bassbiscuits Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 Help me out on this one. At various times in my musical life I've been primarily a bassist, guitarist and currently an acoustic guitarist/singer. I've got a modest range of kit covering each of those instruments, most of which earns it's keep. But I have this nagging need to have a 'spare' of the good stuff even tho it's fair to say my kit has never yet let me down. Ive done 15 years worth of gigs on a single acoustic guitar for example, and don't really have a working spare to even take to gigs. I've just seen a similar model for sale on Gumtree near me and thinking "aha finally a spare one" - but I've used the other one perfectly well for 15 years, which kind of suggests I don't need one! Am i being dumb gigging without a spare (ok at a push I have a wreck of a Hohner from when I was a kid) or have I just got this itch to buy what I don't need? If it helps, I'm not one for rampant GAS at all - two kids and limited room/money means I tend to keep only what instruments I use. Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamg67 Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 I'm the same. The way I do it for instruments is to have one that's different enough to be worth having, but close enough to manage with in an emergency. I've got two basses anyway, a Jazz with flats and a P with rounds, and two guitars, a PRS humbuckerer and a Tele. Using the opposite number in either case would be fine but not perfect. Leads, I just have spares. Amps, I've always made sure that in an emergency I have something that will let me DI straight into the PA, for the bass that doesn't matter now as both will go straight into a PA and sound good, for guitar... well, I don't gig guitar at the mo but I would probably just get DI pedal with a nice enough amp model. Even if I never use the spare bits, I'm a lot more relaxed knowing they are there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 Yeah - I'm the same - i feel safe knowing I've got all the gear I'll ever reasonably need. The irony being that the majority of gigs are all done on that one acoustic guitar with no back up and it's worked perfectly well. I have three basses but only ever take one at a time to gigs. So maybe there's an emotional safety net rather than a practical one. In reality I could live with one bass, one guitar and my acoustic and probably live happily ever after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkandrew Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 (edited) Back in my "Brit Pop" gigging days (when I was still a bass player), I would gig regularly with no spare - but having said that, I was meticulous in my preparation. I would check everything thoroughly before it went in its case and strings would be changed regularly and wiped after use. The way I thought of it was like a car - if you look after it and service it regularly, it shouldn't let you down, and in 3 years of almost constant rehearsing and gigging, my bass never once let me down. However, these days when I do the occasional gig (mostly school events), I would feel extremely exposed without a spare bass or guitar, spare strings, spare lead, spare batteries and a box full of spare picks, but I've still never so much as broken a bass or guitar string on stage in over 30 years of gigging - so I agree, it's probably as much an emotional safety net as anything else. Edited November 7, 2018 by darkandrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
