Blog – 300Guitars.com

Nickel-Silver vs Stainless Steel Frets

Posted on January 9, 2018 (January 9, 2018) by Billy Penn

I’ve been noticing a lot more requests lately to re-fret guitars with Stainless Steel fret wire. I also get asked a ton of questions about the differences between Nickel-Silver and Stainless Steel frets. Here is a succinct post about my observations of these two fret wire materials. But first a little fret history. Up […]

John Lennon Suit Auction

Posted on March 30, 2017 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

John Lennon’s Douglas Millings suit made in 1964 is up for auction. Bidding starts at $50k! Mr. Millings was a British tailor who was hired by the Beatles manager Brian Epstein. Millings created over 500 looks for the band back in the day…..busy guy for sure. Definitely a piece of rock & roll history. Click here […]

Standel Gets A New Bridge

Posted on March 28, 2017 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

A really nice old Standel acoustic guitar came into my shop because it was not playing very well. Upon closer inspection I found that almost every brace was loose, the frets were very worn and it obviously needed a new bridge because it was cracked right down the middle, plus it was also loose. It […]

Marty Stuart – Way Out West

Posted on March 12, 2017 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

Marty Stuart’s new album entitled “Way Out West” was released yesterday. What a great album! Some great guitar playing by Marty and Kenny Vaughan. Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) produced it. If you don’t know who Marty Stuart is (or Kenny Vaughan)…..shame on you! Click here to visit Marty Stuart’s website for more […]

Abigail Ybarra on Pickup Winding

Posted on February 27, 2017 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

Here is a great interview with Abigail Ybarra about winding pickups for 57 years for Fender! She was the longest working Fender employee and the Discovery Channel show “Made In America” figured out that she had wound wire—just the wire— around the world 16 times! That is a lot of wire!! Click here to read the […]

Spring Reverb Tank Codes Explained

Posted on February 24, 2017 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

This is a great video explaining the meaning of the reverb tank codes. Check it out!! […]

New Eminence Speakers Custom Shop!!

Posted on October 25, 2016 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

This is really cool! The good folks at Eminence Speakers say “If you want it….we’ll build it”. They can modify an existing Eminence product or create a a custom unique design from scratch. There is also a speaker break in process they are offering…how cool is that? Read on…. With over 170 unique pro […]

Celestion Dealer No More!

Posted on August 1, 2016 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

That’s right folks….I am no longer a dealer of Celestion speakers. My dealership was terminated without my knowledge. I only found out because I took an order for a G1265 speaker and emailed my sales rep as per usual. I received an email late in the day saying that things have changed with Celestion and […]

SoZo Capacitors Now Available at Amplified Parts!

Posted on April 6, 2016 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

SoZo capacitors are now available from Amplified Parts! These are great capacitors for amplifier upgrades and custom builds.They are successful recreations of the originals, superbly built and excellent-sounding caps. When one considers the audio signal passes through as many as ten capacitors before exiting the amplifier, you can see how these components play an extremely […]

Unsafe Repair Practice

Posted on January 21, 2016 (April 3, 2017) by Billy Penn

This is a very unsafe filter cap replacement repair on a vintage blackface Princeton Reverb amplifier. The capacitors are not securely mounted to the chassis. The heat shrink splices pulled off very easily and could have shorted inside the chassis. The amplifier also had a hum because there is no center tap for the filament […]