Back-up Guitar?

ShriekingSheet

Hi,

As regards playing gigs, has anyone invested in a cheap back-up guitar to grab when a string breaks?

I have one nice guitar, and restring on the day of each gig, but on the rare occasion it does happen where I get a break mid show. Playing around it, or quickly re-stringing is obviously less than ideal.

Would there be any sense in buying a cheap Squier or similar, just to have in case? Or are they so crap it's a false economy?

Interested to hear what others do.

Alanstrainor

Screw buying something cheap and crappy, just buy something nice...2 guitars is better than one...and 6 guitars are better than 2:D

ShriekingSheet

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Screw buying something cheap and crappy, just buy something nice...2 guitars is better than one...and 6 guitars are better than 2:D

5 guitars is almost as good as 6...
Just give me one of yours?

Trevor Kent

I have a backup guitar but I didnt go out and buy it as a backup as such.

I was using a Tanglewood electro acoustic at gigs that I have had since I was 16, It did the job fine until I decided to upgrade. I bought a Craftine CD22EQ and now use the Tanglewood as backup if things go wrong.

So I havent specifically went out and bought a backup guitar, but now that I have one, Its saved me (and the other guitar player in the band) a couple of times.

If you do buy one, make sure its good enough to play live and will seamlessly fit in with what ever gear your running.

Miklos

I have a backup of every guitar I have, 2 Teles, 2 Gretsches and 2 Danelectros :P

In all seriousness, I always bring a spare to a gig. If you want to buy something cheap, buy something cheap and good, like a Classic Vibe series Squier.

Squidgy Black

A spare's always handy, or else fit the guitar with locking tuners like I do, and it'll take you no more than 10 seconds to change a string.

Lurcher

Never, ever, EVER gig without a backup guitar.

goblin59

I'd recommend buying a decent guitar from a second hand guitar shop.

I got a 1994 japanese tokai les paul that was in great condition off guitar fix.

He's got quite a few good guitars up there for sale that wouldn't break a bank.

Demeyes

I use 2 guitars during a set so if a string was to break I could switch to the other one and it would only be a mild inconvenience. I've never yet broken a string on stage during a normal gig though!
Even a cheap guitar would be fine as long as it was well setup. It would probably be worth putting decent tuners and maybe a better pickup in it though so it will hold it's tune and sound good too.

zafo

Backup definitely important in my book. I usually have my SG on hand for the guitarist in my band to use.

Would also second Nick's suggestion of a classic vibe squier if you're not after spending too much. My spare bass is a Classic Vibe Jazz although it stays home as I've never broken a bass string at a gig, especially so now that I have 125 set tuned to C# and fairly slack.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Hi,

As regards playing gigs, has anyone invested in a cheap back-up guitar to grab when a string breaks?

I bring 2 guitars to gigs, but one is not a backup. I play 2 strats live, a SSS and HSS, both sound 100% different. I use different overdrive pedals for them too, the the SSS gets a nice bluesy light over drive, where as the HSS gets a scooped eq and a lot more gain! so if i break a string, my options are either bring 2 backups (not going to happen!), use the one guitar for the gig, or change the string. In a situation like that, I will always change the string as its quicker than messing with the pedals to try and get a "common tone" for the whole gig.

JonathanAnon

If you're taking the job seriously, you have to bring two guitars.. Strings always break when you least expect them, and it's not adequate to have to wait for the guitarist to fix strings..