My Mullen's RP now sounds like a PRP great

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 24 Dec 2025 2:30 pm

I've solved the problem , the PRP has two screws on the neck that are put right after the pickup and I found this out after doing alot of my own investigating , that was the problem all the time , I just drilled 2 holes & installed 2 screws in the RP and now it sounds the way it supposed sound

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Jim Bloomfield · Post by **Jim Bloomfield** » 24 Dec 2025 4:39 pm

I’ve had 3 steels made by Mullen. Still have two. They all sound great to me and many others. “It is a poor carpenter who blames his tools”.
Merry Christmas.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 Dec 2025 4:56 pm

My G2 is the best sounding steel I've ever owned. The pre-RP I had was also great sounding. Not sure what was wrong with your Mullen but it doesn't match the experience of any steel Player I've talked to.

Derrick Phillips · Post by **Derrick Phillips** » 24 Dec 2025 5:09 pm

Hi Rich, glad you were able to fix what you think the problem was. But I’m not sure anyone that has a Mullen would describe the sound as a tin can. It might be another problem at play.

When I hear of sound describe as a tin can, I think of an electrical issue with the pick up or the pick up Jack.

Good luck and merry Christmas. I did see that you called. Hope everything works out for you.

Doug Taylor · Post by **Doug Taylor** » 24 Dec 2025 6:24 pm

My Mullen sounds fantastic!

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 24 Dec 2025 7:44 pm

I called up Mullen and asked if they would sell me another neck , & they said that they don't sell necks , so I said that I'll just make my own , now let's see how a parcal wood neck sounds

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Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 24 Dec 2025 8:20 pm

What's the theory behind the remedy?

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 24 Dec 2025 10:44 pm

I have heard that tightening of screws attaching the necks can a problem.
I have a Mullen S12 PRP I am getting to work on as soon as January 1 , 2026 goes by.
I was talking to a friend who works on Steel guitars. About any problems working on a Mullen steel. All he said was, Be careful of the torque/tightness, On the screws that hold the neck down on the body.
But I can find no information for on torque settings, For screws installing necks on Mullen steels. I have 2 torque wrenches, With foot/ounces I use working on firearms. I could use to set proper torque. If I can find torque settings for installing a Mullen's neck.

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 25 Dec 2025 6:45 am

Buddy Emmons did a test on aluminum neck mounting screws. He tightened the neck screws and found that he lost sustain. He loosened them to snug and the sustain came back. I did the same experiment with the wood neck on my MSA. Wood necks tightened to the maximum gained sustain, the opposite of Aluminum necks. I assume aluminum doesn't transmit vibration between the wood body and neck as much as wood on wood. Tone, many years ago I had the opportunity to have two single neck Emmons push/pull guitars in front of me. One with a wooden neck and one with an aluminum neck. I found no difference in tone. The secret of the push/pull tone is not in the aluminum neck.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 25 Dec 2025 7:58 am

I've told this story many times here, but I think it's appropriate to repeat it:
Maurice Anderson once told me (long after MSA 1 had closed) that every once in a while Bud Carter would come into his office and say, "Here’s one," to show him a pedal steel guitar that simply sounded noticeably better than most. As most will know, MSA was more of a factory than a boutique manufacturer and at times produced more guitars than most of their competitors combined. This was made possible by a very "industrial" design philosophy that yielded a streamlined product of fairly consistent quality.
Because of that consistency, whenever a guitar surfaced that clearly sounded better than average, they paid close attention and investigated it. Unfortunately, only a few of those investigations led to refinements that could be applied to future guitars. Maurice described it as "frustrating" not being able to identify the "secret."
Likewise, Bud Carter would sometimes come into Maurice’s office to point out a "dog" — a guitar that simply did not live up to their standard. Those guitars were taken apart and examined as well, and usually the cabinet and any other suspect parts were discarded and a new guitar built to in replacement.

In other words, "dogs" do pop up in every brand. We’ve all heard supposedly "holy" Emmons push-pulls — and other brands renowned for great tone — sound disappointingly poor. Pretty much EVERY brand has a few dogs floating around.

Would Buddy Emmons have still blown us off the stage on most of these "genetically inferior miscarriages"? YES. But he wouldn’t have kept them — and none of us is Buddy Emmons. Let’s face it: BE was not known for tolerating lousy-sounding guitars either. Why would he?

So instead of beating the OP over the head with brand endorsements, let’s try to identify possible culprits and solutions. Even if she sounds like a beer can, as long as she doesn’t sound like a can of Bud Light, there’s hope!

Things to look at:

TIGHTENING everything up is usually the first and most important step. Wood expands and contracts, and vibration loosens screws over time.
SURFACE "matching" — necks to the cabinet: uneven lacquer or bent wavy wood, or mica with air bubbles (my prime concern with mica guitars; this happens more often than people like to admit).
LOOSE or MISMATCHED connection points, typically poorly fitted end plates (yes, we’ve seen this on some big-name brands too).
Last but not least, a piece of wood that just "doesn’t have it." There’s usually no cure for that other than building a new cabinet from scratch.
Finally, Bud Carter and John Fabian’s trick they called "knocking the guitar together": one man on each side of the guitar, each armed with a 2x4 and a hard rubber mallet, knocking the changer end and keyhead toward each other.
Why? Because PSG builders tend to rely on screw holes as positioning devices. They are not. Screws can be surrounded by air rather than bearing firmly against the side of the hole that faces the string tension, resulting in poor contact — and often years of tuning issues. This procedure was done on EVERY Carter guitar after 1995.

