recording acoustic guitar.
i do three things to get the right
acoustic guitar sound for whatever application.
1. make sure the guitar sounds good. it sounds simple, but it's the most important part. remember that some guitars sound better for certain styles, and how high on the fretboard they're being played. generally, an acoustic has more resonance the closer you get to the tuning keys, and more brightness the closer to the sound hole. i'll sometimes raise the strings a half or whole step if i need a part played around the 7th or 9th fret to have more resonance. this wears out strings really quickly though so it's a trade-off...also make sure the intonation is set properly and all that guitar techie stuff.
surely you know someone with another
acoustic guitar if you don't like the sound of yours.
2. try out different rooms. the room recorded in is pretty crucial to any acoustic sound. small rooms sound shinier; large rooms have more depth (reverb). hard surfaces reflect sound; soft surfaces absorb it.
3. with mic placement i get someone else to play guitar and move around until it sounds how i want it to. i put the mic there...generally facing the sound hole. i've never mic'd the neck, but i will try it after reading other people's suggestions. for that i normally use an akg 3000, or if i want a bassier sound (as in the distorted-acoustic thing mentioned earlier), i crank the gain on a d112. i normally setup a handful of room mics and position/mix them til i'm pleased just for kicks.
the best all-around cheap mic is undoubtedly the sm-57. i use them for anything, and you can normally find them used for like $45-60. a good mic will solve any problems beyond the actual sound of the guitar+player matched with a room.
also try and limit your audio chain as much as possible with something like acoustic guitar...meaning don't try and run it through a series of effects/compressors/whatever...it'll deteriate the quality of your original sound source, unless you want that, of course.
auerole
-H2H