I have had some serious thoughts about suitable alternative GIG gear recently. We all love our gear and often we want others to love it too but after having had a student knock my beloved Gibson 335 to the floor and experiencing that awful sick feeling at the realisation that someone can come into your space and carelessly demolish your dreams, I cannot imagine ever again taking it all out to be exposed to the idiot public.
So I have decided that Gigs and Jams from now on (unless in my own controlled space) will be with lesser gear. However, that does not mean lesser fun or quality, just that I will have to be viewed as perhaps more impoverished a musician than I actually am by those looking on!
So I suppose the trick is to have great tone and then let those doubting Thomas' then WOW(!) at what can be achieved without top brand labels...If anything, that counts for more... Don't you think??
<Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
__________________________________
Comments
I'm enjoying the stripped-down approach too, have been for a while - Esquire for guitar or a Jazz bass, tuner and overdrive on the floor, nowt else. Takes me about three minutes to set up my entire rig.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/smokingbeagle/d37757bb-d60e-4b21-b53d-b4e115c45e63_zps96e78ae1.jpg
There are those that say you need a good Tele and a good 335 to cover all the tonal bases. I'd add that a good tele is pretty solid and built to take life on the road too so that would be your default Jam session in a drunken pub weapon of choice.
That said I do sometimes hanker after another guitar I left at home for that one song...
First world problems eh!
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
I read the story about your new student dropping the 335 to the floor ... and gulped at the sheer horror of it.
I play reasonably cheap mid-budget guitars most of the time anyway so no major headaches and worries for me.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If I wasn't using this gear for gigs and recording I would be mentally incapable of keeping it - it'd just be a 'collection' if that was the case. Nowt wrong with collecting but it doesn't work for me.
More money than sense and an ego to match. His playing was mediocre at best.
Takes all sorts I suppose.