Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

For me, it's all about versatility. You've probably read, in my other threads, that I'm looking for "that" guitar. The one I can use anywhere and everywhere. That said, I'm always looking for an axe with a lot of pickups. You would think I would own an EBMM Steve Morse guitar right? Well, I once owned a 69 RI LP Deluxe. I played in a Blues band at the time and that guitar was perfect for the application. After a couple of years, the hotrod Tele-picking bug hit and I moved to a Country band. The LP didn't work for me. I had a Nashville B-Bender Tele. That fit the bill. Now, with Country music sounding more like Classic Rock, the LP would be nice if I still had it. I can hardly stomach today's Country music so I don't worry too much about it.

With respect to the guitars you own, I like your PRS and your Strat best. I am all about versatility. I like to have one guitar and do it all. IMHO, you are a player that can get whatever he needs from the guitar he happens to be playing. That's a rare gift and you have it...
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I agree with alot of the points made here...

Are you gonna keep this guitar forever, or do you really plan to sell it? If its really that great of a guitar I doubt you'll ever want to part with it, so why not keep it? Play the heck out of it! Even if you did sell it years from now, you might not be able to get what its worth, so why not keep it and play it? If it truly is an investment piece, well then keep it locked up.

On the other hand, how do you feel about gigging with it and all risk that comes with it? If something were to happen, would you be willing to risk that with this guitar?

IMO, if the guitar is really as wonderful to play and inspirational as you imply, then play it. That baby begs to be played.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I'd use the guitar that I like the most regardless how expensive it is. Let your guitar do its great job. You know it wants to do so.....;) It is made to rock.

After all, music is above all......even guitars......
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

Im not suggesting you not play it. play it , for certain, but DO NOT step foot outside your house with it period . Pick one les Paul to gig with that you know you are willing to accept the risks involved ,including the certain wear and tear that will occur, and gig with that one. Then again, I cant even afford one Les Paul ( well actually i could but i have too much fun dicking around with several cheaper guitars) so what do i know.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I use my really nice, flame mapley, fancy guitars to record. But I have a few less expensive, more plain, and even somewhat beat guitars that sound awesome, and I use those for gigging.

In some respects, for me at least, what works best for gigging may not work best in the studio anyway. For gigging, I find the most versatile guitar is best. It makes for fewer guitar switches and keeps the momentum going during a set. That usually means a guitar with an H-S-S pickup arrangement. I have a couple of those.

But when recording, I may want a specific tone that I can only get for a S-S-S or H-H guitar. And since I'm tracking parts one at a time, I don't have to worry about using one guitar to cover all the bases.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

Never gig with something you are not prepared to part with, either emotionally or financially.

It's not as much an issue of what the best tool for the task is but the best tool for the task in the situation. We have all seen gear get battered, stolen, knocked over, knicked, kicked, smacked and thrown. If you've played out for any length of time then you know what happens to gear no matter how careful you are with it. It's just a fact of the job.

If you're not prepared to have that happen then don't play out with it.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

Butch Snyder said:
With respect to the guitars you own, I like your PRS and your Strat best. I am all about versatility. I like to have one guitar and do it all. IMHO, you are a player that can get whatever he needs from the guitar he happens to be playing. That's a rare gift and you have it...
Click to expand...

i respect butch but i have a completely opposite opinion on this.

when i want to hear a strat, i grab a strat. when i want to hear a sg i grab a sg (actually a custom shop washburn but basically a sg). i think when you try to have one guitar do it all you are compromising. a sg and a strat feel different and inspire me to play differently. its not that i cant do it all with one guitar, even my esquire, but i prefer to use different guitars for different tones. i have four strats with single coils and they all sound and feel different and i play them differently.

i brought out my '59 guild thin hollow body to a gig a few weeks ago. usually i dont bring the guitar out since its old and one of a kind (not super valuable though) but i wanted to use it for this gig. after the last set, i was really pleased with how it sounded and such, then the bass player turned around and wacked it with his headstock cracking off some finish and dinging the guitar. after a moment of 'i think i may have to kill you' i shrugged it off.

like you joe, ill probably never sell this guitar and it sounds great so why not play it. yes its gonna get dinged up but as long as it isnt stolen, you can play your favorite guitar on stage with a rockin band. isnt that worth a few dings?
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

You might as well play it, since you already ruined it with those Schaller straplocks. :joke:

9finger said:
The Reverend Billy F. Gibbons has stated many times that Pearly is his best and #1 guitar but he refuses to tour w/ her anymore. It's not because she's irreplaceable. He could buy another 59 LP. It's because she's special to him and he couldn't bare the thought of losing her.
Click to expand...

