaden Rose guitars and my strat live now, the jadens are tough as anything I've ever used, my first one has never even needed the neck adjusting in over 5 years, rock solid and as for strats, well, they look better beat up anyway and mine is, well, yeah, its pretty beat up!
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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    This is what Fenders are for.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    edited May 2014
    I always use my best gear for the job, which is not necessarily my most expensive, although I don't let that be the deciding factor - but I never take more of it than I have to... makes it easier to keep an eye on it and reduces the chance of something happening to the stuff you're not actually using.

    One guitar. One amp. One pedalboard. (And obviously tools and a few carefully-chosen spare bits in case of emergencies.)

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • Moe_ZambeekMoe_Zambeek Frets: 3419
    edited May 2014
    Last night I had a CS strat, SG, matchless hc30 and 2x12 and a spendy pedalboard at the gig. Why have it if you don't use it is my approach...although it's all insured, because there are definitely some gigs I'd feel a little uncomfortable about otherwise.

    If I wasn't using this gear for gigs and recording I would be mentally incapable of keeping it - it'd just be a 'collection' if that was the case. Nowt wrong with collecting but it doesn't work for me.
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  • BilliBobBilliBob Frets: 19
    Saw a guy recently at a gig in a nice pub, he had a different guitar for each song.  Approx 20.  He looked a complete tosser.
    More money than sense and an ego to match.  His playing was mediocre at best.
    Takes all sorts I suppose.
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  • close2uclose2u Frets: 997
    BilliBob said:
    Saw a guy recently at a gig in a nice pub, he had a different guitar for each song.  Approx 20.  He looked a complete tosser.
    More money than sense and an ego to match.  His playing was mediocre at best.
    Takes all sorts I suppose.
    The Edge ... but in a smaller venue.
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  • koneguitaristkoneguitarist Frets: 4125
    I was at a rough pub doing a gig back in mid 90's with my battered 54 tele, old Vibrolux and an OD pedal.
    When my mate said what you doing with gear like that in here, I said well a real musician would not nick the gear, but some scumbag would be the one who would, but the scumbag would nick my mates shiny new strat and Valvestate Marshall !
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