PLAYING Vintage Guitars

[Univoxer]

I have seen some beautiful vintage guitars on this forum and I myself own a really nice 62 jag and my question is this. Should we be PLAYING these guitars on stage every night, touring with them, throwing them around and such or should these vintage pieces be left at home or for collectors? Should the touring musicians buy CP and CIJ offsets to actually use? I'm torn...My jag is hands down the greatest guitar I've ever played, so I wanna play it, but I also want it to be around forever and not fall victim to some "accident" on the road...thoughts?

[chrisjedijane]

YES!

It would be a terrible shame to have it stored in a case and not being played. There are too many mint vintage guitars locked away in vaults that never see the light of day (or a stage). Get playing!

[brännjak]

Depends on your stage manners, I suppose, but all guitars want to be played, man. Limiting the vintage stuff to "safe" environments might be smart, but I just hate great guitars hiding behind bars and in display cases.

[Pacafeliz]

i've been playing my old jag and jazz onstage for years... and years to come. mine are not "collector's" guitars anyway. butchered, modded, refinned, etc.
i'll play them until they fall apart...

Pat.

[chrisjedijane]

I'm the same - I've got a '72 telecaster that I treat exactly the same as my recent SG and AVRI - I'm not exactly bad to it, but I'm not afraid to thrash it about.

[Univoxer]

i've been playing my old jag and jazz onstage for years... and years to come. mine are not "collector's" guitars anyway. butchered, modded, refinned, etc.
i'll play them until they fall apart...

Pat.

Thats what worries me...if my jag fell apart I would 1. Miss it terribly 2. have to shell out a ton of $ to get another

[bdm]

Should we be PLAYING these guitars on stage every night, touring with them, throwing them around and such or should these vintage pieces be left at home or for collectors?

guitars should be played. if they're not being played then they are nothing more than a useless collection of wood, metal and plastic in my mind.

[chrisjedijane]

i've been playing my old jag and jazz onstage for years... and years to come. mine are not "collector's" guitars anyway. butchered, modded, refinned, etc.
i'll play them until they fall apart...

Pat.

Thats what worries me...if my jag fell apart I would 1. Miss it terribly 2. have to shell out a ton of $ to get another

It could always be rescued, if sent to a good luthier. Thrash it!

[Univoxer]

Should we be PLAYING these guitars on stage every night, touring with them, throwing them around and such or should these vintage pieces be left at home or for collectors?

guitars should be played. if they're not being played then they are nothing more than a useless collection of wood, metal and plastic in my mind.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be played...I'm saying maybe they shouldn't be PLAYED like toured with and stuff

[mikkiki]

if i ever get a vintage guitar, i'll definitely play it at concerts and whatnot.. why should i leave my, if that's the case, best guitar at home when i have to play in front of people that will see me perform at my highest? if i knew i were doing a concert were i would be trashing it and throwing it around, then i'd take my cij with me. but otherwise, no way i'm gonna leave it at home only for practicing and recording..

[terminalvertigo]

good vintage guitars were built with playing night in/night out in mind, so i wouldnt expect them to fall apart, but then again, if you are thrashing it on a nightly basis, that might be a different story.

Dont be scared of it.

[brännjak]

I'm revising myself: the only reason not to play it is if you can't afford a replacement and you are in the habit of destroying gear completely... It's actually wood and metal, not porcelain... Fender guitars especially can take quite a beating.

[Jaguar018]

If you are all paranoid about guitars then don't play it out. Personally I think fretting about a vintage piece is not the best attitude. Nicks and dings are what happen to guitars that get played. The main people that spazz out over stuff like that are uptight weird collector types.

My friend who tours internationally got a "beater" Jazzmaster so he wouldn't have to worry about his two vintage Jazzys out on the road. It turns out he was just using that feeble excuse to get a new Jazzmaster-- and he is still playing out with his old ones.

[panoramic]

if you buy guitars not to play them you should post on thegearpage.net

[Keegan]

I would play the new guitars out more, so they'll be nice vintage guitars down the road, and keep the vintage guitar playing well as long as you can.

I mean, there's no sense in getting a vintage guitar if you're not going to play it, but it's also silly to invest in something like that and just destroy it by playing crazy shows with it

I'd say use the vintage for recording, where people are really going to hear the difference it makes, and use cheaper guitars for live playing, where you're really up to the mercy of the PA and such. Maybe in 30 years you'll have a few equally nice guitars because of the accelerated aging of the new ones you play out more.

You might be less likely to hold back on a cheap guitar, too, so you can jump around with/throw it if you're inclined to do that