Sunday, September 25, 2011

Review of Billy Penns’ “Guitar Set UP Guide” E-Book.







From the creator of the popular 300 Guitars website comes a new E-book that perhaps every guitar player should have.



This is one thick “E-book”. How about 46 pages of knowledge, packed with great images, relevant video links, and so, so much more!



However, before I take you any further, perhaps I should explain both “who is Billy Penn”, and “why it is that we should we take his advice?”.



In Billy’s own words and with paraphrasing too…….


“I began my career as a guitar (and amplifier) tech out of necessity and pure love for the instrument. As far back as I can remember I was always interested in how things worked, came apart and went back together………..




Around the age of 19 I got a job at Kramer Guitars in the stock room which was right next to the repair department. I used to hang out and watch to see how some repairs were performed. As I got older I started playing in bands but my full time day gig was as a Union Electrician. My band mates and their friends would give me their broken guitars and amps and I would fix them. I couldn't decide which I loved more, playing them or fixing them. So I decided that it would be cool to be the best I could be at both……….




I then worked in various music stores doing repair work. I actually created a repair tech job at Outlaw Guitars which specialized in vintage guitars and amps. I got an education of a lifetime there working on all the different prized gear you can think of. I used to stay late and open every amp and guitar to see how they were built and how they all were different. I really got more interested in amps during this time and decided to start a boutique amp company.………




Around this time the playing bug started to gain strength and I found myself touring for part of the 90's and spending a little time in Nashville. Being on the road and in the studio was another great education. This was the other side of the bench as I like to call it. Needless to say I took care of everyone's gear but I didn’t mind at all. So after about 20+ years working on countless guitars and amps (some pedals too) and having my own “Pennalizer” brand of amps I decided to go online with my passion and started 300guitars.com…….I actually have my own band called the Inside Drivers and play gigs regularly and record. I like to keep that aspect of myself “plugged in” so I can constantly learn more music and come up with ideas to better help players with my services.”




Now, back to the review…….




This E-book is geared towards electric and acoustic guitars, but not the types with “floating trems” and locking nuts. There will be another E-book coming soon which will cover these types of guitars.




As a guitar player, band member, songwriter, and over all guitar enthusiast, I have always wondered just which important guitar adjustments I should try to make on my own. With much regret, what I found out was that this information is “trade sensitive”, and that no guitar tech seems willing to just give this knowledge away. My guitars just seem to fall out of perfect setup as the gigs pass, and my guitars never seem to play the same ever again.




Billy Penn makes no bones about giving us the exact and precise information that we all need, and wish to know. Such knowledge is vital to the way that our guitars “play”, feel, sound, tune up, and perhaps most important of all, how long our guitars will last. It is like having a guitar tech with us, for as long as we keep our E-book Guitar setup guide that is.




Within the pages of this E-book, Billy Penn teaches us how to perform the most vital of guitar adjustments. Billy teaches us how to adjust our guitars’ intonation, truss rods, radius, action of the strings, pickups, and all of this with exact precision! The information that I have always tried to obtain is “just what substances should be used to polish all of the different types of guitar finishes”. Well, that is also in this excellent guide E-book!




Billy lists the best possible tools that we should have available before we begin our guitar work. He details what the work space should look like, what it should contain, and as we read along he details lot of great tips. Great tips that we can all use to make our job a lot easier.




All of the fine measurements are in this E-book, along with a lot of images, video links, and knowledge that most “techs” do not like to give away. Thanks Billy Penn, for helping all of us guitar players! At $4.99 this is a steal, and a must have!



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Winner for August songwriting contest!


Well, one more month has passed, and one more songwriter has won.

Congrats to Genta Tamashiro, and a job well done!

I love this tune, and the story behind the song. Here is what Genta has to say about the song “ Left in the past 2”……

“Hello my name is Genta Tamashiro. I am from Denver, CO but I am currently going to college in Hawaii at the University of Hawaii. I went to Denver School of the Arts (which is a public school with emphasis on the arts in Denver) for middle and high school where I studied music. I recently started recording music and I love it. I have no formal training in recording or audio engineering but I hope to go to school for it soon. At the moment all I use to record is a copy or Logic Studio that was given to me from a good friend, an input box to hook up my mic to my laptop, and a Shure SM58 microphone.

After much deliberation, I decided to send you this song I made that I call Left In The Past. I started making this song after a rather intense dream I had a few months ago where I was a soldier in some great war just to come home to have my wife leave me for being gone for so long. It is a strange dream considering I'm only 19 years old and have never been married! Never the less, it was a very strong dream and one of the very few that I can remember after waking. The song depicts one specific scene in my dream where my now ex wife is walking away from me while for some reason I do nothing to stop her.

All the instruments in the song are played by me and all the vocals are me as well. The drum kit is not live but a used a series of sampled sounds. The marimba you may hear is a MIDI instrument inside Logic and the guitar is live. I hope you enjoy my song. I have more songs as well in many different styles that I would love to enter if possible, if not, I would still love to have you hear them if you wanted to, I am always looking for feedback in the music that I make. :)
Thanks A lot,
Genta Tamashiro”

Enjoy your prizes Genta!