User manual

30
Positioning the H-clamp
The H-clamp can be positioned anywhere on the guitar where its circular
jaws can be tightened securely without damaging the instrument. General
guidelines for ensuring safe use are provided in Section 3 (“Fitting and us-
ing the H-clamp”). Although there are many options for the positioning of
the H-clamp on a guitar, typically the positions in which it is least obtrusive
and can be set up to avoid any interference with the playing action are on
the sections of the body around the stock of the neck as shown below.
Attaching the H-clamp on the section of body be
-
low the neck allows microphones to be suspend-
ed over either the fret board or sound board and
positioned very close to the instrument without
getting in the way. Equally, microphones can also
be held well back from the guitar without affect-
ing how it is played. Directional microphones can
be angled to capture only the guitar sound (or
indeed, emphasise a particular tone, for example
from around the neck or from the sound hole) or
a blend of guitar and vocal.
Choosing an attachment point above the neck
offers a similar range of microphone positioning
options but may be more obtrusive. The main
advantage of this fixing point is for attaching
microphones to be used predominantly, if not
exclusively, for vocals. In this location, the mi
-
crophone can be positioned wherever the player
finds it most comfortable, whether they prefer to
be able to ‘eat’ it or keep it at a distance.
A different range of tonalities can be captured
by fixing the H-clamp at the opposite end of the
guitar. Here it should be possible to mount the
microphone unobtrusively and well clear of all
but the wildest of playing actions. However, it is
not the best position for heavier microphones,
or when using a guitar stand. Also, the H-clamp
may not open wide enough to fit the guitar in
this location without the adapters (available
separately) described at the beginning of this
chapter 4a.
Position 1
Position 2
Position 3