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I think that’s correct. If a mic has a frequency “bump” somewhere in its frequency response, that will only make that range of frequencies higher in amplitude. Visually, the peaks and valleys will all be there; just at a slightly higher amplitude. So, super flat frequency response is not all that important.

I do think, however, that a small diaphragm condenser mic is a better choice than a dynamic, for this reason: transient response. Dynamic mics don’t respond as quickly to transients as condenser mics, and among condenser mics, the smaller diaphragms have a quicker response. We are exciting the soundboard with taps. I think a mic with faster transient response is going to more accurately record those taps. Does this make a huge difference? I have no idea. But I own lots of different mics, and among them, I have chosen a small diaphragm condenser for this job.

Another thing to consider: the quality of the audio path and the AD conversion. You can use a computer soundcard, but there are inexpensive, 2 channel USB interfaces that provide significantly better quality than many soundcards. Does it matter? I know it does for audio recording in general, but I am not sure about how much it matters for this job. Again, I already own good audio recording gear, so I don’t need to worry about it.

The only change that Trevor makes in mic setup video in the O'Brien series is to adjust the input volume and boost. No discussion about adjusting the mic other than that.

FWIW I have a condenser mic going into a 8 channel mixer that attaches via USB to the PC. I also have a Blue Snowball and the regular PC mic on my surface. To be honest, they all produce about the same thing in terms of VA data.

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Thanks for clearing this up, gang. Understood now.

One thing in a mic that will help is to have a unidirectional mic vs. an omnidirectional mic. The uni will will help with in dealing with reflections. Reflection matter, particularly when you're looking at a completed instrument.

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My acoustics guru said that the ubiquitous little condenser mics are actually quite good. There was one firm that would 'tweak' them a bit and sell them as measurement mics for the hi-fi crowd. I believe the deficiencies were in the range above 10 kHz, where things on the guitar are so highly coupled and complex that a single measurement is not of much use.