Thanks for the NAMM info JJ, I have been thinking about that for some time (after YouTube). Prices are not bad really. I like your ideas about NAMM, and especially a JM moment, that is some great dreaming!
The studio was great! I did my "explain the guitar horns" piece, was trying to keep it at 1-2 minutes. When I finished the guys said that was great BUT you went on for 6-1/2 minutes! My mouth was in full blast mode. I don't really want to cut a bunch of that out, so we decided it might be best to do 3 or 4 separate videos that are linked in some way, thinking about how best to do this.
The videographer had me roll out my 36" wide by 12 foot long (not kidding) 2D guitar drawing in real time and has good footage of that slowly going down the sheet. Plus he brought some approx. 2 foot long red and blue lights to move across the guitar and guitar bodies showing horns and drivers, looks pretty cool.
I also joined the fun with a quick chord progression from the twelfth fret down to the first fret, but had all volume/gain on 9, then did my trick were I push the soundboard up and down, right over the drivers/behind the bridge and the horns/drivers whine like a baby. Part sustain, part controlled feedback, and if you do it right, it will whine (loud) in the correct key once you find the right position, then you end the song on a really aggressive strong E chord strum and let it ring forever, very electric guitar like.
Casey was in the control room smiling and giving me a big thumbs up, said I have never heard an acoustic guitar do anything like that, really cool! So it looks like just a little of my playing will make the YouTube video.
Then when Casey was playing we did the horns off and horns on comparison. The engineer shut it down and said he had the level set for horns off, and when you go horns on while you keep playing, the power goes through the roof, pretty stunning, but actually just a little to abrupt. So we made the transition gradual and that did the trick, pretty happy about that.
Casey told me he really loves the power and the tone of the guitar, plus he said the intonation is dead nuts on, and you can hear it when he plays up and down the fretboard.
Also I showed the guys the CNC video and they were like holy ****, how does that thing not just explode when you are cutting it? I don't think they ever saw anything like it. Plus the studio owner was there all day, really great guy. He is an amateur guitar player (pretty sure not a pro, but not positive). He runs the business end, and used to work for Ford and Lear, so he was really into the CNC and build process, peppered me with questions about how this is made.
I told my wife I really feel at home at this studio now. She like why, because you have been there twice? Smart-aleck.
Now for the bad news. Casey started playing blues in E on about his second song (he came in later in the day). My second fret on the 4 and 5 string started buzzing, did not ever hear this before. I tried to bang it down, then broke a string, take five boys I can fix this.
The neck straightness looks great, but the fret buzz would not go away. I think maybe it is cracked or some other problem that I will check out tonight.
Casey flat out told me that he can't get that fret buzz out of his head, even when he is playing away from it. You could tell he was not comfortable, all I could do was apologize, he was pretty cool about it of course. So we got more footage, but it is not as good as the first session.
In fact that first session was so magical, I don't know if it can ever be topped, thankfully I have much footage from that day, what a relief. I am going to do a complete neck setup and fix the problem, and go back for a third time, just to see how it goes, then go to YouTube, or maybe go to YouTube without a third session, we shall see.
The studio engineer said he would send me mic type and distances, will post that when received, and I attached some pictures. I believe they are 3 meters away, but will confirm. I have often seen photos and videos of guitars with the mic about one foot away, so clearly that is not needed with this guitar, it really filled that big Studio A with sound.
The videographer has all the files and is editing now, so stay tuned for video!