# Back up guitar?



## Mahogany Martin

For those of you who play gigs, do you always have a second guitar? If you're a strat player, do you bring another strat? Or do you prefer bringing something different (one with single coil and one with HBs)? Could you do any of the sets with one or the other?


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## david henman

...i played most of my life without a backup. occasionally, that has seriously backfired. i don't even want to think about it. these days i have a backup for virtually everything. for guitars, i have a strat plus a backup strat, and a tele plus a backup tele.

-dh


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## Chito

I've played over the years without any backup guitar. And yes occasionally, I break a string here and there. And mostly happens when I get lazy and don't change strings even when I am aware that I've gotten the most out of them. I don't have any guitars with trems so I've managed to continue playing even if I have lost a string.

But this last weekend, I made sure I brought a backup as we had 3 gigs over 4 days. And surely enough I broke my high E string in the middle of the first set on the second gig. 

Come to think of it now tho, I didn't bring a backup at the last gig, which was at the Ottawa SuperEX. I guess I like living on the edge. :food-smiley-015: 

My main guitar right now is a PRS Soapbar and the backup I bring is either another PRS Soapbar or my Fender 62 RI Tele.


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## Milkman

I've never played a gig without a backup. The worst case has been a shared backup in a two guitar band.


I can't understand why you would take the chance. I don't break strings at all, mostly because I change them before every gig, but even under the best circumstances and with the most consciencious maintenance guitars will occasionally go out of tune or break a string, or just plain fail.


Having a backup on stage is well worth the minor inconvenience of dragging it around in my opinion. Frankly with the amount of gear we bring to every gig, an extra guitar is the least of my worries.


Perish the thought, but what if something fundamental goes wrong with your guitar? It's such a small thing to bring a spare and can prevent a gig from turning to crap.


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## hoser

I always use a backup. Its a no brainer. 
I use one that I can get the same kinds of tones from so if something happens I just plug in and go. nothing worse than seeing someone screwing with their amp mid set.


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## Milkman

hoser said:


> I always use a backup. Its a no brainer.
> I use one that I can get the same kinds of tones from so if something happens I just plug in and go. nothing worse than seeing someone screwing with their amp mid set.



Still better than a guy having to jump in the car or get on the phone and call someone for a spare, or pull out a soldering gun in the middle of a set (although if you don't have a back up guitar, it's not likely you're prepared enough to have a soldering gun with you either).


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## david henman

hoser said:


> I always use a backup. Its a no brainer.
> I use one that I can get the same kinds of tones from so if something happens I just plug in and go. nothing worse than seeing someone screwing with their amp mid set.


...my former bassist had a _huge_ rig (can you say: overkill?) that _begged_ for trouble. needless to say, we'd often launch into the opening song of the first set, the one everybody judges you by, and there'd be no sound coming from the bass. then, we'd have to stop playing, and everyone would stand around while he feverishly ran around checking his connections - it was _always_ a loose or poor connection.

as you can imagine, i am a patient man...

 

-dh


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## flashPUNK

I just got back from the UK, and didn't use a backup guitar.. however, I WISH i had a backup Line6 Dl4 and Tubescreamer pedals

*curses*


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## Milkman

david henman said:


> ...my former bassist had a _huge_ rig (can you say: overkill?) that _begged_ for trouble. needless to say, we'd often launch into the opening song of the first set, the one everybody judges you by, and there'd be no sound coming from the bass. then, we'd have to stop playing, and everyone would stand around while he feverishly ran around checking his connections - it was _always_ a loose or poor connection.
> 
> as you can imagine, i am a patient man...
> 
> 
> 
> -dh


I'm trying more and more to keep the stage gear minimal. Our bassist uses a little 200 watt 1 X 15 Yorkie, but really it's only a monitor. The main FOH bass comes from the PA via a DI.


A basic sound check can often weed out little glitches.

Also I use a FMEA approach. (What could possibly go wrong and what would be the impact).

This takes a lot of pressure off when it comes to show time.


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## Milkman

A lot of people bring a back up for a while and never use it so they figure, why bother?


Sort of like car insurance I guess.


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## Ripper

I carry 4 guitars to gigs. One is drop tuned so for a few of the songs we do I can use that. The others are there as insurance. They don't take up much space when packing and I've had to use them in the past. I also change my strings before a gig, but you never know what the gnomes are going to spring upon you.


