The Steel Guitar Forum

How many of you guys have the stock Mullen pickups on and how many have put on Truetone, or another brand?

Terry

------------------
Zum D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

Where's Billy Peddycoart? He's got 3 Mullen guitars. I think they're all stock pickups. Where are you Billy?

The True tone will make a big diffrent in tone on your Mullen, mine is wound to 1850 oms, great tone & mid-range, it brings out whats missing in tone & mid ect. the mid-range is what you are looking for in tone.

------------------
Joe Grayson,Monticello ms

I have a George L 10-1 on mine and I love the tone, and no hummmmmmmmmm.

Jerry.

I've had my Mullen for 1 /1/2 yr and am very well pleased with the mechanics and appearance, but wasn't pleased with the tone of the stock p/u's after playing it a while. I called Del and described the tone i wanted as best i could, but then i remembered that the tone Buck Grantham's Mullen has, best described my preference. So Del wound me the "Buck" wound p/u's, shipped them to me and i returned the stock ones to him. Now all is well, as for what i want to hear from my Mullen. I don't remember the resistance Del told me the new p/u's are, but i bet he does, in case you're interested. The Mullen clan are some great folks to do business with, the Mullen steel is my favorite.

"Don't be sullen, play a Mullen."


------------------
"I Can Only Imagine"

I play a Mullen U-12. It came with a Bill Lawrence pickup, sounds GREAT!!!

Thanks for your replies. I'm goin to try the stock pickups, if I'm not satisifed with the tone, I have a True tone 17.5 I'll try.

Terry

I Have A 95 Mullen
That was Bought New From Billy Coopers .It Has Stock Pickups And There Isnt A Better Sounding Steel Out There IMHO.. The Proof Is On My Last Cd (Mullen D-10 Through A Nashville 400..) Some Live Gigs I Have A Little Hum But Not enough To Ever Make Me Change Pickups.. There Was No Hum At All In The Studio .. Mabey It Was Just A Good Day I Dont Know.. If You Would Like A Cd E-mail Me I Will Get One Too Ya..
Boo Miller

I purchased a new HWP Mullen 8+4 from Herby Wallace in 1999 and it came with the stock Mullen p/u for the HWP and I am very satisfied. If there is soemthing better I don't know what it would be since I have never been one for changing what comes with a PSG. Too old to change, maybe?

I changed to George L pups a few years ago on my D-10 Mullen, and I like them alot, no hum. However the sound is quite muted/flat compared to my new (used) Zum with stock pups on it. They are much brighter and louder. Both guitars sound goo. After all, they are steels.
-Jim

------------------
Mullen D-10 -or- Zum D-10
Lexicon MPX 100
Fulltone Full-Drive II
Evans FET 500 -or-
Peavey Nashville 1000
Vox wah-wah pedal
My dog Toby sittin' on the floor listening

I traded up to a D-10 Mullen last Oct.
It's stock and I love the tone.
The single-coil hum isn't normally an issue live, however I did a studio gig last week and it bugged me - I may need to consider some change in the future, for now it's great.

Mullen > Black Box > Hilton > Nash 112.
can't beat it!

I usually have to cut the mids around 800hz for my taste - I can't imagine have more mids! This guitar has plenty.

chris

------------------
Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon"
www.book-em-danno.com
www.seldomfed.com

Terry, I recently replaced stock PUs in my 2002 Mullen RP with Truetones, better separation and tone especially high on the neck. I did play one club where I got tremendous hum, first time that's happened... but most gigs and in the studio, no problems. I love 'em.

------------------
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Thanks a lot guys.

Terry

------------------
Zum D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

Terry,
I have a Mullen HWP with stock pickups. I am very happy with the sound.

Ken Prutzman

I have a '91 Double 11 9&8 in Rosewood Mica. It still looks and sounds beautiful. I've wanted an excuse to buy a new one but this one still is at the top of the game. I suppose I could just add another Mullen to this one. Top quality end to end. Yes, I'd like a Royal Precision, so, what do I do?

Regarding the hum issue.....

I guess I've been asleep or something, but I finally realized, it's often the orientation of the guitar!!! Jeez, I've played a strat for 30 years! why didn't I think of this with steel?

