The Recordings:
We opted to go with a Sure SM57 close mic, readily visible on all of our YouTube videos. All recordings are 100% amplifier: no post processing, no pedals, etc. Just a guitar through the amp in to the mic.
Although the sound is considerably bigger in the room due to the ample porting on the rear of the cabinet, an SM57 right in front is a familiar placement for easy comparisons.
Each of our demo artists used his own familiar instrument. Tom focused on a country flavor, John played a jazz piece, and Visa demoed both rock and blue.
Tom’s Recording. Here is how Tom describes his guitar–
My Tele is an old body of unknown origin. It has a MusicKraft neck and all vintage hardware. The neck PU is out of a 1950 fender champ lap steel and retrofitted with a tele style base-plate.The neck pickup is a vintage fender, not sure what year. The pots are 250k CTS pots from 1964.
Visa’s Walk, don’t Run. Visa Blues.
Visa on his axe—
My strat:
2 piece body of unknown origin (possibly first relic prototypes), ’59 Shallow V-neck w/jumbo frets, Van Zandt wound pickups, 250k mighty mite pots with treble bleed…in short: ’59 relic strat...
John’s performance. We neglected to get a description from John, but he used an Eastman Archtop. It looks like it is from the AR8… series.
The Martin Mull tribute was performed on a 1976 Guild F50 Blond.