as much as i would like to contribute, sadly pang acoustic lang ako
but I guess I can still share my experience on the acoustic side.
APOLOGIES FOR THE HUGE WALL OF TEXT
all guitars i've owned and played on church are yamahas. the first and which lasted me most of my worship-team career was a country jumbo (CJ-10 which is based on its serial number is now 38 years old, pamana lang sakin ng tatay ko). Exactly a year ago I had to force it to retirement kasi it had three or four dead frets already. (still saving up on repairs, i really miss its nostalgic tone) So after that I was finally able to have a 'valid' reason to buy my own guitar (mahirap bumili ng gear talaga pag may asawa na e)
dahil di naman ako ganun ka-knowledgeable pa at the time na bumili ako, i just went to yupangco and tested only those guitars that looked pretty. i saw one with a red burst and the salesman gladly allowed me to test it. i was blown away by the tone so i didn't test another one. bili na agad.
tamang timing din is bago magretire yung previous kong guitar eh nagrerecord na kami for podcast purposes. so i had a very meticulous analysis nung difference nung sound nung dalawang guitar as I get to listen to how the guitars sounded every week's services, I could easily compare and look for difference when I changed strings and other settings.
Background lang dun sa setup nung church:
During sunday services, we are inside a Cinema where the acoustics are really great (carpets, soundproof and all), though we do not use the Cinema's sound system itself, instead we have an attendee who offered his sound system services for us to use weekly - sila yung may hi-end na equipment (think those you hire for battle of the bands, wedding, debut events etc...). All instruments and microphones are lined to a mixer. All instruments pass through a DI so bukod sa AMP, may monitor speakers pa. Separate speakers din yung actual na output nung mixer. MIC'd din yung percussions and drums (siguro apat na mic yung para sa drums)
During midweek services naman, we just use our in-house equipments wherein, vocals pass thru a mixer, the bass has its own amp. Sadly, the lead guitar, keyboards and my acoustic is plugged on one amp
Yung drums walang mic or any form of amplification.
My acoustic guitars has the following configurations:
The old guitar is all-solid maple body. I used a cheap (500 petot lang ata) soundhole pickup since bata pa ako nung binili ko yung pickup and really had no plans upgrading kasi it works as intended.
The new guitar has an under-saddle piezo pick-up with its own pre-amp, pero all laminate yung body - which i opted for when I replaced my all-solid due to weather conditions.
So based dun sa recordings namin, here are my observations:
1. String gauge and type doesn't contribute much to your tone. Once you are plugged in, it all comes down to how the guitar gets plugged in the mixer and how its equalizers are set.
On stage, the only difference you will easily notice is that the guitar using the soundhole pickup eh mas madaming feedback. On record wether strumming or plucking, different string gauges, brands and type (american bronze, silk and steel, polywebs, nanowebs etc..) have very minimal and indistinguishable effect. Although its clearly obvious kung piezo-type yung guitar pickup or mic. Very 'twangy' yung tunog nung piezo and the soundhole pickup sounds more very natural.
2. AMPS - i am not sure with the reasoning behind it pero our sound system provider used to MIC the amp nung ang gamit ko pang gitara eh ung may soundhole pickup.
When i switch to the one with a pre-amp, diniretso niya na ko sa DI.
I can say that AMPS do contribute largely to your overall tone. I realized this immediately nung naiuwi ko na yung all-laminate na guitar. The moment I plugged it dun sa pang-midweek namin na setup, ibang iba yung tunog dun sa showroom ng yupangco. Maybe sharing an amp with two other instrumentalists takes it toll on the amp, pero bottomline, panget yung tunog nung 20 year old amp.
Sa cinema, medyo na-alleviate kasi dumadaan sa mixer and magaling magtimpla yung sound-tech. Ang prob ko lang eh yung amp na pinapagamit sakin pag sunday eh for electric guitar so di ko gaano ma-appreciate yung tone. Dun kasi sa showroom nung yupangco, acoustic amp talaga and rinig na rinig yung dynamics nung guitar.
3. Regarding the guitar themselves: wala kasi kami aircon sa bahay (which has a very dry atmosphere). I noticed that whenever I bring the old guitar dun sa cinema (na malamig yung aircon) the tunings gain pitch (i find it hard to explain this but i guess the density of the wood is easily affected by temperature, so yung E-standard sa bahay pagdating ko sa cinema eh nagiging almost F [same with all the other 5 strings]). Since wala naman ako tuner pedals or onboard tuner, its really very tiresome to tune down before the service starts (which of course I had to do every week, tapos itataas ko yung tuning paguwi ko sa bahay).
The problem ceased to exist nung nagswitch ako sa all-laminate
Pagdating naman sa TONE, all-solid, all-laminate, solid-top - doesn't matter if you are plugged in. Walang distinguishable difference and I doubt if anyone can tell if a guitar is all-solid or all-laminate on any acoustic recording (try mo compare yung ng acoustic songs nila israel houghton & barbie almalbis - the former I'm sure uses a taylor all-solid, while the other uses a DnD class-A all-laminate. Pareho lang na tunog kwerdas ng gitara)
It is very distinguishable though when unplugged. I myself would choose an all-solid guitar over an all-laminate but will disregard a top-only solid. Although the body type will contribute to the overall volume and loudness, iba yung feel ng all-solid guitar. Pag all-solid kasi, pag nagstrum ka, feel mo nagvivibrate yung tunog on your body, it just feels more resonating - i never felt those vibrations sa all-laminate.
So there, if there's anything you need to prioritize pagdating sa ACOUSTIC GUITAR
1. I would suggest invest in an ACOUSTIC AMP if and only if your amp will be your only source of amplification (meaning dun lang sa amp mangagaling yung tunog mo and you're not wired to the mixer which will route your sound around the house)
2. Guitar - high priority. Pag-ipunan ng matindi yung all-solid.
3. Strings - i suggest bumili ka ng elixirs kung pasmado ka. If hindi naman, just avoid Mariposa (and any other cheap brands), mas mapapamahal ka kakabili every week kasi laging napuputol yan. I personally use D'addario Silk and Steel kasi malambot and it gets the job done at half the price ng elixir.
