That sounds like a good place to start. How your room sounds will determine how far back you can put the MXL 990. Try the 991 near where the neck meets the body as well.

around the 12thfret / cutaway is generally a good place. The sound hole tends to be boomy.

With a pair you cold try one on the 6th to 12th fret plus one on the rear cuttaway (i.e the front of the guitar at the butt end)
Gives a nice mix of clear and bassy.

melonmachine wrote: With a pair you cold try one on the 6th to 12th fret plus one on the rear cuttaway (i.e the front of the guitar at the butt end)
Gives a nice mix of clear and bassy.

The 6th fret sounds awful close to the head stock. Normally I hear mostly finger movement up there. For clear I like the bridge.

if you want a dryer acoustic sound you could put the mic by te twelfth fret area. and a more saturated sound you could mic by the bridge or a lil further down at the base of the body....or both and mix in between to your liking.

i vote for the one on the 12th fret, eventhoug, the one at 6th might be good only if you want to capture the finger sound, if it's not the case, try it at the guitar butt cuttaway...

i havnt read all the replies but one thing i learnt when recording acousitc guitar is that if you are using a cheap guitar which hasnt been freshly strung it will sound pretty naff when strummed but ok plucked. but for strumming having a freshly strung and expensive or well made guitar is excellent. Ive only just started micing acoustics like last week n thats what weve learnt so far. some of it may be useful

thanks abc

Its truly unfortunate to waste the wonderful overtones and the deep rich sounds of that guitar on those mics.

The amplifiers in those mics overload simply by staring at them in a gruff way, so you'll want to be very conscious of your strumming techniques and any movement of your position behind the placement.

I suspect that without a very good room, having the LDC out in the space will induce some things you may not find all that musical, so I would stick with the SDC up close. The 12th fret position is a good start.....above the bout at the bridge is another fairly flat area though arm movement can be a problem there.....over the left shoulder pointed down at the guitar captures the sound you 'hear' as the player and is a very good position for a quality guitar.....be sure and dont breathe loudly as you track.

sensei wrote: ... I want to record an acoustic guitar part, but could use some tips on mic placement.

I'd try the 990 and 991 in xy with the middle of the the pattern pointing where the neck joins the body. 6-24inches back, about the same height as the guitar sound hole/neck. I'd try pointing the 991 toward the body and the 990 toward the neck first. I'd put the 991 directly above and as close to the 990 as possible. Put the capsule of the 991 in the middle of the 990 grill top. 90 degree angle.

Move as a collection up down left right from there till happy...or split them up and start over