Guitar studio preparation in 2025

I used a recently purchased (new) Gibson SJ200 for my studio recordings in July 2025.

The guitar stood out when I rigorously tested a dozen or so acoustics at Promenade Music.

It was the guitar’s depth of tone, harmonic presence and out and out projection that made my decision about the sound plus, the width at the nut ( I am a bass player by trade!) steered me with regards to it being a good fit for my physical requirements. Other guitars were more playable with easier/lighter action but I knew that once the Gibson was drop tuned to D (my acoustic default tuning) and I carried out a set up for my playing style and requirements, the Gibson would be perfect for the recordings that I wanted to complete.

I play finger style so no plectrum/pick for me. This means that there is slightly more fret slap than a strummed sound on the bass notes and finger noises/muting sounds and string slides can all be a bit more pronounced. To help with this, I used half round strings.

King Sound Studio have an amazing collection of top end valve powered microphones which Mark and Jess painstakingly set up for me to achieve a rich, natural sound blending sound hole, bridge/saddle and ambient positioning to create what we wanted.

The warmth of the SJ200 comes across best (for me) on ‘Kinda Said’ but I was very pleased with the overall character of the acoustic recordings. It’s important to chose an instrument based on its tone and neck/fingerboard “feel” and not too much on the action and set up - I can sort that for you!