The other day in the studio, I just left the vol. pedal wide open and rotated the steel around till the hum substantially disappeared! (of course not 100%, but significant, and acceptable)

Sometimes hard to do this on stage due to the orientation of the stage itself - but S/N ratio on stage isn't a big deal.

We'll at least I know I'm still learning

------------------
Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"There is no spoon"
www.book-em-danno.com
www.seldomfed.com

Hi guys, sorry I'm late, it's been a killer week.Yes I have three different mullen guitars all with stock pic-ups.My 98 mullen is closer to the windings in the HWP just a little warmer sound than my 2003 RP. I love the sound of the mullen w/stock pic-ups. you adjust any guitar/amp to soot your playing style anyway. If I can help just e-mail or give me a call. thanks Billy www.freewebs.com/billypeddycoart/ and you can hear me playing the RP on this site www.alishanicole.com just click on music then Nashville North.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Billy Peddycoart on 01 March 2005 at 09:44 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Billy Peddycoart on 01 March 2005 at 09:46 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Billy Peddycoart on 01 March 2005 at 09:47 AM.]</p></FONT>

I guess I'm in the minority. When I ordered my Mullen, I had Del install George L PF-1s (humbuckers). Single coil hum was driving me nuts in some situations. I think they sound great. Even Del, who generally installs single coils on stock Mullen guitars, grudgingly admitted that the combination of wooden necks and PF-1s on my guitar was a good one.

Steve

Terry, I have a mica, alum neck and a lacquer wooden neck Mullen both D-10's with "stock" pick-ups. I can't imagine changing out the pups unless it would be to eliminate the s/c hum. Keep in mind that the folks at Mullen can wind "stock" pups to many different values. For instance, my mica guitar has 22k ohm inductance units while the lacquer/wood's pups are 17.5k.
I think that anybody who has ever heard my guitars will tell you they both sound great!

The good folks at Mullen are very knowledgeable and can work with you on what you want to accomplish. I think it's a matter of knowing what frequencies you want to emphasize and communicating that to them.
The Mullen will always have it's characteristic sound no matter what pickup you put on it. I might suggest tweaking amp settings and offboard effects before changing the pick-ups. JMHO.

I have always felt that the mfg. of the guitar has the most insight as to what works best on their instrument. The Truetones are getting lots of praise too. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jerry Overstreet on 01 March 2005 at 02:33 PM.]</p></FONT>

but then i remembered that the tone Buck Grantham's Mullen has, best described my preference

Hey Skip
Buck could get good tone out of a 10 sting pine 2x8 plank.

------------------
Daniel J. Cormier
PedalMaster Lacquer D-10 Sessions 400 Limited ,ProFex II
http://www.cajunsteelguitar.com email at djcormier@cox-internet.com

Thanks for all the advice guys.
I've heard Mr. Buck play his Emmons pp, but have never heard him play his Mullen. I can't think of anybody that can play any smoother than Mr Buck. I'm sure I'll like the stock pups, if not I have a True tone I'll try.

Terry

------------------
Mullen D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

I have a Bill Lawrence "Custom" pick-up on mine!
It is a Humbucker, But . . . with "coil-taps", so that I can "short-out" a coil to change the tone . . . Make it a "single coil" and also change the "pick-up" point . . .
The "neck side" or the "bridge side".
( Shorting makes for a brighter tone )
BTW... It came with a George "L" . . . I hated it!

------------------
Dan Balde
U-12/8&5, S-7/D 3&1, S-6/E,A & G3
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by db on 01 March 2005 at 07:39 PM.]</p></FONT>

I liked the original Mullen pickups, sounded great, but I didn't like the hum. Tried Lawrence 710's which didn't work that well with this particular guitar. Had a Truetone rewind on one of the originals, nice bright tone, still couldn't live with the hum. Have been using Lawrence 910's for the last few years. The tone isn't as nice as the true single coils, but they are quiet. Have tried Lawrence pickups on my Strat and Tele, decided to live with the hum of the original pickups. I don't know why the hum bothers me so much more on the steel, but it does.
chuck

I have Bill Lawrence 912's and George L 12-1's on my Mullen (2 pickups on ea. neck). I never had original pickups on mine, so I can't comment on that. I do have a Truetone on my Carter which I think sounds great. I agree with Billy though that most of the time you can dial up your sound with your amp, unless you work in conitions that cause hum.
Dave