How valuable is "too valuable to gig"

Rowby1 · January 2017

A friend of mine just bought an R9. A lovely guitar for sure but at £4.5k would I want to risk taking it down the Dog & Duck?

Another friend has a Huff spec Tyler. Same thing, lovely guitar but a £5k guitar for pub gigs? I don't think I would.

So so my question is, how much is too much for a gigging guitar?

octatonic · January 2017

I don't gig my Kinman tele because it is irreplaceable, not because it is valuable- I did gig it though, for about 20 years.
I don't really have a money limit- I'd be happy to gig an insured guitar at any value.

lustycourtier · January 2017

I don't see the point of owning something I'd never take out

boogieman · January 2017

I wouldn't gig anything irreplaceable but then, guitars are meant for playing.

p90fool · January 2017

I gig my PA, my crappy old Les Paul is the least of my worries.

digitalscream · January 2017

I know guys who regularly gig their Vanquish guitars, which are all in the £3k - £4.5k ballpark.

Personally, all three of my main guitars (both Jaden Rose Teles and the green N4) are incredibly valuable to me and they're certainly not particularly replaceable. The N4 is the only one which doesn't leave the house, though, because I'd never be able to get another one exactly like it.

rossyamaha · January 2017

My mate gigs local pubs with an original 63 strat, 60 something 335, £6k pedalboard and has no problem. His point of view is that the vast majority, if not all the punters have no clue whatsoever. All the gigs we do locally have the stage secured from the public so not an issue. All down to perspective really.

slacker · January 2017

IMHO it's down to why you bought it. I've played all my guitars out including a 1952 archtop in my sig. However I always use decent stands and leave the guitars out a minimum time and more importantly in sight if I'm in a strange venue.

I have two Rickenbackers and tend to take out the black one as it has a ding on it and the amber one is mint. My LP classic is nicely dinged and worn and I really dont mind it getting battel damage.

I've toyed with getting another Les Paul but I wouldnt play it much and the Ric 330 works as a spare plus sounds different clean.

dogload · January 2017

Back in the day I would gig my Fender Electric XII, simply because it wqas the only electric 12-string I owned. These days I would use either my Ric 360 or Burns Double-Six, not based on value but on replace-ability. I'd hate the Fender XII to go missing.

Panama_Jack666 · January 2017

I gig all me gear 'cause that's when it sounds best. My R7 has been gigged in some right shit holes! As has my irreplaceable tele.

webrthomson · January 2017

I'm weird in this regard - I used to regularly gig my Manson custom guitars, all £3K+ range but I'm not likely to gig my PRS 594 (£4K) - there is no real rational for it other than I suppose I always envisioned that for the Mansons and they have their share of battle scars as a result.

DartmoorHedgehog · January 2017

If it's just a question of monetary value, then I suppose it depends largely on how able to replace it you are (how wealthy you are or how well insured it is). If it's a unique bit of kit that can't be replaced, it's just down to how big the risk of it being destroyed is.

None of my guitar kit is very expensive (no more than £500 for any bit of kit really) or irreplaceable so I've never had to deal with the "do I take it to a gig?" worry. Insurance is fairly cheap for that sort of value (although I've never had anything badly damaged or nicked at a gig yet...)

ICBM · January 2017

Depends how much the loss of value caused by a broken headstock would hurt you

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I'd gig a £10K vintage Fender much more happily than a £4K Gibson. But the guitarist in my band gigs with his £3-4K Gibsons, both modern and vintage, and treats it as just part of the deal.

I'd hate something to happen to my Rick 381 which is currently worth at least £2K, but I still gigged it and still would if I was playing guitar in a live band now. I gig my '73 4001 bass which is probably worth about the same - it's my only bass, so I really don't have a choice. Although I suppose I could borrow my Fender Mustang Bass back from my daughter if I really had to...

Fez · January 2017

I have only gigged my 63 strat once in the last 10 years but I have recorded with it at studios. It is irreplaceable to me so it doesn't go out of the house often.

GavRichList · January 2017

I gig my '62 Jaguar, but I am getting a shade twitchy about it. It's not the gig itself, but the down time before and after playing - you don't always have somewhere totally secure to store it and I have visions of someone simply picking up the hiscox and casually wandering out with it. This year may be the year I buy a backup guitar and take that and my jazzmaster out instead.

ICBM · January 2017

GavRichList said:

I gig my '62 Jaguar, but I am getting a shade twitchy about it. It's not the gig itself, but the down time before and after playing - you don't always have somewhere totally secure to store it and I have visions of someone simply picking up the hiscox and casually wandering out with it.

When I'm gigging I'm always the boring sod who insists on someone staying within sight of the gear at all times - me, if no-one else will. A few years ago I spotted someone pick up one of my guitarist's Gibson cases and start to walk off with it - I stopped him, but it turned out he was the guitarist in one of the other bands and had made a genuine mistake, thinking it was his (identical) case… although even then, swapping a Les Paul Studio for a Les Paul Custom would have been quite an upgrade for him

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Voxman · January 2017

The last gig I did with my 1969 Strat was in 2008 - I'm not too sure of current value but it's got to be worth £6k min I should think. But it's not the value, just that its irreplaceable so I didn't want to risk gigging it any more. To go with my LP Custom I've since bought a PRS Cu24, another Strat, a Tele and an SG Standard, all of which I gig with, so I'm well 'covered' gigging wise. To be honest, my 2010 Strat is more gig friendly anyway - it has delta tone, non-load tone circuit for bridge/bridge & middle p/up positons, with a slightly hotter bridge p/up, and a 2-point trem (my 69 is hardtail).

I'm hoping to pick-up an R8 later this year (probably pre-owned for £2.5-3k), which I'd be happy to gig simply because these are replaceable and the whole point is to enjoy playing it, not just to sit at home. My 1990 LP Custom is probably worth £2-2.5k anyway, so value wise there's no real difference. I might even end up treating the R8 as my main gigging LP and retire my Custom from gigging as that's likely to go up in value more.

digitalscream · January 2017

ICBM said:

GavRichList said:

I gig my '62 Jaguar, but I am getting a shade twitchy about it. It's not the gig itself, but the down time before and after playing - you don't always have somewhere totally secure to store it and I have visions of someone simply picking up the hiscox and casually wandering out with it.

When I'm gigging I'm always the boring sod who insists on someone staying within sight of the gear at all times - me, if no-one else will. A few years ago I spotted someone pick up one of my guitarist's Gibson cases and start to walk off with it - I stopped him, but it turned out he was the guitarist in one of the other bands and had made a genuine mistake, thinking it was his (identical) case… although even then, swapping a Les Paul Studio for a Les Paul Custom would have been quite an upgrade for him .

I once had a guy from a support band try to nick my JCA22H, thinking it was a boutique amp of some sort (I had the custom metal grille on it). I pointed out that it was worth less on the second hand market than the average delay pedal...he quietly put it down and walked away.

Then I posted it on his band's page, repeatedly (he kept taking it down, but couldn't figure out how to block me). He "left" the band shortly afterwards.

bbill335 · January 2017

It is possible to look after your stuff at a gig. Don't be careless. Don't leave stuff unattended.

Deijavoo · January 2017

lustycourtier said:

I don't see the point of owning something I'd never take out

Absolutely.

siraxeman · January 2017

most expensive of my collection is my Red Special replica (£3k) and it gets gigged along with all my other geetars. That's what they're made for so that's what they get....

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How valuable is "too valuable to gig"

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