Tom Brumley's Mullen S-11 for sale - $3,000.

[Chris Newell]

Hi Steelers
My 90's - something S-11 Mullen is up for sale. I've come to realize that I haven't the time to crack the PSG code and probably never will. But it's been a joy to play occasionally. I'll stick to my guitars and lap steel. It's never left my studio and it's in great shape. Tom signed the bottom. Here he is playing it at a convention somewhere.


Here are 2 more shots of it in my studio.





Thanks for looking.
Chris Newell
805-646-8051

[Bill Bailey]

Chris,
My guess is that steel is on the stage at Scotty's International Steel Guitar Convention, in St Louis Mo, with Tom, is the late and great Bobby Caldwell.

[Chris Newell]

Thanks for that info, Bill.

The guitar was set up to Tom's specifications including 4 pedals and 5 (!) levers (2 on the left leg). Here he talks about his setup in an interview with Jan Visser. The entire interview can be found here:
http://tiny.cc/6j8tl

J.V.
Who originated the 11-string tuning? Was it Zane Beck? I know of Bobby Garrett playing an 11-string pedal steel guitar in the late 60's.

T.B.
I don't know who originated it, but I ordered my first one in 1965 because I wanted an E string on the bottom of the E9th tuning.

J.V.
I know, that the tuning you use, enables you to make wide spread 9th-chords and Maj.9th-chords like one does on the C6th tuning. Do you use it that way?

T.B.
Yes, I do. That's one reason I put it on.

J.V.
Did you use your low E-string often when playing with Buck Owens and with Ricky Nelson?

Tom at the Oklahoma SG Convention


T.B.
Yes, if you listen to the Carnegie Hall album you can hear me playing Don Rich licks in the background while he was singing harmony with Buck. That's the main reason I put the 11th string on.

J.V.
You are one of a few to use an extra (floor) pedal on the E9th tuning. Your first pedal is a little mysterious to many players. Please mention a few examples where you use that pedal.

T.B.
On the song "In Time", on the "In Time" album, I used it extensively. That pedal raises 10 and 7 a whole tone.

[Chris Newell]

Correction: 7 levers (3 right, 3 left and left kicker)

[John McClung]

My former student Chris called me to let me know he was selling this great guitar. When he brought it in for his first lesson 6 years ago, my jaw dropped. This guitar is really gorgeous, and I always dreamed of owning it.

So this weekend Chris let me borrow it for a day, and the only thing keeping me from grabbing it was the lack of a 12th string. I really struggled with that issue, figured I could live without it, but after several back and forths with my Mullen D-12, and this Brumley beauty, I concluded that the gap from low E to B was just too much of a loss. Double dang.

Let me tell you, the tone of this guitar is simply exquisite. I jammed along with Brumley's last CD, "In Time, which was recorded on this same Mullen, and by golly I had the exact same Brumley tone. The wood neck is part of it; the body is natural wood with a gorgeous honey finish and drop dead mother of pearl inlay; and the pickup is a unique one, looks to be a single coil, but has adjustable magnet poles. The tone was actually a little different and a little more to my liking than my own beloved Mullen's, which shocked and dismayed me no end. Great string separation, and really smooth, full voice. Great high end, better than I expected a wood neck steel to have.

I think someday I'm going to ask Del Mullen to build me a custom SD-12 modeled after this one, it's that good.

Oh, and it has the normal 5 knee levers, plus staggered pairs on both LKL and RKR, for a total of 7 knee levers.The LKL's are custom angled, like a Sho-Bud LKL, but BOTH of these LKL's are at a super comfortable angle. All the KL's are custom shaped and chrome polished. The 4 pedals are chrome, too.

I really wanted to like the staggered RKR setup (I tried staggered RKL's, but that was a failure), and it's sort of do-able, but still tough to get to, and the second lever has to have a really simple, easy change so pressure needed is light. So playing this guitar convinced me that 2 KL's is all I can manage for the right knee, drat. Guess I'll stick with my LK Forward after all!

The guitar has a few minor nicks in the finish, mainly on the neck's edge, but nothing awful, distracting or obvious. The tuning keys are the old school built-in, not screwed on, just like the ones on my Mullen. I really like that streamlined and dust resistant configuration. The chrome would benefit from some polishing, but the guitar is in excellent condition, and it plays fantastic, really easy action, except on pedal 1, which has a lot of pulls on it.

After hearing me rave about it and reluctantly return it to him, Chris said he was considering keeping it. Can't blame him. But if he keeps it on the market, and you're ready for the 11-string adventure, this just can't be beat. Heck, take off string 11 if it bugs you and you've got a fantastic normal E9, plus it's got all Tom Brumley's mojo...and it IS in there!

[Chris Newell]

Thank you, John, for your nice words. But I have decided to keep the guitar. It gives such pleasure. I asked myself, 'Why should I sell something that sounds so good?" I answered, "No reason".

Bob: Please unpost. NFS.

[John McClung]

Good move, Chris. Now it'll be closer to me and maybe I can get some visiting rights now and then!

[Mickey Adams]

A grand move!...Another little piece of history..!!

[Dave Grafe]

That looks a lot like the guitar we performed field surgery on here in in the 1980's when TB came through with Desert Rose. The airline handlers had dropped it and cracked the wood badly where the changer was attached. We put it back together with a BIG wood screw and Tom made it through the show OK. He left hoping that Del would have a way to put it back together and I never heard more of it. If it is the same guitar you would see repair work in the wood underneath the guitar near the forward side of the changer.