Producer Rick Rubin was once asked in an interview "How do you get such a great guitar sound?". He looked at the interviewer, kinda gave a sly smile, and said "Simple, you start with a great sounding guitar".
This is my go to guitar for excellent sound, an old 1957 Martin D-21 (above). I call it "Old Faithful" because it never fails to deliver a full resonant sound. The strings just sing, like a great piano. I also love recording "live", so to speak, meaning with microphones. While I can go direct (it does have a nice pick up in it), the sound just doesn't sound as full as when using two, sometimes three, quality microphones. Usually I place one 6-8 inches off the sound hole, another 6-8 inches off the upper part of the neck, and a third about 4-5 feet slightly off center in the room. I have found this configuration delivers superb sound.
I also write with this guitar, particularly as I'm finishing up a song (below), as I want to hear the complexities of the guitar sound, to fine tune and co-ordinate the sound I'm playing to the sound in head. It really helps visualizing the final version of a song. When I'm at this point in writing, I already have a very good idea of the final version, what other instruments are involved and what each is playing, and what the vocals and harmonies are doing. So far, Old Faithful has never let me down.
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