This isn't really a fair comparison. Pearly's value to Billy G is in the amount of time he's spent playing her. They have a ton of history - how many sessions, albums, hit songs, concerts, have they done together?. That's what makes Pearly special and irreplaceable to the Rev.

There are some guitars that just can't be played anymore because they are too valuable, but I think you need to get into six digits before you're at that level. A $4000 LP isn't in the same league.

Play it, GJ, add some vibe and mojo, make some memories, and its value to you will only increase.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I respect Jeremy but he's full of horse crap on this....
















Just kidding... I agree with him as well. If you want a Strat grab one. Wnat a Tele? grab one. That said, my opinion is to play what I want onstage no matter the look or value. If it works, I play it. But, I don't like museum pieces. I learned something from Brent Mason awhile back. He said, "Some guys like to have guitars that look good and some players like to play'em good."
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I can't believe I'm in the minority.

Don't play it. Instruments are worth more than the music they create. The Goldtop will sound just as good - there's simply more to a guitar than music.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

I might have an opinion but my brain is numb after seeing the gear you will be gigging with.

WOW...
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

BigAlTheBird said:
I can't believe I'm in the minority.

Don't play it. Instruments are worth more than the music they create.
Click to expand...

Yes...another smash-fisted version of "Mustang Sally" performed to a handfull of drunks that were annoyed that the jukebox was turned off so they couldn't play the same three Jimmy Buffet tunes DEMANDS nothing more than the very best instrumentation that every player can afford.

Give me a break....

Instruments are made to be played. But we walk a fine balance with this because playing out is an act that is fraught with events that will cause damage or loss of the instrument.

Never had an axe stolen from you? Gig out for a few years. You will see all sorts of things walk off randomly. You'll find things that no one in the world could ever find anything even remotely useful have gone missing because someone decided they needed it that very night.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

3'scompany said:
The bottom line is that you have to decide whether you want to be a collector or a musician ...
Click to expand...

This says it all for me. Granted that I don't own any $4000 guitars (I don't play well enough to justify it), but it's not a museum piece and could be replaced, although not for $1300. PLAY IT!
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

That wasn't my point. I wasn't saying you should use the best instrumentation you can afford. Actually, I'm saying the opposite. I'd (in general) save my best pieces for home use or at least not heavy use. And so I don't think Joe should use his Black Beauty, even for studio use or light use if he doesn't want to.

If I was going to gig right now, I'd use my Gem. It's already beat to hell, and it's not that expensive. But if I could wait a year or so, I'd get another 'gigging' guitar (maybe another Gem). All of my current guitars are worth way too much to me to risk by gigging, like you said.
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

A guitar locked away in a case is a piece of wood. When it gets played and allowed to live its life, it becomes a guitar. After a couple of decades of being played, it starts to know it's a guitar, and that's when it becomes truly special. An '89 Les Paul is an adolescent, just starting to dry out, especially if it hasn't been played. I say get it out there and teach it that it's a guitar!

In passing, I'd say that music is greater than all of us, and our guitars, and our buddies, and their guitars, and all of the musicians who have ever lived, put together. It doesn't matter who the audience is, or how I might judge them for "worthiness," I see my job as a musician is to serve them the best way I can, through music. That means using the best tools at my disposal.



Cheers...........................wahwah
 
Re: Should your best guitar be your main guitar?

jeremy said:
i respect butch but i have a completely opposite opinion on this.
when i want to hear a strat, i grab a strat. when i want to hear a sg i grab a sg (actually a custom shop washburn but basically a sg). i think when you try to have one guitar do it all you are compromising. a sg and a strat feel different and inspire me to play differently. its not that i cant do it all with one guitar, even my esquire, but i prefer to use different guitars for different tones.
Click to expand...

As long as I am the one hauling equipment, the less guitars I bring to a gig the better. I don't think in terms of "strat sound" or "LP" sound for a particular song- I think on "my sound", which in reality, if I use a Strat or LP, it comes out sounding like me anyway. So I use one guitar I am really comfortable with.
In reality, the $4k guitar is really nice, but it isn't a $25k guitar. It is just a really nice professional guitar. It doesn't sound like you are playing dives- just keep an eye on it, insure it (MusicPro is what I use) and be done with it.
 
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