Merry Christmas... J-D.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 25 Dec 2025 10:41 am

Wow! That's very odd, but there are differences among different guitars of the same brand, even of the same era, same year, same model etc. I've owned a few Mullen guitars and all of them did have a different character but maintained a certain je ne sais quoi common to them all.

I won't criticize your description. You are entitled to your own evaluation, but I would normally advise anyone unhappy with their guitar to get rid of it and buy something else.

It seems your modification has brought you satisfaction with the guitar so that's all that really matters. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

John Hyland · Post by **John Hyland** » 25 Dec 2025 1:58 pm

Thank you JD for your commentary and “horses mouth” insights. It makes perfect sense that all PSGs are not equal and Kudos to the OP if he has fixed an issue. A PSG is a bunch of parts and it stands to reason the fit is important especially for the bridge and changer. If it is not sitting correctly it may well sound like a tin can.

To say my xxx.(insert brand )PSG is perfect and directly (and implicitly)criticise the OP is not helpful.

Also a telling insight from the original post is he picked up these guitars cheap. I can only assume the sound was a good reason they were cheap.

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 26 Dec 2025 8:53 am

This is twilight zone

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 26 Dec 2025 9:22 am

I don't see anything unusual about the neck. All aluminum necks that I know of are either cast hollow or CNC machined from solid billet which is the way Mullen does it.

Anyway, many builders say that the neck or neck material has nothing to do with the sound of a guitar.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 26 Dec 2025 10:25 am

And now the plot thickens.
I am guessing that you bought the guitar used?
Now that the picture of the bottom of the neck. The first thing that catches my eye is the perfect rings around the screw holes, With slight red scraps of something showing.
Was/is there any type of spacer still around the screw holes on the body when you removed the neck?

If someone removed the neck, And there was spacers or some type of cushion rings. To keep the neck from touching the body of the guitar. On reassembly, The spacers/cushion parts were left out. May have allowed the neck to touch the body and get a vibration noise from contact. Making the guitar sound like a tin can.

Your solution of adding the bar. Pulls the neck down till it cannot move on the body, Would make the neck and body so tight together. The neck could not vibrate, and rattle against the body. This is my SWAG without having (Hands On) with the guitar.
Replacing missing spacers, So neck does not touch body. Or the bar you attached, Pulls the neck so tight it can't vibrate on the body. Would be the only way to cure the problem.
Happy Steelin.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 26 Dec 2025 12:48 pm

Yeah I bought my first mullen from that guy that made those walker seats RIP and he gave me a terrific price that I couldn't pass up ,
Next I bought another from the forum and it is a PRP and it always sounded better than the other ones
Then I bought another badge one kinda weird color one , but I got a real good deal on that one too

I suspect you got some guitars el-cheapo because they had problems. I've heard a bunch of Mullen up-close, most sounded good. I own two G2s, and they sound very good. The antithesis of 'sounds like a beer can' - very rich, full harmonics and sustain. They're pretty much in like-new condition and haven't been hacked up, pulled apart, or modified.

Most guitars that I've had (I've had a lot) that had issues needed a full teardown, cleanup, and careful re-assembly, with attention paid to everything fitting together well, pull trains cleanly pulling with no binding, and so on. A couple were major, legendary brands. After tearing down and setting back up properly, they sounded great. I had one guitar, another major brand, that I never could get to sound the way I wanted it to. I sold it cheap.

I've heard pedal steels that didn't sound good for some reason - not a lot, but some. My strong suspicion is that there were significant physical issues in most of these cases. A pedal steel is a machine - if the parts don't all work harmoniously together, then there will be problems. I have rarely heard a well set up modern, precision-built pedal steel that sounded 'bad' to me.

Anyway - if your fixes make you happy, great. As I said, if I have a problem, I personally lean to full teardown, clean, lube, and re-assembly as close to original condition as possible. If that doesn't get me there, I am reluctant to re-engineer them. I think the modern major-brand designers know/knew what they're doing.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 27 Dec 2025 6:16 pm

Most PSG post Bigsby and Emmons Bolt-On's neck have little to do with the sound, as most now have the changer sides ("ears") bolted thru the cabinet and the neck "wrapped around (to use an Emmons term) the changer. Carter's "aluminum neck" was just a bent piece of aluminum sheet bent... a "cap"... so are even the wood necks on modern MSA's. The emphasis is on the changer plate or "ears". Even on an Emmons Bolt-On I BELIEVE the key head was not designed to but against the neck (some "Emmonsists" may confirm that or rebut), the idea was to "surround" key hardware like the changer attachment or key head.
I must say that I do not like that neck shown in the pictures above. It looks like it will likely have no solid connection to the body underneath the keyboard... hollow and likely to have vibrations points which may feed "junk" into the overall sound. It's tough to pinpoint what really was the culprit, but since the OP has managed to correct the audible issue by bolting the neck down around the pu and changer more solidly, I am afraid that either he faced loose mica underneath or that the neck was just generating noises.

