Gigging with a squire?

[rockabilly1955]

I think I will do it. I have fallen in love with my jagmaster over my Les Paul! It is a lot easier to play cuz of the smaller scale with my small hands. The sound is pretty good too. Anybody here do gigs with a squire? Any crowd reaction? Hopefully everybody will be drunk and not even care. LOL

[dave.....]

i know a guy that gigs w/ 2 squier's .... he does not care .... the crowd does not care ....... it is all about how you play ... not what you play

[andydeedpoll]

my only guitar is a squire, and i've gigged with it.

99% of people don't even know it's "one of those things with strings on" ... if they knew where to look for the name, they wouldn't be able to tell you anything based on it.

other musicians? they should no better to make assumptions based on the instrument you're playing anyway. doesn't make it a good instrument necessarily, but that doesn't allow for snobbishness about the overall quality of performance. and hey, it's only a squire! if they get like that, hit 'em with it

Andrew.

[rockabilly1955]

I'll just have my Les Paul visible in the back as my backup

[dave.....]

if you like the way your squire plays and sounds ...... dont worry about it ............ just get out there and play your ass off ........

[Lt. Bob]

I gig with a Squire all the time ....... especially my beach gigs.
In fact, I mostly use cheap gits for gigging .. it's nice to not have to worry about banging them into something.

[mikeh]

If you get a tone you like and it plays well - that should be all that matters. The only people in the audiance who would even notice the model of guitar would be guitar players - and if they want to be snobs and simple response is..if you/your gear is any better why aren't you gigging tonight??

[rockabilly1955]

Good answers guys! I'm looking forward to it now. Hey, at least my squier is one of the "higher end" models. LOL

[JPXTom]

Ive seen decently large bands at concerts like warped tour with squire guitars...cant judge on the name. I say this because, people can make anything sound good with modification(new pickups etc), or hell it may just sound good on its own.

[Richard Monroe]

I made a living for ten years with a $100 Aria acoustic. If a cheap guitar is what you got, play it. If you like it better than your Les Paul, sell the Les Paul and buy a good strat.-Richie

[jimistone]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

I gig with a Squire all the time ....... especially my beach gigs.
In fact, I mostly use cheap gits for gigging .. it's nice to not have to worry about banging them into something.

But the gig dings are what makes 'em look cool man!

I have been gigging hard with my '66 strat since the refret and the refinish...there are several chips and dings and the Lake Placid Blue nitro is dull and wearing very thin where my right arm rubs the guitar.

People are starting to ask if it's original paint now...It looks really cool
(one well versed in vintage guitars would realize that Lake Placid Blue would have yellowed into green by now...mine is worn, but still blue)

As far as squires go...most of the ones I've played have killer necks and just so-so pickups/electronics/keys.
Slap on a new pickguard that's loaded the way I like, some decent pickups, and a new set of keys and I will gig with a squire any day of the week!

[Oancient1]

I have a squire whose neck I like a lot, and the idea of better pickup and better keys is intriguing as I have yet to play a Mexi Strat that feels anywhere near as good.

Question 1 : What pickups? What I would like to do is still have a nice single coil sound but much less (or no) buzz when the middle and neck pickups are used alone, and something other than the very muddy sound I get when using pickups in combination.

Question 2: Do I need to replace the pots as well? The tone controls on my squire seem to be either/or. e.g. all the way up on ten sounds fine, back off just a little and its just as totally bassy as going all the way back to 0. Is this crappy pickups, crappy pots. both. or what?

Tom

[rockabilly1955]

I too want to change the pick ups. I like the stock pups that my jag comes with except that when I do palm mutes, the sound is pretty thin. I don't get a nice, hard mute sound. And I use muting often enough in my music for me to want to change them.

[Roguetitan]

Originally Posted by rockabilly1955

I think I will do it. I have fallen in love with my jagmaster over my Les Paul! It is a lot easier to play cuz of the smaller scale with my small hands. The sound is pretty good too. Anybody here do gigs with a squire? Any crowd reaction? Hopefully everybody will be drunk and not even care. LOL

people could give a shit less of what kind of instrument you play as long as you don't suck at playing it.

I gig with three Rogue bass guitars 4, 5 and a 6 string, my backup 4 string is a MIM Fender Jazz bass that should tell you a little something right there.
your sound is going to come from the type of amp you use moreso than what kind of guitar you use. I use a Mesa Big block Titan V 12, 2 powerhouse 2x15 at 8 OHM bridged and a powerhouse1000 and that is where I get my sound from I can plug in a cheap 50 dollar bass and it will sound awesome out of the Titan head and Powerhouse cabs.

[Dani Pace]

If you like the way it plays and sounds, go for it and don't even think about the name on the headstock. Most people go to a gig to hear the band, not to look at names on guitars or amps. If you want to impress the few gear snobs, just play and make it sound better than their "designer label" guitars. The sounds you get out of it will get a lot more attention than the name written on it. You can always wear one red and one white sock to draw their attention away from the headstock so no one will notice.

[Anfontan]

I've gigged with a Fernandes Strat for many years now, my sunburst Fender stays home safe these days. It sustains like forever and I've modified it to work just about perfect for me. There is a slanted Dimarzio PAF humbucker (with a coil tap switch) in the bridge thats got a nice unique sound to it-it sounds a bit more trebly that the usually bridge HB pickup.
So I'm all for playing what you feel comfortable with rather than a Gibson/Fender name on the headstock.

[Roguetitan]

Originally Posted by Dani Pace

If you like the way it plays and sounds, go for it and don't even think about the name on the headstock. Most people go to a gig to hear the band, not to look at names on guitars or amps. If you want to impress the few gear snobs, just play and make it sound better than their "designer label" guitars. The sounds you get out of it will get a lot more attention than the name written on it. You can always wear one red and one white sock to draw their attention away from the headstock so no one will notice.

[rockabilly1955]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. The gig went down awesome! Nobody cared. I guess I was just being paranoid. Actually the only person who probably noticed was one of our regular followers who came up to me after the show and out of the blue, said my new guitar sounded a lot better than my Les Paul!

[Anfontan]

Originally Posted by rockabilly1955

Thanks for the encouragement guys. The gig went down awesome! Nobody cared. I guess I was just being paranoid. Actually the only person who probably noticed was one of our regular followers who came up to me after the show and out of the blue, said my new guitar sounded a lot better than my Les Paul!

All in all, thats what really matters-'the sound'!