I thought it might be fun to open a thread about remembering your first Mullen ... I'd love to hear some stories from other Mullen owners about their first Mullen guitar. To open up the thread, here's my story about my first Mullen ...
I've had four Mullen guitars and loved every one of them. My first Mullen, however, was a Herbie Wallace model (aka HWP) and what a guitar it was (and still is in the hands of whoever owns it now).
Mine was a late 1987 model (if I remember right, it was built in Nov or Dec 1987 and I purchased it from Charlie Norris Family Music right after New Year's of 1988) Here's a photo of my HWP when it was brand new:
Oh, how I miss that guitar! Way back in 1991, a buddy of mine, Gary Hogue, traded his first Emmons P/P (a 1976 model) for a 1966 Emmons P/P he'd found in prime condition. I'd always wanted Gary's 1976 Emmons, so he called me to let me know that it was available at Steve Lamb's Steel Guitar World and I immediately went over and traded my HWP model for it (walked away with Gary's old '76 Emmons plus $800 in my pocket to boot). Looking back on it, I wish I'd simply bought the Emmons outright and kept my red Mullen instead of trading it.
When my HWP was new, it had a great sound, but the tone was just a little thin for my taste, so the first thing I did was put a set of George-L's E-66 pickups in it and ... WOW ... did that guitar come alive! With the E-66 pickups in it, that guitar sounded great.
If you'd like to hear what it sounded like, here's a few video links (there's more than one so you can hear the sound of my old Mullen in different situations):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2L5FRVo6c (I Fall To Pieces)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFxEO6Ku ... re=related (Rockin' Robin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT-6g7gT-Ec (A Way To Survive) The slide show in this one has several photos of the '76 Emmons that I traded my Mullen for)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKCjvHpXF1A (Highway 40 Blues) Please overlook my sloppiness on this one as it was my birthday in 1988 and the club owner, trying to help me celebrate my b-day, was sending shots up to the stage and I ended up really buzzed by the time we played this one. It's the only time I ever played on stage while intoxicated. Although my playing was pretty buzzed, the guitar's tone was great.
The last time I saw my old HWP Mullen was at one of our concerts when I was with Ty Herndon. If I remember right, we were somewhere near the northeast coast and we were co-headlining with someone else. After we'd sound checked, I stuck around the stage pit to see the opening band's steel guitar player (as I'd spied another steel guitar case backstage.
As soon as I heard the steel player begin to tune up his guitar I thought "Man, what a great tone he's got" and I walked around to see his guitar. It was a red Mullen just like my old guitar ... and when they came down from their sound check, I went to meet the steel player and found, while talking to him, that the guitar he was playing was indeed my old red HWP Mullen!
I wish I could remember the steel player's name. He played really well and it made me very happy to see my old guitar again (but a bit sad as well ... I really miss that guitar).
Would love to hear the stories of your first Mullen, and hear it if you have some links to recordings of it.
And, as today is Thanksgiving as I type this, a hearty Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Did I really say that? 
) ... I meant when the wife became the ex-wife, I finally started entertaining thoughts of getting back into playing again.
(& only) Mullen, got it new in the mid to late 80's I think; blue lacquer, and play it 3-4 times a week. Love a Mullen.
me,"look honey,just be patient & the right one will come along...so,it won't be that one but you'll find the one you want"...sometimes,it amazes me how things work out because within three months that very guitar was in her new home & i could not be much happier...now,if i can just get the right lottery ticket,there'll be another SD-10 Pre-RP & a new G2 from Mickey to keep her company...
