Would You Take/Play 5, 10, 15 Guitars At A Gig If You Could

[brookdalebill]

I'm like a woman with too many pairs of shoes.
I always bring my Gretsch, but sometimes can't decide
what else to bring.
If it's a "lounge" gig, I'll bring a Les Paul or Yamaha SA 2000S, too.
If the gig is all (classic-old guy) rock, I'll bring the Strat and a Paul, too.
For country gigs, I bring the B bender Tele and the Tele Custom.
I usually change guitars after every set.
I really enjoy the variety of guitars I have.
I also love bass gigs, because I only bring one bass, and plug right into
a Roland Bass Cube 120.
Way less hassle.
I have two basses, but my 75 Precision weighs a ton, so I use a
beautiful Daion bass.

[teleamp]

Bill, its always a pleasure to hear you play (I've only heard you at the music shops, but will catch a show sometime).

[Ricky D.]

I gigged for ten years and never owned more than one guitar at a time. Why make life harder than it needs to be?

[bendecaster]

Bring it if you got it. I usually use 3 guitars and play bass for one set, so my little subaru is packed.

[J-man]

2-3.

Swapping guitars constantly for no other reason than you have them seems to me to serve no other purpose than to make the person doing it look like a douchebag.

If you're lucky there's probably two guys in the audience appreciating your guitars and the rest are wondering why you keep stopping to mess around with your equipment and how long it'll be until you play Mustang Sally.

[SackvilleDan]

Right now I bring 3-4 guitars per gig, depending on the set list. Usually a Les Paul and a Tele, an acoustic, and maybe a Strat. Anymore than that and I'll focus more on the gear than the music!

[whitecat]

According to something I read once (and just verified with Wikipedia) -

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Compared to many lead guitarists, The Edge is known for using many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night, whereas The Edge takes 45 on the road, and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert. He is estimated to have more than 200 guitars in the studio.

(citation needed of course )

Anyway, I guess it depends on the size of the show, the size of your band, and more important, do you have a full-time guitar tech on tour? Restringing, tuning/intonating and general maintenance on 20-some-odd guitars pre-and-during show would probably defeat your ability to play very well if you didn't.

[Olav]

Need..? No. Schlepp 'em along? No. Would like to? Yes.
Different songs really call for different guitars. Most require the bite that my tele gives. Some need the roar of the Junior's P90. Others would sound so much better with the howling tones out of the hollowbody and it's Trons. Every so often I can even make use of a humbuckered LP or a strats neck p'up.
But I usually 'make do' with one plus a backup.

[eddiewagner]

I take four: two with regular tuning, two specially setup for slide. I have to, because if a string Breaks, the show must go on.

[Skub]

I'm lazy and humping even more gear than I need at 3am holds no attraction.It's a Tele so it can do it all anyway.

I like the feel of one hot sweaty guitar during a gig,so even if I was breathing the rarefied air of the big acts I don't think I'd change guitar just for the sake of it.

[Vladimir]

I'm actually considering moving from 10's to 11's on my tele, just so I don't need to bring a backup. Even the odd acoustic requirements can be met with a little volume decrease in the middle position.

[jvanoort]

I usually take and play two: one with humbuckers (MM Axis) and one with P90's (MM Axis Sport).

They are also backup for each other.

[RevMike]

Usually two for me. I take my Nashville Tele and my Fender Malibu. Last gig I brought my Strat also...and it never left the stand. I also have to carry synths too, so I try to keep the load down.

[emu!]

If I got paid for playing a certain brand name guitar (like most of the big acts do), I would play as many as I could to rake in the dough.

Otherwise, it'll just be my one pawn shop prize.

[kelnet]

Originally Posted by sax4blues

What would you take/play at the gig if you had the collection and the roadies/techs to manage them for you?

I would take a 142 guitars, just because I could. I would line them up across the stage, maybe on a special stage section that displays all of the them clearly, so that the crowd could marvel at my huge collection.
I would have a bikini babe hand me the guitars, while other bikini babes polished them on stage after each use. The guitars would all have names, and I would introduce them as I used them.
After the concert, which of course would be a massive sold out show, I would give away the guitars to the 142 children who were given front-row seats. Then, I would support every local Mom and Pop guitar store in the city where I play my next gig and buy another 142 guitars.

[paulo6]

I play in a rock covers band, mainly in pubs and like to take 3 guitars. I have 2 Fenders, a Strat and a Tele. 2 Gibsons, an SG and a Les Paul Melody Maker and an Ibanez Artcore (cheap 335) and usually take the 2 Fenders and one of the others. Why take 3 to gigs?

a) Some songs sound better on particular guitars.
b) Saves on strings - if I played one all night I know I'd be snapping them more. Obviously if I do snap one I can just pick up another guitar.
c) I have a 3 guitar stand!
d) Invariably there are some musos in the crowd and I never mind chatting about gear!
e) I can't fit more in my car!

[Ricky D.]

That's 142 bikini babes, not given away.

[Oakville Dave]

I currently take 3; 2 Teles and a Godin A6 for acoustic songs. I'll probably add my 12 string electric if Groove Hammer starts playing any music that uses one. Less is definitely the way to go if you have to lug the gear around yourself!

Like Groove Hammer's drummer, Kevin Gibbs, likes to say, "At my age I'd much rather have a roadie than a groupie!"

[Jakedog]

I currently take two to electric shows, only one to acoustic shows.

At electric shows, I play my LP Jr. pretty much exclusively. Lately I've been dragging my LP Special, in case I need a backup, but it rarely sees the stage. Some nights I play the Special, and have the Jr, as backup, but that's far less frequent.

If I had a road crew and 50 guitars, well let's just say most of the guitars would stay home, and the crew would have an easy job. All I really need is my pedal board, my old Marshall, one or two good guitars, and icy cold beer. Anything else is just overkill.

[jimbach]

I suppose it would really depend on the gig, but I look at it this way - if I'm successful enough that I could afford to use as many guitars as I want, then I'm playing original songs, and if I'm playing originals I'm going for "my" sound, which means I'm not going to need a lot of guitars.

So, four - a Tele, a 335, and two backups.