How many of you take spares to a gig?

ICBM

No, not really. I tinker with things and make them work after a fashion .

thomasross20

Well, you sound like one! I'm an engineer but I just want to do music in my spare time!

ICBM

Haha . Actually I dropped out of my EE degree - not because I failed the EE part, but because this was the 1980s and there was a compulsory half course in Practical Thatcherism Business Management, which I despised and refused to study for, with the result that I failed it, so was not allowed to progress to final year. I didn't want to be a manager or run a business - that's what people who *want* to be managers should do, if they have an aptitude for it - I wanted to be an engineer. But the university seemed to regard anyone interested in engineering as a potential "entrepreneur", so it was a requirement.

Strangely I am now self-employed, although 'running a business' is still not one of my strong points and never will be. Luckily I married someone who works in finance and has about as much interest in repairing musical instruments as I do in accountancy… and we would both prefer to keep it that way .

thomasross20

Must be minted if you run a business lol...
I got my Masters (5 long years - should have done it like they do in England) and then got an MSc on top, currently doing analogue design for microchips.
Almost studied music / went to Standard Life but I'm glad I chose the path I did.. though I'm a "people person" so reckon I'd like to move a little away from the nitty gritty... who knows!

Cabicular

I am of the "always have a backup" persuasion. ICMB is right almost never necessary but I come from a heavy touring background and old habits die hard. In terms of things that break I get much more pleasure in avoiding an issue than I do from fixing one.
I have sorted my technique and gained enough understanding of setting up my instrument that I don't break strings. It has happened to me maybe three times in the last 28 years of gigging and that's well over a thousand gigs. The trick is to look like you are playing heavy but actually have a lot of control. There is a diminishing return between how hard you pick and how much louder it gets. Beyond a certain point it just goes out of tune. Also making sure strings aren't binding and sharp edges are eliminated.
Top Tip. Buy secondhand... not only do you get more bang for your buck..chances are a lot of the gremlins have been worked out. And lean towards heavily used instruments. I'm very wary of an older guitar with no wear...Buy things that look like they have been played
Things that HAVE gone wrong with guitars. Loose jack sockets, Sudden loss of volume and tone (internal wiring coming loose) I once pulled a Floyd rose clean out the body of a guitar. I have smashed the D machine head off a guitar on a table by accident once.  Accidental Bridge movement (Gretsches... either get them pinned which I don't like or learn to live with it.Detaching strap buttons are quite a common one for me so check before each gig and keep on top of the maintenance
Top Tip - I put Schaller locking buttons on all my guitars. It means I only have to have a couple of straps and you can easily change mid gig. Less chance of dropping as well
Amp wise - nothing to write home about. I had a Marshall fail on me. just blowing fuses. IIRC the OT had an issue. Had a back up amp though so no drama. I've had a speaker seize on one of my combos played ok for 5 minutes then all output died. I was amazed it was the speaker but sure enough. plugged it into an extension cab and it was fine. tested the speaker later on and it was done.
Had a Tiny Terror fail plugged into a venues knackered 4x12 (whistle binkies.. watch the cabs in that place they don't always have the advertised ohms in resistance) Still broken I think its the OT. Probably an uneconomical repair. I'll ask ICMB when he's looking at my Two Rock.
I carry one of those Tech 21 fly rig 5 beasties as a backup. Straight into the PA sans amp. It has decent distortion and delay. I'll live with that if it all goes pete tong

Cabicular

Actually just remembered this. Here is an example of a failure and a recovery in the middle of a song.
The bridge of my Black Falcon had got knocked out of whack by someone after soundcheck. This is the opening night of Adrianas album launch.. first song. You can see I can hear the tuning isn't right. I check with the stage tuner and it all looks ok. When I start playing the lead line I can hear its out then I see the angle of the bridge.
I use the verse to change guitars quick tune and back in before the chorus.
I use the line 6 relay 30 wirless systems so I have a transmitter on every guitar. It's just a case of turning off the transmitter on the guitar I'm ditching and turning on the replacement (although a bit footery in this instance.)
On a duget you could have one transmitter and strap locks. Unlock the guitar and put the strap on the new one (thats how I used to do it when these things were UHF and an absolute fortune)

Roland

On Saturday I had my first failure in years. The guitar volume faded mid song. I was busy yesterday, so haven't opened it up yet to find out why. It took a whole verse before I realised it wasn't volume knob, volume pedal, wrong patch, or amp failure, and swapped guitars.

viz

I take a rivvm guitarist with me and when I break a string he just rolls his eyes and hands over his guitar and sits down in a corner and restrings mine. Not really, though that did happen once .

For me it's spare guitar and spare head (or lately an amp modeller), strings, cables (including that dratted speaker cable), batteries, valves, that cable that plugs an ipod into a desk, lots of adaptors, and lots of tools. For gigs with a professional sound crew I've been struck by how much redundancy and how many spares of everything are carried, like 20 DI boxes for example, I guess partly for spares and partly for flexibility so they can expand / contract / adjust for different venues. The other thing is just how bombproof and big the professional stuff is, compared to music shop stuff.

thomasross20

Wow, thanks guys!!

Caibcular - awesome!! Nice tips and I'll check out more of those videos!