# Big changes to your #1 before the gig.



## sage (Sep 14, 2015)

Band has been together for nearly 2 years. EP is in the can. Our first ever live show is coming up this Friday. The bulk of my oscillating gearwhoring is done and I'm pretty well settled in with my new pedalboard and its acoutrements. But...

#1 is a PRS Torero. My favourite model of guitar, but this iteration of it isn't as good as the one I let get away. It has DiMarzio Super Distortions in the neck and bridge and a route for a single coil in the middle that I reckon is an HS-2. That's unimportant, I never use it. It also has a mess of mini-switches to bring the middle pickup in and out and to split the coils of the neck and bridge. Pretty standard stuff. The pole pieces don't line up, which isn't a super big deal, and I don't mind the sound of the pickups, but in a moment of impulse online retail therapy, I bought a set of Blackhawks off a fellow SSOer. The other, more pressing issue is that the frets are not in good shape at all. I mean, it's still totally playable, but there are impressions and dents in some of the frets. 

Here's what I'm thinking: I've stripped down #1 and #2 (an LTD MH-401 - well serviceable, 81/85 set, decent neck, frets in good shape) and fully cleaned and oiled the Floyds (eww, skin, I don't think all of it was mine) and have strung and intonated #2. #1 could have the pickups swapped tomorrow night and could be Plek'd on Tuesday. Totally. Fcuking. Drastic. Like, buy a new bike right before a triathlon drastic. The absolute worst outcome is that Pleking the guitar renders it unplayable and I have to use #2 as my main guitar with #3 (LTD Truckster... ugh) as my backup. Likelihood of that is nearly zero. Second worst outcome is that I either A) hate the Blackhawks, or B) hate the setup on the Torero.

So, what's the most drastic thing you've ever done to your #1 before a show?


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## cult (Sep 14, 2015)

Exchanged the guitar right before a gig.
I sold my only 7 string to fund a new one, have never looked back since.


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## hairychris (Sep 14, 2015)

Not quite the same, but bought a new amp (Mesa Dual Recto) to replace my multifx -> clean head and only had a couple of hours to dial it in before a show. That was something of a learning curve!


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## Fraz666 (Sep 14, 2015)

sage said:


> So, what's the most drastic thing you've ever done to your #1 before a show?


Intentionally leave it at home.
my #1 is a part of me and one day I decided it's too precious to take it on the road: number 2 and 3 are enough ok for that


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## TedEH (Sep 14, 2015)

I played a show once with a bass I bought just that day, if that counts. Someone also tried (and failed) to steal it after the same show.


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## asher (Sep 14, 2015)

I've kinda got a habit of retooling my patches like, the week of a show on my Axe, because I get lazy and figure I can leave it till then...

Don't think I've last minute guitar swapped yet though.


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## tedtan (Sep 14, 2015)

I went from playing a 6 to playing a 7, and incorporating the low B in my chord voicings, a few days before a show back around 2002. Otherwise, only string changes.


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## sage (Sep 14, 2015)

It's nice to know I'm not the only doofus pulling ill-advised moves just prior to a show.


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Sep 16, 2015)

I did a pickup swap a few days before a show on my main guitar at the time, but that wasn't the biggest change I did for that show...I also had just bought a new amp at the same time  it was a Rectifer, so I'm sure most of you know that dialing one of those in to "your" sound in the time frame of two or three practices is no small feat, especially with a new pickup in the mix of it all too. A friend was also letting me borrow his TS9 for the show, so it was also my first time using an overdrive as a clean boost in front of an amp. 

All of these changes were huge upgrades to my previous sound (EMG-HZ to a D-Activator, Peavey Valveking to a Rectifier, finally using a boost for metal) and the sound I had dialed in the day of the show was absolutely killer  so it all worked out in the end haha

The only other changes I've made so close to a show have just been strings and pick thickness from 1mm to 1.14mm, so nothing huge like that one time.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Sep 16, 2015)

The only revisions I've made to my TFS6 is to replace the Volume Pot that had a Push/Push to split, to a standard 500k for a simple 3 way only switching setup as I've found that it is all that I use.

About 8 years ago, I routed the pickup cavities to full size routes to accommodate Dimarzio's as it had been custom routed previously for the Evans pickups that I initially installed. Beyond that, I installed a Tremol-no, and have levelled/crowned/polished the fretwire a 2nd time about 6 years ago due to wear. The next time that it is needed, I'll take the opportunity to install stainless fretwire and it'll never need be re-worked.

Anything beyond that, and I've already made design refinements for future builds as I am creating my templates currently.

This has been my #1 for 19 years, and eventually, all of my guitars will be and accumulation of TFS6's and TFS7's.


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## sage (Sep 16, 2015)

The pickup install is complete. I have no idea what they sound like, because I took the guitar directly to Bruce Guitars in Vancouver, home of Canada's first Plek station, to have the frets done. I wish I had taken a "before" pic on the frets, they were pretty smashed. I'll be picking it up in a few hours and have one practice tomorrow night to break in the strings.


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## UV7BK4LIFE (Sep 16, 2015)

sage said:


> So, what's the most drastic thing you've ever done to your #1 before a show?



Dropping my Greendot off the side of the stage, headstock first  It was still in tune, no damage except another battle scar.


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## JohnIce (Sep 17, 2015)

I once let a complete stranger in an opening band borrow my PRS Custom 22 (a real, grownups' PRS), and I didn't have a backup. And the dude tuned it to absolute hell, I think I kept it in Drop C and he tuned it to some open A weirdness, didn't tell me before or after borrowing it. That was... nice of me, but absolutely idiotic. I'd probably do it again cause I'm just that kind of guy, but luckily I only play sevens these days which scares most people off. 

Lately I don't mess with any gear before a gig. Usually change strings a few days in advance, otherwise I won't do it at all. The ever so slight improvement in tone is not worth the risk of unexpected ....ups.


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## 7 Dying Trees (Sep 17, 2015)

Being told the entire wing was splitting of the body of my #1 which was a neckthrough. It didn't like the canadian/new york winter and going from the trailer to the venue and back i think...

Not that bad overall, as the #2 had been my #1 for years and years.

Amp wise i've had to deal with an amp i'd never used before countless times (touring and not being ale to take anything apart from your guitars) and ust found that a ts808 generally makes anything the promoter can throw at you usable


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## sage (Sep 19, 2015)

Show went off without a hitch. I had my amp pointed at me from the side and got to hear the full force of the pickups. They're epic and totally worth the price of admission. So much so that I may just pick up another Torero and pop Blackhawks in it, too. Win for days.


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## CaptainD00M (Sep 20, 2015)

I don't know if this counts but I'd been a stand in guitarist for my Guitar teachers band for 6 months until they found someone who could commit (I was leaving the country eventually). 

About a month after I left the band, there new guitarist got into a fight at the gig they were playing and I happened to be there. He sprained his shoulder and couldn't play, so there's me with a Jackson Id never played, set up with a horrible action to string gauge and a Modded Marshal I couldnt get to grips with, dialling things in as I was playing.


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## TerminalFunction (Sep 25, 2015)

Changing strings before the gig. Always makes my guitars feel like a completely different guitar. :/


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