I'm not a guitarist. (aspiring mandolinist, Hammond organ cat, flute player, but not guitarist.)

Very soon (weeks?) I'll be in charge of producing, tracking, and mixing an album's worth of material for a full rock/country band. One of my own bands. First time out front doing that sort of work. (Usually I'm just a supporting mix engineer, not tracking or production.)

I want to understand everything I can about the guitarist's perspective on getting a good acoustic tone. Best described as the classic rock acoustic guitar tone. Think:

Grateful Dead's Friend of the Devil

Led Zeppelin's Hey Hey, What Can I Do

Bright-ish, defined, golden ring. The sound of the early 70s.

Definitely NOT the sound of a plugged-in acoustic, or the acoustic guitars I've heard that already have that almost nylon quality even before you plug them in. Our goal is to avoid that sound.

(At the moment we DEFINITELY have that plugged-in sound as that's what we've been doing. Wanting to change that as the last album recorded that way was a tonal disappointment.)

What are the factors in play? -What string gauges and materials would work? -Are there only certain woods and construction/bracing that makes the sound or is any decent acoustic more or less capable of that sound? -Need only certain guitar body shapes apply, or are all again more or less capable?

My guess is that's it's mostly string metal choice, followed by string gauge, but that's just a guess.

Thanks all for helping an aspiring engineer out!