Do I really need a second guitar at a gig?

Yes absolutely!

Having a problem with your main guitar or breaking a string in mid song in front of an audience of say, 150 drunk bikers, is not a great way to start your career.

It is better to have an old cheapie guitar that can get you thru a couple of songs until you or a friend can repair the issue with your main guitar than have to stop, leave the stage, repair the problem and return, especially if your band has only one guitarist. Drum solos and bass solos can only fill in a certain amount of time.

Aside from the most common problem of string breakage there are a host of other issues that can go wrong with a guitar mid performance. These include (and have all happened to me personally over the last 35 years of pro playing):

• breaking more than one string in a song,
• input jack socket failure,
• strap or strap button failure (you may drop your guitar and break the neck!!)
• nut breakage,
• pickup failure,
• pickup switch failure,
• volume and tone knob failure,
• machine head breakage,
• broken or dropped out fret,
• guitar breakage (falling off a stand, drunk audience or even band member induced)
• tremolo arm breakage.

Some of these issues will not only stop your performance but will completely stop your whole gig!!

It is better to have that spare guitar sitting there ready to go if one of these things happens. You may never use it but it’s like a spare tyre on the car, it’s there if you need it! And keep that spare guitar ready to go, check it regularly, and eventually when you can afford it get a good spare (or second) guitar, one that is different than your usual guitar and you find it will suit some songs more than you regular guitar and give you a whole new perspective on your usual sound.

illy

See our article on changing strings http://axebay.com/article/tips_on_changing_strings.html