How important is it to you WHAT you play onstage?

[Seraphial]

A friend of mine recently put up his Gary Moore LP for sale, even tho he was a beginner. When I asked him why he chose it as a beginner guitar, he said it was because it was a Gibson and he wouldn't be caught dead onstage with a cheap guitar. How bout you guys? Would you gig with a no-name Korean knock-off? Do you?

[diggamark]

if it works I'll play it....

[WhoFan]

Man that is a question i asked myself a long time ago.... When i was younger i thought i needed the brand name guitar in my hands to be accepted. Over the years i said the hell with it and i use anything that sounds good...... I have used Squires, Epiphones, Mexican Fenders, cheaper Jacksons, an ugly rose colour Fernandes i bought for $100, and others.... I have a great sounding amp and i can mostly play anything thru it and it sounds good. My 2 Epiphones have had major neck repairs as the headstocks were broken off..... In clubs i almost prefer the cheaper guitars as they get knocked around.... Since these Epi's have had broken necks they work great as a club guitar..... If something happens to them i could care less about them.... i have fixed them up to play and sound great. You will not catch me playing a $5000 Les Paul in a bar..... I'll save that for home use and important gigs.....

WhoFan

[RushOfBlood]

no shame in my game.

[That90'sGuy]

Name brands aren't important, it's all about the tone. I could get by with some much cheaper solutions, but I love high end gear and am willing to dedicate all the money I have saved up to it. I love my Gibson, but if there was another guitar that was even better with a different name and lower price, I'd play it.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

If it works they way it should...no worries.
Personally I am getting a bit weary of gear, sometimes cheap crap makes more funny sounds than all that sometimes dull expensive nice crap you can buy

[ex-250]

if it feels good and sounds good, why the hell not use it

[MediaArts1]

My 74 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop sits in the closet collecting dust. Not because I'm trying to "baby" it...but rather because I LOVE playing my cheap Fernandes Strat ($179.00).

It kicks ass.

Being a decent player....and an old guy at 47 who just doesn't care about names on headstocks anymore, I get a kick out of going to any music store, grabbing a Squier Strat...or Yamaha Pacifica, or Epi Les Paul and drawing a nice little crowd. Most of the jaws are dropped, as they can't believe an accomplished player would EVER play one of "those POS's".

Yes, I know. I have a warped sense of humor. Something about the PRS's through Marshall stacks all going quiet at about the same time....and watching as they're hung back up on the racks gives me a little chuckle.

And I'll say it again. I have absolutely NO PROBLEMS whatsoever with guys owning whatever gear they want. BUT...when a gear snob belittles a young player who can't afford better...I'll take him to task in a heartbeat.

Okay...I'm done ranting. :::smile:::

Dave

Oops...almost forgot the question on this post. The answer is yes, I'll play anything on stage...or in the studio...or anywhere. My take on it has always been that lesser players need the headstock to prove something. The better players don't. And if an experienced player prefers his Gibson or PRS, good for them. No problem. They're still probably confident enough in their playing to use whatever axe makes them happy, regardless of the brand.

[stevie_bees]

I was convinced that I needed a US Fender Strat to get what I wanted, but played most of my recent gigs on a couple of Yamaha Pacificas. I finally bought a Strat Plus a couple of months back, and although it was a great guitar, it just didn't do it for me and I ended up with my Legacy.

[phiit]

I care about my sound not brand..

[Stringmachine]

Well I used to care when I was younger. Had Jacksons, PRS's, Tom Anderson's, Charvels, ESP's.
Thought it was cool until some older dude smoked me with a Tokai Les Paul copy,
and a "el cheapo" amp that I dont remember the name of.
Sold everything exept my Les Paul and the Soldano amp and started practicing.
So no, I dont care what I play onstage anymore.

That said, my Les Paul makes me go that extra mile though...

[Rainmaker]

When I asked him why he chose it as a beginner guitar, he said it was because it was a Gibson and he wouldn't be caught dead onstage with a cheap guitar.

That's a bit superficial, isn't it?

[Imp]

i'm more loyal to brands hehe - i'll play just about anything on stage, but i do like the fender name on the headstock..

[Neeradj]

It seems that when I found my dreamguitar (Jackson KE2) my hands wouldn't settle for anything else! My last gig I was moving stuff around all day and my arms and legs were tired as heck. I just broke a string on my KE2 so I had to bring along my Gibson that day, only to find out I wasn't going to cut it with this axe, nor the cheap Dean Playmates they had stocked there. So tired as I was and even though I only had an hour I brought the Gibson back home, cycled across town, changed the strings at home and made it back in time. And let me tell you when I was on that stage I played the heck out of it and once I got off it I got praised for my performance. I can play lots of guitars very well, but the KE2 right now is the only axe my hands feel at home at.

Not saying my Gibson is bad, but my KE2 is way better

[tone4days]

well, i've been playing over 25 years and only in the last 3 months have i bought an expensive "name" guitar ... i can tell the difference between it and my inexpensive guitars in a heartbeat and am thrilled with it ... but it isnt my number 1 guitar, or even number 2 ... the ones that i've gigged with forever and tweaked with duncan pups and custom switching options are the ones that i grab first ... hell, the guitar i bought just before the PRS was a $300 tokai tele clone ... and it smokes too! ...

that said .. i played a real deal les paul R8 last week and it was breathtaking ...

as long as an instrument sounds and feels good and stays in tune, no one should be snobbed or ashamed to play it ...

horses for courses, mates!

cheers
t4d

[aleclee]

IMO, you go onstage with whatever you're comfortable with.

Some folks prefer beaters 'cause they're paranoid about damage to their pride and joy. Others prefer taking their "best"--which may or not be their most expensive--up with 'em (I tend towards this category) believing that that's how they'll get their best performance.

AFA what the audience thinks, most of 'em judge a band with their ears, not their eyes. It's us guitar players that tend to "hear with our eyes" in terms of guitar brands/models/years, true bypass FX, class A amps, etc.

[some_dude]

My number one and two axes both cost half as much as my number three.

You can't put a dollar sign on mojo.

[Closed Eye]

You can't put a dollar sign on mojo.

Amen!

[Woodcutter]

The only guitar a woundn't be caught dead on stage with is one of the ones from Wal-Mart. Some of my younger students have them and they don't stay in tune for mare than ten minutes. That said the last guitar I bought was a $400 Ibanez and right now I'm moding my squire strat. My fovorite guitars are Gibson because I like how they feel and play, but when performing I don't dare let it out of my site. SO my gibson mostly gets used for practice and recording. With my squire and Ibanez I don't care so much if they get a strach or dent.

So to anwser your question yes I would play I cheap guitar on stage. I completely agree with Alec. Most people don't know the differance between a squire and a custom shop fender. So play whatever guitar you think enhances your style weither it's a gibson or a squire.

[Kac]

My main 2 guitars are MIM strats, so I'm not real concerned with having the best most expensive instrument, I've never owned a Gibson, and I probably never will.
I want to have something that sounds good, and I'm doing alright with what I've got, so I'm not looking to improve too much.

Rock On