Quite frankly, I have come to prefer wood necks, incorporated into the "body" (like Fender did) and the hardware butting solidly against it. I converted an 80's MSA like that last year and she sounds amazing. Even have 4" long screws coming into the glued on neck from both the key head and changer plate. It's a totally different animal now.

I never owned a Mullen, but quite frankly I don't remember ever reading about such issues on that brand, but "dogs" do exist, it's the nature of musical instruments. I am sure, somewhere there's a crappy sounding Steinway & Sons taking nothing but space and maybe even a lousy Stradivarius stored away in a safe waiting for the next fool to drop a couple of Millions on it. I've had a miserable sounding Fender Custom Shop Tele.... a $399.oo Mexican Tele would have had her for Breakfast!

I admire that the OP did not give up on the axe and got her "up and running" again!... J-D,

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 28 Dec 2025 7:07 am

I didn't write nothin

Jim Bloomfield · Post by **Jim Bloomfield** » 28 Dec 2025 1:32 pm

Why do you keep editing your posts/words and claims? This whole thread has become nonsensical.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 28 Dec 2025 8:28 pm

Rich Cottle wrote: 24 Dec 2025 7:44 pm Does any of your guy,s mullen guitars sound like an emmons push pull guitar

Don't feel like saying a lot right now, but here's part of a post I did here on the forum over 30 years ago:

As Reece has alluded, not always. At a show a few years ago, Curry Coster (a great local player) and I were listening to other steelers. One steeler was playing the exalted Emmons push/pull, and the tone (sound, timbre, whatever you choose to call it) was decidedly not what one would think of as a push/pull. The very next player on the show was playing a Mullen, an older one, and his tone was indeed very Emmons "push/pullish". I remarked to Curry (who plays and owns only push/pulls) that the Mullen actually sounded far more like a push/pull than the previous player's push/pull did...and he agreed!

I think that's good evidence that there's often (but not always) something else going on to create the sounds we hear. An Emmons push/pull doesn't always sound like an Emmons push/pull, nor does a Fender Tele always sound like a Fender Tele. There's often much more to the sound that you hear than just what particular brand or model guitar a player chooses to use.

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 28 Dec 2025 9:48 pm

Having never played a beer can it's difficult to guess what you are hearing, but when you mentioned "buzzing" my immediate thought was stuck or poorly lubricated nut rollers. The fix for that involves slacking the strings, applying a drop of oil or tri-flow and rotating each rolling part until the action is smooth and effortless. It may seem counter-intuitive because the "buzz" happens even when using the tone bar well up the neck but this has been a reliable fix for "the zings" whenever I encounter this problem when working on other pickers' guitars as well as my own.

FYI in my experience Sho-Bud (also Emmons, Fessy, Zum, Mullen, Williams, Desert Rose) necks are all made differently but all are quite firmly attached to the guitar body.

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 1 Jan 2026 9:41 pm

Your dreaming

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 1 Jan 2026 10:28 pm

Rich Cottle wrote: 1 Jan 2026 9:41 pm Yeah by making a parcal wood neck I bet that it will sound alot better ,

Common sense & natural physics tells me that the pickup pick's up the sound which is in the vicinity of the pickup which is on the neck , that small area dictates how the guitar is gonna sound

Common sense perhaps, but "natural physics" no. A properly working magnetic coil pickup generates electrical signals from changes in its MAGNETIC FIRLD caused by movement of the nearby metal strings, and not from the changing air pressure that our ears hear as sound. When it DOES respond to actual sounds we call it "microphonic" and it's a sign that the pickup itself is damaged, and that the wires in the pickup itself are loose and moving around on their own. There's your clue to the source of the "beer can" effect you have described, it's not a problem with the guitar or the neck at all but simply a broken pickup.

A magnetic coil microphone such as a Shure SM57 uses a floating diaphragm to move its coil within a fixed magnetic field, thus turning the air pressure changes that we identify as "sound" into electrical impulses that can be amplified electronically. A properly working guitar pickup does the exact opposite, its coil and magnets are fixed and the guitar's strings do all the moving. "Sound" i.e. fluctuating air pressure has nothing to do with it.

Microphonics in a guitar pickup can be useful if they add only enough distortion to put some "hair" on a guitar's tone but once you can order a beer from the bar by talking into your guitar's pickup it's generally time to find a new pickup.

Rich Cottle · Post by **Rich Cottle** » 6 Jan 2026 12:08 pm

Fixed

John Hyland · Post by **John Hyland** » 13 Jan 2026 1:29 pm

I agree the OP edits have made this thread pointless as are comments “fixed”. On the other hand comments that “their” guitar is perfect is an implied slur on OP and are totally unhelpful.

Normally I don’t like when thread is closed but I suggest this thread is perfect candidate for it.

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