tin foil and mouse balls.

[Dr_Sbaitso]

Mobile phone. sit it on the pickup, and it produces a weird scream, but it beats in 4/4 time... looking for a way to use that.

unplug your electric, grab a mic and mic up those strings. works well with subtle things, or nice little picky parts. (Stolen from Sigur Ros and probably a billion others.)

point the amp straight onto the floor, and place a mic next to it.

hammer a dynamic mic directly onto the strings.

car keys and coins instead of picks...
theres really a billion things you can do, but not all will sound good.

Dr_Sbaitso

 

[Phildo]

Here's a couple...

Just rub a slide across the strings right up close to the bridge - lots of echo - and you have the "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack

Small battery amp...get someone to hold it while you're playing and just move it around in front of the mic. Great swirly random phasing effects.

Same small amp...place in a plastic bin-liner (check for holes first). Place in bucket of water. Next put cheap dynamic in a bin -liner (check for holes first). Place in bucket of water. Play. Doesn't sound much good, but you can say youu've done it...oh, and check the bucket for holes

If you're recording a loud electric part, then sit an acoustic with a piezo pickup right in front of the amp. Tune it to a chord/drone which is sypathetic with the key of the song you're playing and record it (lots of compression). Instant shruti!

If you're using pedals (especially effective with Flangers or delays), just get someone to "play" the knobs while you're playing. Works well with the first tip above.

 

[Roel]

One thing we did a while ago was putting one of those mechanic metronomes on a classical guitar. To give the metronome some more resonance. Then we put a mic aimed at the soundhole of the guitar, and extremely heavy digital distortion on it. Sounded pretty ... euh ... broken ... The tune is called 'the machine dies' and that's what it kinda sounds like. It's not a fun tune to listen.