Call me a country bumpkin but it'll take a cold day in hell before I start using my custom instruments live, I much rather use instruments of which I know can stand a beating and are replaced without leaving a gaping hole in my wallet.
My 1989 Squier Stratocaster has been my main stage guitar for over 13 years now and every dent in her body has a story of a gig gone astray, because let's be honest, it doesn't matter how carefully you treat your instrument, regular gigging still beats the crap out of it, I have seen it all: barfights, my guitar popping loose from the strap and plummetting to the ground and intentional misuse, such as the Stevie Ray Vaughan approved rattling the headstock on the floor while holding onto the whammy bar. I do this because I know my guitar can take it, I pick it up and it'll be in tune.
I recently replaced my trusty Squier from the Reagan aera with a brand new Squier affinity strat and found out that it's even more durable than my old one. You'll never see me play Ibanez, they are too fragile for my liking and I HATE Floyd Rose Whammy's.
It's kinda ironic how the most basic instruments end up being the most durable. Kim Gordon of Sonic youth will probably never play Alembic, simply because her sixties Fender Precision Bass can survive being tossed around the stage without even going out of tune.
Krist Novoselic formerly of Nirvana is a devotee of the much loathed Gibson RD which had Alembic style active electronics and filters with the preamp built in, they were imfamous for weighing more than a ship's anchor. But as gigs with Nirvana showed they were also sturdier than an icebreaker's hull.
Novoselic once said that the RD bass was his main choice because he could throw it against a concrete wall and there'd be not even a scratch.
My point is, save your expensive toys for in the studio, use something that can take a beating and is easy to replace on stage, in the end it'll always work out in your advantage.
