Spare guitars to gigs?

[watelessness]

How many of you bring spare guitars to gigs?
How often do you end up needing to actually use the spare?
Should the spare be a duplicate of the primary guitar or just something with which you can finish a set or a night?

Thanks!

 

[markm]

I always bring a spare (spare amp also)
Haven't needed it yet, but always grab it for a song or two.
Or keep it tuned to drop D if we have a few of those songs in the set.
I wish it could be a duplicate of my CU 24. But my backup is an S2Mira and works just fine.

 

[gush]

I always bring 3 guitars. Two are in our. Normal tuning and one is tuned lower as we do a small handful of detuned stuff.

Im a string breaker so I need a backup for our normal tuning. None of my prs guitars are the same I make them work.

 

[solacematt]

Always two guitars. For the songs that alternate from clean to dirty that benefit from it I use the hollowbody. For the straight heavy one's the CU24 for the cap'n crunch Thankfully I've never been a string breaker ::knock on wood::

 

[vchizzle]

Always have a backup. I usually don't bring an exact duplicate, but something I can cover the same territory with. I have gone the route of changing strings before every show - on at least 1 of the guitars(typically the one I think I want to play that night). I just kind of go with whatever strikes my fancy that day. Pretty much never need the backup, but every once in awhile, I might just not be "feeling it" with a guitar and will switch. Could be anything...the stage, humidity or heat outside, the room, maybe some finicky tuning issue that day....but I like to have a spare around. I haven't broken a string in a LONG time since changing them before shows. *knocks on wood*

 

[11top]

My backup has been a PRS with a piezo. I have a SC coming that has a short scale, a piezo, and a tremolo. That will probably be the swiss army knife that I will take.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I bring two. I just make sure they both match whatever I'm wearing and have new strings. I'm a string breaker too.

 

[Callan]

Yep, always a spare! Firstly as a backup, but also to mix things up too.

 

[László]

I haven't ever broken a string at a gig, despite 47 years of playing. I do bring extra strings, I just never need 'em. The only strings I've broken were when I was doing fancy tunings on acoustic, while retuning.

Thus, I'm good with bringing one guitar. I've also never had an amp, or even a keyboard, fail during a show or session starting with my first garage band gig in 1965 (I started out playing keys in bands). In fact, I've never taken more than one guitar, one amp, and one bass or keyboard to any gig, ever. Go figure.

So I bring one amp. A good tube amp is pretty darn robust.

However, it's been a few years since I did a live show with a band; most of my gigs are sessions now.

 

[geese_com]

I bring 3 guitars to every gig. None of them duplicates of the other. Luckily I have never had to use one as a backup. Also good to have one just in case.

 

[Egads]

Both of current bands have another guitar player. We bring three guitars between us (plus I bring one lapsteel, with which I can finish a show if something happens to two of the three guitars). I also bring a pocket amp (EH .44 caliber) in case one of our amps goes. I've never "needed" the extra guitar, but I HAVE needed the amp once. We were a three piece plus singer at the time and would have been pretty miserable going direct to the board.

I also threw an old Korg Pandora multi-effects unit with amp sim into my bag. You can find them for less than $50, and if the worst happens, you can at least go direct with some semblance of a guitar tone. I have never used it in agig, and would probably spend ten minutes just getting sound out of it at this point (how's that for gig preparedness!)

 

[Mark Ray]

Always at least 2, sometimes 3. Since I got the P22 I take it to every gig. Before I was lugging an acoustic 12-string, plus 2 electrics. This really cuts down on space taken up. I believe in having a back-up at every gig because literally anything can happen to a guitar at a moment's notice, and you need another to use. I will have to say that the pattern regular is small to me at this point in my playing career, and if I don't think we're going to do any acoustic songs for a while one of my other guitars with a bigger neck is what I'm playing.

 

[Boogie]

For years I took two guitars and two amps. After picking up the DGT and the Super Dallas, I didn't have the need. Extra strings and fuses/tubes, yes, but after about a year of flawless operation, the DGT proved to be even more reliable than my Cu24. One guitar, one amp, and not increasing risk of failure.

 

[Chiliphil1]

I bring 2, as does my other guitar player. I use my s2 and keep my SE in backup but I just got a Gibson the other day and I may start taking it and alternating with the s2, we'll see. I really should get one of those 44 magnum pedals "just in case" eh, someday.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Usually take 3 basses...two fretted, with one tuned down 1/2 step, and a fretless in case I wanna get crazy!! Actually just talked to the guys the other night about this very thing...I love showing off my gear...doesn't everyone bring at least two....

 

[garrettb]

I've often brought just one to single set, non-paid gigs. If it's higher stakes and/or paid, I bring two. I have my collection built out in pairs so I can bring two guitars that are similar enough so I don't have to adjust all my settings when I switch.

I remember breaking a string on a guitar with floating trem once. I was out for the remainder of the song, but thanks to extra strings and locking tuners, I was back in action in only a few short minutes. That's the only problem I can think of, but I don't gig a lot so I don't put a ton of strain on my gear.

 

[FunkyFreeman]

My backup has been a PRS with a piezo. I have a SC coming that has a short scale, a piezo, and a tremolo. That will probably be the swiss army knife that I will take.

What? a short-scale SC with piezo+Tremolo?!?! Don't know what model she is but that sounds very interesting. Hope you post some of her pics as she arrives!
Congrats in advance.:top:

 

[Jazzedout]

I haven't giged in a long time, but I always brought a second guitar with me. Never really needed it, but it was nice having a different guitar to change things a little. Sometimes I brought a 7 string as a spare and it was nice adding the 7th string at rythm parts when I felt like it.
Nowdays I only go and jam with friends and I only bring one guitar with me.

 

[CVS]

Never break strings anymore, although I used to about 30 years ago. Always bring spare strings to gigs regardless and always bring 2 amps and 2 guitars (usually one Hollowbody and one solid body)

 

[squirrel211]

I DEFINITELY take at least one back up guitar, usually two. When my sonic/daphne blue strat was my #1, I would take another 62ri Strat with Chubtone 62's which are fairly similar to the Lollar Blondes in the #1 strat, and either a third strat or then the SE Custom 24 when I snagged that in 2007/8. After really getting to like the SE, I bought a US Custom 24 in May; so now the SE Goes as the backup, and the strat will at least make the car ride.

Unlike Les, I have had several amps fail at shows! Back in 1998 our percussionist knocked my JCM 800 head off of my cabinet AND the stage; a Fender Twin Amp that I had before that had its circuit board fry; and most recently I had a drunk girl dump an entire drink INTO my Tone King Comet. Now I bring a small amp as backup, an Orange Crush 15 for a while, and now a Vox AC4-12.

I've also had people fall/step/walk on my pedalboard and break my pedals too. An EH Microsynth, a Barber Direct Drive, a Line 6 DL4, and a Vox Valvetone all in the last year.