So at practice yesterday.....

[Guitarbilly]

... I decided to try out every guitar I have (currently 9) with the full band mix and see how well dialed in the are for my band. Some observations:

The Les Pauls obviously sound great, that's what I use regularly. But the Studio needs a new harness. It still has the stock 300k pots and the guitar is definitely darker/less open sounding than the other 2. Funny that I didn't notice it much when I played it by myself, but with the band the lack of openness and cut was really apparent.

The Tele did surprisingly well. I can play pretty much any song in the set list with it, despite having single coils. I am going to use this guitar live more often.

The SSS Hohner strat also sounded great on some songs but lacked punch on the heavier stuff. My tele is definitely more versatile.

The HS partscaster with the PAF Pro in the bridge sounded awesome, my favorite outside of LPs.

My other partscaster strat with the single EMG 81 sounded great too. That was a bit of a surprise because most of my guitars have mid/low output pickups these days.

The Charvels need help, especially the white one. I think I don't really like high gain passive pickups anymore. The Model 6 sounded fine with the boost circuit turned off. But the Model 3 just sounded harsh and bloated. I think I'll ger Duncan 78 for these guitars.


Have you guys ever done a full sweep of your guitars in a live scenario? Really interesting experiment. I never had done it before. It also helps kill GAS to see that most of my guitars are doing what I want them to do.

[linthat22]

Funny that you mention this, because I just went through the same thing.

Out of all my guitars, I'm going to offload my blue Ibanez, because I'm just not digging the sound. It's very dark sounding and I don't feel like swapping pickups again.

My Strat sings, my Universe needs a volume pot, the BC Rich feels great, and the Berzerker needs the neck pickup replaced.

[eyeball987]

I actually spent some time doing this on Friday night with my electrics. Have been scaling down the guitars that I have on hand so that I can pick up one more nice one. Will just keep a few really good ones from here on out.

#1 LP Traditional - biggest sounding guitar I have. JB in the bridge. Have to take some low end out on the amp when switching between the other guitars. Jumbo SS frets.

Skolnick LTD - same pickups as the LP but the dynamics are not the same. Volume knob changes do very little on this one. Still feels and plays great though. Might move this one just to free up some cash for whatever "nicer" guitar I find.

Slash Victoria gold top - pickups have been swapped to the Slash 2.0 set. Great guitar but I am going to move it. All of my other guitars have jumbo frets which I prefer. On this one the frets are too low and I don't love it enough to get it re-fretted.

Chubtone - easily my #2. Has more snap than the LP.

Cheap Ibby - only use it on the couch in front of the TV. Plugged it in once. Nope. Not upgrading anything on it. Will wear the frets out and give it away.

[screamingdaisy]

If left to my own devices I would only play my Les Paul. I tend to have a #1 guitar, for the last 22 years that's been a Les Paul, and when doing my own thing everything that isn't my #1 Les Paul gets ignored.

The only reason I have a few options is because I play with others; therefore, I have a Tele and a PRS McCarty.

Doing the cover band thing, I've found that I can do just about anything I want to do with a Les Paul and a Tele. I don't like Strats. I love how some other people can make them sound, but I don't like how I make them sound.

IMO, my PRS McCarty is basically an ideal cover band guitar. IMO, it does both the LP and the Tele thing well enough that I don't need to bring an LP or a Tele.

[macaronisalad]

I’ve played superstrats for the most part basically the entirety of my gigging career. Sprinkled in there has also been a handful of LPs, but the first time I ever used a Strat with the band was like a lightbulb went off. I like high output Strats. (Like Duncan QP) They just cut so nice. I’m sure as I venture into more PAF territory humbuckers that will also be a welcome change.

[I'MAPUNKROCKERDAMNIT]

The feelz of my other electric guitars are just to strange for me to gig them.
I have to stick with my '72 SG, '13 SG and my LP Jr. which all have virtually identical necks, identical pinky resting spots and the knobs are out of the way.
If I change to a guitar with weird feelz, I can't let it all hang out.
I've been gigging the same rig for 30 years and even the smallest change fucks me up.

The Pitman Tele neck is a tiny bit chunky and the bridge pickup pan needs to have the side plates ground down because, they get in the way of my picking.
My Strat... that first volume knob... I just can't get used to it!!!
I always wanted to try out my Zero Gravity Freefall (LP style) at rehearsal... it has a Korean Floyd whammy that I'd like to incorporate into a few leads.

Flexibilty??? What's that???

[Vladimir Putin]

I change stuff around all the time. I remember using my tele and strat in the heavier bands just for fun, and then discovered they sounded great through the recto in a full. band mix

Agree it's a cool way to kill off GAS... or really really cause more GAS

[RaceU4her]

not in a live situation, but every so often ill move all my gear into one room and have a big gear fest and try every guitar/amp/cab/boost combo i can, and my conclusion is theres no rhyme or reason to what will sound good. certain guitars will sound god like with lets say my recto, go to the next amp and cab with the same guitar expecting the same thing and its just eh, plug a different guitar into that amp and cab and it sounds great. then you stick a mic in front and everything changes again. shits wild lol

[Endtime]

I’ve certainly gone thru days where I’ll pick up just about every guitar and just “listen” to which one is best THaT day. Haha. Cause it’ll change eventually. Altho, after all these years I def have a few where they just always sound great in any situation. Like last nights practice. I’ve gravitated back to the PV HP special I bought the parts raw, and finished myself. I even sourced the OG Peavey HP special pickups. I found these 10-12 years ago, for the day I’d get an HP special! Haha. It took about 9 years to finally get the parts for one and that thing just fucking works. My tone was just dominating yesterday thru the 6505. I enjoyed the hell out of that practice

[Guitarbilly]

Yeah I definitely have the setup that "always work", which is the Les Paul Classic and the DSL. It actually works so well I sometimes wonder why did I buy all this other shit
But here we are, so I might as well put them to use.