You guys have gotten me to convert from thin picks to hard picks. Gotta give yourselves credit.. no one has been able to do that for me in the past. I have also been practicing a different technique with open chords..
I used to be lazy and strum all 6 strings on all open chords. Now, I'm muting or not playing some open strings which greatly reduces a lot of extra resonances that may muddy the sound. One example: with an open C-Chord, I would strum the open E strings (both) - now I'm muting the low E and it sounds fuller, louder, and much cleaner. Same with an Am. I should have been playing this way all along, but..
I believe this cleaner technique will combine well with my future acoustical treatments to produce a better sound than my previous takes. Well, that and.. you know... a vintage lava lamp. I've had several original lamps while growing up in the 60s - all were orange. One was shaken so bad before we got it, it was in about 100 little globs that never would recombine in the 12 years we had it - left it on nearly 24/7 all that time, too.