How many of you take a back-up guitar to gigs?
Is it the exact same spec as your main one? Or is it something different but you can use it just to see out the rest of the set?
I always take one but I've not had to use it live (touch wood) yet.
Currently have been using a Les Paul studio for my main and a Les Paul standard for my backup, both have similar specs, one has slightly lighter strings and a different bridge pickup. Apart from that though I could use either to play the set with.
I got an LTD guitar too that I'm free to do mods to (hardware, pickups etc), now my question is do I make it to the same specs (ish) ie. same tuning, string gauge, pickup configuation as my main guitar or just go hell-for-leather and put different stuff in?
Comments
In your position, I would leave the Gibsons as they are. By all means, modify the LTD to be more sonically versatile. This could well enhance rather than devalue it.
Permanent down tuning might justify a change of pickups. Check out Fishman Fluence for useful possibilities.
The pickups need to be replaced on the LTD as the mounts are broken and they sound crap anyway.
Fishman's do sound amazing but for a budget guitar (its an EC-50) would throwing a really expensive pair of pickups in radically change the sound?
My back up is a PRS S2 equipped with Jim Dunlop JB and Jazz humbuckers.
The guitars are fairly interchangeable because, in my current band, on my Strat, I only use the bridge humbucker or the neck pickup (sometimes in series with the middle pickup in humbucker mode). I've never broken a string at a gig for as long as I can remember, but I sometimes swap guitars on a whim. I just have to back off the volume on my PRS because it has a massively higher output level.
Re your dilemma, I'd probably go for something similar enough that you can still get through the same set list, but different enough that it can be used for additional texture when recording.
I have my amp and pedals all set for a Telecaster, so although the idea of having a Les Paul for the Rockier songs was tempting, I like to do as little pissing about with settings as possible once i'm onstage playing, so taking a 2nd Tele as a backup avoids having to adjust either pedals or amps and allows me to relax and enjoy performing.
If I need a different sound then i've got another pedal set up to give me that, which is much less faffing around than switching guitars, and as alluded to above, no one actually gives much of a shit ;-D
With so many comparison web sites out there, how do I choose the best one?
*Bloody jinxed it now, I know.
My preference is to stick to one guitar for the full set (I think that it’s unnecessarily distracting and is one more thing to break up the flow). I’ve got maybe four guitars which can fulfil the role and I’ve done gigs with each (although for my main band I keep coming back to the Strat). When I have taken a second guitar it has been because it is something new and un-gigged and I’ve just tried it on a couple of numbers. Most of the gigs I play are on stages so small that there is barely room for the four of us let alone spare guitars (last time I played Flannagan’s Apple in Liverpool there wasn’t even room for the bass player). Sometimes the singer / guitarist takes a spare so I could always grab that if a break a string (which I haven’t done on stage in a decade or more). If I was playing high paid wedding or corporate gigs then having a spare to hand would be the professional thing to do but for a couple of hundred quid in a pub it’s not worth the effort of making an extra trip to the car. There’s always a spare set of strings in my case.
That said, at one time I must have thought about using two guitars as I bought a double gigbag.
You have to go with what’s comfortable for you. Some people stress if they don’t have a backup in case of breakages, some people feel that it they need different guitars for certain numbers so that the sound is right. If you feel better with two guitars then take two, take a spare amp if you wish and wear your lucky underpants – it’s all about performance and if it helps you achieve your best then do it.