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## Milkman

Ripper said:


> I carry 4 guitars to gigs. One is drop tuned so for a few of the songs we do I can use that. The others are there as insurance. They don't take up much space when packing and I've had to use them in the past. I also change my strings before a gig, but you never know what the gnomes are going to spring upon you.



Just in terms of my stage gear, I bring:

Two FR type guitars.
One Tele
One Acoustic
One Mandolin
One Digital sampling piano
One lap top (sometimes)

One floor based modeler







no pedals, no amps


I have no redundancy for the mandolin, but if my piano kacks I can use my keyboardists rig.


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## nine

I always take a backup because something *always *goes wrong.


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## Xanadu

I play bass in my band, Im gonna have to really try to break a string. and no I dont have a backup because what am i gonna do with 2 6-strings? THAT WOULD BE 12 STRINGS!!  

OMG!!!1111oneone111


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## Milkman

Xanadu said:


> I play bass in my band, Im gonna have to really try to break a string. and no I dont have a backup because what am i gonna do with 2 6-strings? THAT WOULD BE 12 STRINGS!!
> 
> OMG!!!1111oneone111


Breaking a string isn't the only possible failure mode. My bassist always brings a back up.


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## Chito

Xanadu said:


> I play bass in my band, Im gonna have to really try to break a string. and no I dont have a backup because what am i gonna do with 2 6-strings? THAT WOULD BE 12 STRINGS!!
> 
> OMG!!!1111oneone111


I saw that happen with a band I knew who was in a BOTB for a spot at the CHEO BBQ last year. They were on their second song and the bass player broke his string. He didn't have a backup guitar and you can tell that he was really in a panic not exactly knowing what to do. Good thing a bass player of one of the bands they were playing against offered his guitar instead, which he took with no questions asked. Nice guy. The band that I knew actually won the competition. If the guy didn't offer his guitar, they wouldnt have been able to continue and would've lost.


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## Xanadu

Chito said:


> I saw that happen with a band I knew who was in a BOTB for a spot at the CHEO BBQ last year. They were on their second song and the bass player broke his string. He didn't have a backup guitar and you can tell that he was really in a panic not exactly knowing what to do. Good thing a bass player of one of the bands they were playing against offered his guitar instead, which he took with no questions asked. Nice guy. The band that I knew actually won the competition. If the guy didn't offer his guitar, they wouldnt have been able to continue and would've lost.


oh, well ive never broken a string on bass before.


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## Milkman

Xanadu said:


> oh, well ive never broken a string on bass before.



Rare but it does happen.

What if a pickup dies or a tuning peg snaps or the instrument gets knocked over and suffers serious damage?


The list of things that could go wrong causing a bass (or any instrument) to leave you high and dry is endless. Like I said, it's like insurance. You never need it until you need it.


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## PaulS

I always take two, not so much for backup but I'll do one set with the Sheraton and another with the Strat. I like having both guitars mainly to cover the sounds I like to get. It requires laying out the sets to suit this but that's never been a problem.


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## Milkman

PaulS said:


> I always take two, not so much for backup but I'll do one set with the Sheraton and another with the Strat. I like having both guitars mainly to cover the sounds I like to get. It requires laying out the sets to suit this but that's never been a problem.



I do the same really. My "back up" guitars get played every night. It's simple to switch between songs without interrupting the flow of the set.

I guess there are really only two or three reasons not to have a back up. Either you don't have one, you don't want to carry one around, or you don't want to subject a prized instrument to the dangers of gigging.


I have a few suitable guitars none of which are particularly valuable and when it comes to gigging an extra guitar or two is really a drop in the bucket.


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## dwagar

I always take my Les Paul and my Strat to a gig. 99% of the time I play the LP, but some songs require the Strat sound. I can't recall the last time I've broken a string, but I feel secure knowing I have a backup.
Very unprofessional to stop a set to change a string.


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## axepilot

If you're a Strat player playing gigs, a spare is a must. There's no such thing as a standard trem equipped Strat staying in tune when a string breaks. Taking the time to put on a string and tune in the middle of a set is also the mark of rookies.

I take two Strats and a Les Paul to gigs. I play the Strats for most tunes, the LP on about six tunes. I keep my spare Strat ready - tuned, with its own strap. If I break a string:

Amp to standby

Switch guitars

Amp on

Less than 15 seconds and I'm back in the game.


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## fretman57

*Back up everything including computer files!*

The Boy Scout motto is: Be Prepared!

