Early Bard Gear?

[Verranicus]

So, how important is it for me to have things like Monster Signa and Mary's Horn at like 18-20? Because it'll take me quite a while to farm the needed gil for the two of them..

Also, it could just be my shyness, but is it always difficult to find a helpful LS willing to aid me with missions/quests and whatnot? I'm getting tired of not having an LS. x.x Lonely.

[Tekumel]

Both of them are pretty much status symbols. I think Mary's Horn is more useful of the two, because not sticking a Lullaby is gonna hit you a lot harder than that Elegy not sticking the first time. Signa's nice to have, especially for BCNMs & the such, but I wouldn't call it anything near required. If nothing else, farm the sheep near Mary's spawn points, and turn the skins you get into leather. Sell those, and if you never see her, or don't get the drop, eventually you'll have enough cash from the leathers to buy the horn. Two stones, one bird...or something like that.

As for the LS...a social LS is easy to find.

A helpful one full of not-asshats isn't easy, but once you find one, hold on for dear life.

Just don't expect it to be a one way street. Give as much as you ask for, and then some if possible.

[Verranicus]

Well, I'm mining in Zeruhn on a mule to make my money. Full Field set and such.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Signa is a overpriced piece of trash. I'd only recommend one if you've got astral rings you want to put on your fingers instead of CHR Rings. That said, it doesn't give a noticable difference to what BRD (or BST) does and will be obseleted by Light Staff at 51

Mary's Hory is very nice, especially for the level you can get it at and actually is the best Lullaby instrument of the two out there. For whatever odd reason it performs better than Nursemaid's Harp.

[Verranicus]

Hmm. Alright. Then, what should I use instead of the Signa until 51?

[Alshandra]

Chanter's Staff LV40?
DPS: 3.28 DMG:20 Delay:366 INT-6 MND+6 CHR+6 Singing skill+4

I have a Signa, but only because my friend doesn't need it and is taking a break from going outside in favor of attaining LV100 crafting. It's bit pricey, and if you have other CHR gear, it's pretty much just a luxury.
As BRD in the lower levels, I wore a sword and melee'd until LV17 when I switched in the signa and then had MP rings on to support heal.

If your'e doing a lot of support/emergency curing, you could wear something that adds MP, etc. like one of the Federation Staves or even something with +MND like the Yew Wand.

I'm only LV36 BRD so my opinion may not count for much, but I really don't think it's too important what you put in your main slot until LV51.

Concentrate more on your instruments, those are the most important, and use the gil your saving for a signa to get the +1 instruments. They are more essential than the signa in my honest opinion.

But hey, if you can get it, go for it! ^^

[Tekumel]

Pretty much what Alshandra said. Your weapon really doesn't matter much. If I remember right (I leveled BRD on a different account, a couple years back), I used random daggers until I got the AF weapon, and used one of few shields that BRD can (I can't remember the name) that gave +1 CHR, total of +3 between the two. I'm not familiar with the Chanter's Staff, but that definitely looks like something worth getting.

[Icemage]

Weapons don't matter for Bards until elemental staves, really. Monster Signa is the most overrated piece of garbage in the game. Save your money and invest in some +CHR food if you're that fanatical about it, but the effects of CHR on bard songs is minimal at best unless you've completely neglected your gear (read: at level 40 you have access to a bunch of nice gear like Jester's Cape and Corsette).

Prior to that, the only instruments that matter are the ones for Minuet, Madrigal, and Lullaby (Mary's Horn). and perhaps a Piccolo+1 if you're a fan of Threnody like me. Everything else might make you feel good, but won't really make you much more effective since you're rarely going to be singing anything but those spells.


Icemage

[KingOfZeal]

As far as what Kitten said about the horn versus the harp, that's because a horn is far more accurate than a harp in any situation, and the +2 to lullaby only effects duration. That being said, while I do carry a nursemaid's with me at all times, I don't have the horn. I normally use my Horn +1 (elegy) for Lullaby, or I pull out the harp if it's lower level mobs that are swarming me. For example, Castle O, just past the brass door heading upstairs. I caught agro somehow, and ran all the way back to the zoneline. In this case, I would pull out my harp (50+ lullabies over a significant distance is awesome).

As far as the chanters versus other staves, from what I've read pre-60 you need CHR more than skill. Post 60, you need all the skill you can get, though elemental staves will make up for it. I personally never used the chanters or the signa -- I pretty much took dagger all the way through, swaping out for light/earth staves depending on the song being cast (namely elegy and requiem), but otherwise I'll always have a dagger of some sort and my Elegant Shield (which is what Tek was talking about above).

To make the last bit clearer, 40-51 it may be better to use your Paper Knife (AF), and then alternate between that and your elemental staves where needed after 51. Post-60, you should start focusing on skill more than CHR (since it comes much easier in the higher levels as well). I got a Wind Torque at 68-ish and never looked back.

Also, as a side note, I'm assuming you're low enough that you can still catch up on skill if it's gimped. Keep those music skills capped: I have a harp macrod in for Finale to help keep it up. Even though strings are rarely used, it's much easier to have them close to cap than at only 15 when you do need them.

[Olorin401]

Signa is a overpriced piece of trash. I'd only recommend one if you've got astral rings you want to put on your fingers instead of CHR Rings. That said, it doesn't give a noticable difference to what BRD (or BST) does and will be obseleted by Light Staff at 51.
If you can get your hands on a Chanter's Staff (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Chanter%27s_Staff) it's also a great piece to have, and it's better for BRDs than Monster Signa.. at least that's just my opinion.

It's a bit pricey - I finally got mine just about a week ago for 140k. And they're VERY rare.. I was waiting for about two months for one to show up on the AH.