Good input here, even if it does go way beyond what Lane was looking for (that's not a problem, is it?). For Lane's application, I think a 57 or 58 will do the trick just fine.

I agree with Rick that, for live "plug in and play" versatility, the Fishman Rare Earth Blender is the best guitar pickup I've yet come across -- fairly natural sound, excellent feedback resistance (I generally go with about 75% pickup/25% mic, but in high-octane situations I dump the mic altogether and just use the pickup). I have them installed in both my Lowden and my Larrivee, and run both through a Tech 21 Acoustic DI to the board (great piece of gear; it smooths the rough edges nicely). The DI also has a 1/4" line out that I run to a Carvin AG100D acoustic guitar amp for on-stage monitoring. The key to this is that I can have my instrument monitor separate from my vocal monitor, and position it differently so as to hear it better and reduce feedback potential. I often play out with a fairly loud acoustic/electric band, and it helps to have the vocal monitor right in my face, but the instruments can feed back if they are also coming at me from the same monitor ("in my face" is pretty close to "in my soundhole"), so I have the Carvin monitor/amp coming at me from the side.

As an aside, count me with the people who really don't like the under-saddle piezo pickups. These seem to have become the norm in amplified "acoustic" sound these days, unfortunately. Last night I caught a portion of a program on public television showcasing Irish musicians performing at the Kennedy center, and despite the quality of the performances and the upscale nature of the gig, most of the string-instrument performers sounded like they were snapping rubber bands. With all the technology at our disposal these days, we can certainly do better than that!

As for more critical recording applications, I am continually experimenting, and I find that different microphone techniques work better for different instruments, playing styles, and the needs of the song. For instance, on some songs (solo fingerpicking guitar pieces) I might want a big, full, round acoustic sound; one technique for this is to mic the neck/body interface fairly close (6 inches, more or less) with a small diaphragm condenser, and then have a large diaphragm condenser positioned further back from the lower bout (maybe 18" away). In other cases I might want a transparent, shimmery rhythm guitar sound (with less "woof") to lay in the track and support other instruments; this might work better with a basic X/Y mic technique about six inches out from the neck/body interface, as described by Carol's Friend Don in a posting above. Sometimes close miking is better, sometimes getting a little distance helps; sometimes cardioid patterns are more intimate, other times you might find that a figure-eight or omni pattern sounds more natural. We're talking about the quest for tone here, which is a lifelong endeavor whether you're doing it with playing technique, with microphone selection and placement, or both.

Sorry to go on so long, but this is a topic that interests me greatly these days -- hope my insights are useful to somebody.