Scotty


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## Slidewinder

I play a strat and always bring a backup strat to gigs.
I also bring extra tubes for my amp.


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## Mooh

All electric gigs and practices are supported with a backup axe(s), usually a Strat (even though I mostly play Teles), but sometimes whatever else I don't mind carrying. The most versatile guitar is a Strat, imho. Anyway, 2 Teles, 1 Strat, and a humbucker axe (either a Godin LG or a Dot).

For acoustic gigs I always have at least one standard 6 string (Beneteau) and maybe a 12, baritone, classical, or bouzouki, any of which could backup another if one goes down. The exceptions are nursing home gigs which are only an hour long, so all I bring as backup is another set of strings, which I've never had to use.

Bass gigs always get two five strings, a Godin fretless and an Ernie Ball/OLP fretted.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Guest

Mahogany Martin said:


> For those of you who play gigs, do you always have a second guitar? If you're a strat player, do you bring another strat? Or do you prefer bringing something different (one with single coil and one with HBs)? Could you do any of the sets with one or the other?


I've always brought at least two guitars to a gig. Not a backup, just two guitars. I'll switch up during a set depending on the song or how I'm feeling. If I don't have at least two guitars I start to get nervous. For really big gigs that are running on a tight schedule I'm only calm if there's three with me. I've watched too many bands get 1 song in to their first set at the Horseshoe, have a guitarist with a Floyd rose-equipped guitar break a string, and then spend 5 minutes trying to fill dead air while he changes a string on his one and only guitar. They lose their full 45 minutes ('cause they 'shoe runs those showcase nights like clockwork). It's like watching slow death.


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## Michelle

I always bring 2 basses to full gigs and switch them out half-way. I will also bring along a spare head. Cabinet? No.


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## ne1roc

I always bring two guitars and use both equally through the night. I just like to switch up and get the most out of all my guitars.


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## james on bass

ne1roc said:


> I always bring two guitars and use both equally through the night. I just like to switch up and get the most out of all my guitars.


I do the same thing with my basses, though I can make it through the night on any of the basses if I have to. I have pretty much everything I need in my tool kit as well should I need to set up a bass, fix a guitar, make new cables for the PA etc...


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## Dr.StephanHeimer

The last band I played in I brought 3 basses to each gig; 4 string, 5 string and 4 string fretless, I switched basses throughout the sets. But no matter what I could have used any one of them and gotten through the night. And for the record our guitar player only brought 1 guitar and never so much as broke a string................. but I brought more pedals than he did kjdr


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## Greg Ellis

It's been a couple of decades since I played a gig, but way back when...

I always had a spare guitar. Thankfully, I never had to use it, cuz it was junk compared with my #1 at the time.

My amp rig was a pair of combos, one slaved off the other. If something blew up, chances were good that I had at least one amp left to finish the show. Luckily, I never needed this.

Pedal-wise, I had no backups, but I knew that the sound guy could give me delay effects in the PA mix (in a pinch), and the amps would let me get some degree of overdrive if my boost/distortion type pedals died.

On the whole, I felt pretty confident that I was fail-safe.


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## Mooh

Backup guitars are one thing, but it always pisses me off when band mates don't carry their own spare cables. What would happen if we ever needed two spares between us? Back in the olden days when we either couldn't afford the better stuff or second stuff, but when accessories just weren't as good as they are now, we always carried a soldering gun/iron. It did come in handy.

Besides cables, I generally always have enough effects on hand to get me by if something breaks down. The last piece of gear that screwed up on stage was an Ultimate stand. Ultimate my ass, the leg locking device went for a crap. I replaced it and two others I had with Hercules stands. 

A local pro used to always be knocking on my door for an eq pedal, powered monitors, double bass, whatever. I don't mind helping out if I don't need the stuff myself, but a pro should have his own gear, and backups of most stuff. 

Hell, I've worked in bands where the singers didn't even own their own mics/cables/stands. Whoever owned the p.a. provided them. What's with that? 

Hey, venting is good therapy!

Peace, Mooh.


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## Greenbacker

I play a Les Paul Deluxe. I always bring my strat along as a backup. I've be using D'Addario strings for about 2 yrs now and changed them before every show. I haven't touched the strat in a long time, if you know what I mean...

You should always bring a backup though. There's nothing more unprofessional than having the singer say "uh... do any of the other bands mind if we borrow a guitar" into the mic, right?


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