Which of these 2 guitars for this tune? And should I palm-mute?
 

As in title...
Just a quick question from a quick low effort recording just for comparison purposes...

Guitar 1


Uncompressed file > https://www.dropbox.com/s/2g5gqiwk2o...cular.wav?dl=0

Guitar 2


Uncompressed file > https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjbttq1cd8...cular.wav?dl=0

Number 2, definitely.

The first one is way too buzzy sounding.

I trust you'll work on the tuning before committing to the red light.

As far as whether you should mute or not? Not my call to make.

HE

Second guitar, I think, although tuning or intonation seems ever so slightly off in a couple spots just now.

As for the palm mute, I think that's personal preference. As you've asked opinions, I'll give mine... I'm not sure I like it muted so heavily, but it does change the feel of the pacing in a good way. Maybe try letting those bass notes ring just a few milliseconds longer before muting them? Might add just a little more depth to that passage. Just my $0.02!

Second recording sounds better, but that could just be the recording rather than the guitar.
Regarding muting later in the piece I would probably do that for contrast and interest compared
to the first part of the piece, however I would palm mute more aggressively and consistently for
a shorter bass thumb.

*Edit*
Added the uncompressed files for a better idea of how they sound.

I will... Need to change batteries on my tuner. That being said the second one sound better when it is tuned slightly flat.

I didn't tune prior... Just did a quick snipet in my short time off. As said above It sound better tuned slightly flat, I may need to add some compensation on the saddle in the near future.

I recorded both with the same mic/guitar positioning (the first was a bit "left" and with a higher peak on the strum though)

As for the palm muting, you mean hitting the string harder?

No, I mean try muting the bass strings more with your palm. They are ringing out too long IMO.

For the first part of the song (approx 60 seconds) I like guitar #2 much better. For the second part of the song I somewhat prefer guitar #1.

If I had to choose I'd say guitar #2.

I was thinking about recording with both and use the parts that sound better for each...

But I may get into the same issues of when I tried recording multiple takes to glue the best parts together.

I agree with this.