Mule Resophonic Guitars

If you make things for a living this is for you. If you make things but not for a living, add this to your thoughts if you find yourself daydreaming about telling your boss to shove it. This is my friendly encouragement to...

Guitar festivals. I want to go.  When I was a wee lad of 18 or so I found the Healdsburg Guitar Festival website and would use that as my research.  I found links to websites for Jeff Traugott, Judy Threet, Linda Manzer,...

What's it like buying a handmade resonator guitar anyways? If I can't pull it off the wall and play it first, why should I buy it? I totally admit it's a completely different experience buying a resonator guitar that isn't...

Want to make guitars as more than a whenever-you-have-time hobby? Here's my advice, guided by the principle I've found to be true and was put into words by Bob Taylor in his book 'Guitar Lessons": Quantity is just as...

"You are so talented!" This is probably the number one comment given to makers-of-things, and probably players-of-instruments as well. Talent.  I think talent is used like 'miracle' is used.  There is talent and there are...

  

A heavy picture, literally and metaphorically. Mule #1, a resonato rguitar put together by someone who didn't know how to cut a piece of steel, didn't own a resonator, put together in a closet about 5 feet wide and 10 feet...

Here's the thing about eyeballs - you only get two. Phil taking his eye protection seriousl...

This is the resonator guitar we made for Jeffrey Foucault. I've been listening to his songs with admiration for last seven years or so, and now he's going to be playing them (writing them?) on this instrument. Pretty...

Applying the patina to our resonator guitars is a creative process and one that is something we're constantly tweaking, improving, and trying to make more beautiful. We could chrome plate them, but you wind up with a...

Charlie Parr on his Mule: "So in 1927 National made a proto-type guitar that was a tri-cone fit into a single-cone body, it was some kind of test I think and they never made a production model out of it. My Mule is just...

This is part of our "Mule Map". Whenever a guitar is shipped, a little tack gets placed on its destination. Pretty nifty. (My mom made it.) A pretty frequent question I get is whether or not I ship guitars to other...

Some people come to Mule for a tour, and some people come to Mule for a tour and bring us beer. We love all people equally, but some people we invite back....

One of the most awesome parts about being a maker is instant feedback.  When I sand a neck, it has scratches or it doesn't.  When the guitar is set up, it buzzes or it doesn't.  It's not arbitrary, someone else's judgement...

Owner-Makers lend your ears. This is a series of blog posts and stuff I screwed up and how I fixed it. Use as you wish. Simplify. When I got over the initial hump of, "How do I cut metal?" and then make a resonator from...

When you work, work. When you rest, rest. When you play, play. If any of these mix you end up just dinking around. Often times we find ourselves resting while at work. But for the majority of us our jobs are not as hard as...