Shure SM57, $99 on Amazon.
...continued...
When posting links, here's a tip. Starting at the beginning of the link, scan along until you see the first question mark (?). Then highlight that question mark and everything after it, and delete it. So a monstrous link like this:
can be shorted down to a much cleaner one like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Shure-Cardioid-Dynamic-Instrument-Microphone/dp/B000CZ0R3S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
Technically it can be even shorter:
https://www.amazon.com/Shure-Cardioid-Dynamic-Instrument-Microphone/dp/B000CZ0R3S
Though that last bit may be Amazon-specific.
Click all of those and you'll see they lead to the same place. Everything after the question mark contains all of the keywords that you used when searching for the page, as well info about your email if you clicked a link from an email advertisement, for example. So it is never needed when posting a link online. This also helps keep the character count down in your post, so that you can avoid hitting character limits, like I just did with this post :)
Personally, I also like formatting links nicely like this:
Shure SM-57 Cardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphone
Obviously that takes more work, but it makes things look quite nice, and clearly you've put a lot of work into this guide so I think it deserves to look nice!
I also think that some people may be confused when you switch between US customary units (1/4") and metric units (3.5mm). I would stick with one or the other. For audio, the most common ones are 1/8" = 3.5mm, and 1/4" = 6.35mm, and feet vs meters when it comes to cable length.
For unbalanced cables (such as 1/4" guitar cables), be wary of anything longer than 6 ft. They can pick up radio waves, which will cause interference in your recording. This is especially an issue in big cities, or anywhere near a radio tower. In general, just keep all audio and analog cables as short as possible, I try to use 1 ft and 3 ft cables wherever I can. It helps to keep things tidy too. XLR is a balanced cable, so this doesn't apply to XLR cables. For digital cables (USB, MIDI, etc.) this doesn't matter at all, though all cables have a max length (for example, USB cables have a max length of 16 ft).
Anywho, hope all that was helpful! Great work on your write up!
This one right? http://www.amazon.com/Shure-Cardioid-Dynamic-Instrument-Microphone/dp/B000CZ0R3S
Do you have song/audio I can hear that used this mic? 👀