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NORTH HILLS, CA - December 1, 2011 - An old acquaintance, Paul from Welfare, TX has commissioned the 3rd TOWN HALL. We have talked for years about various guitars and I was very pleased to get the email saying "lets go ahead and build one for me" Paul has been interested in the #1 TOWN HALL prototype and I've been stubborn about keeping it for display. I'm very honored to make him his own. As with all my custom instruments none are exactly alike. The same will hold true with TOWN HALL #3. Paul's will feature the body of #1, the head stock of #2, and the fingerboard treatment of the Alan Mills "Rocking". . . Star position markers. Something like the Photoshop composite below. Thank you kindly Paul.  Progress Page
        
NORTH HILLS, CA - November 23, 2011 - I finally located my old friend Ernie Odum today. Ernie was my first customer. The first person to ask me to make him a guitar. MAPHIS SN002. We had so many great times over the early years. I made many attempts to locate him. We lost contact with each other sometime in the mid 70"s. Deke Dickerson restored the guitar in the late 90's. and played it for years. But we could never locate Ernie. He turned up in French Gulch, CA. - Not far from the Oregon border. We talked for a couple of hours going over old times and promised to keep in touch. He said he would try and find some photos from the day for me. I invited him to come to Deke's Guitar Geek Fest this year to meet Deke and see his old guitar. Hope he can make it.

                               
 NORTH HILLS, CA - October 2011 - Mike Brown (Maphis sn011) has commissioned the first  12 string TNM . It will take the form of the CORRAL series. Trimmed out with knotty alder top with ribbon mahogany back and neck and rim adorned with tooled leather belt by JUSTIN. Southwestern inlays, T'Armond pickups and all the pizzazz that come with a custom made TNM Guitar. Progress page Also available from the main CORRAL page


LIBERTY, IN - July 2011 -MAPHIS 013 and Bill Bartlett are finally seen together along with friend Tom Mackey joining in on the octave neck. Bill capped off the TNM experience with a brand new Standel 25L15 seen at the right. What could be better? Thanks Bill.




NORTH HILLS, CA - May 2011 - Construction has begun on the M-5 SE. A
variation of the first M5 guitar introduced this year at the DDGGF. Will feature a
completely new design head stock with cloud inlays in the fingerboard, a hybrid piezo/magnetic active pickup system starting with a Seymour Duncan custom shop "Staple" P-90 neck pickup and the L.R. Baggs Piezo "T Bridge" and "Control-X" pre-amp
and mix controller. Body will be similar to the M5. Look for it in late fall.



NORTH HILL, CA - May 13, 2011 - Bill Bartlett's TNM - Maphis is complete. Check
out the finished photos . Thanks Bill . . . hope you like it. As a side note,
Bill has ordered a Standel 25L15 to complete the package. WOW!

Lloyd Mills at BBC2 sound check. Rusti Steel and the Star Tones.
UNITED KINGDOM - BBC2 Studio - Lloyd Mills with the mighty TNM.
Sound check for live radio performance with Rusti Steel and the Star Tones.
Great Britons premier rockabilly - country swing ensemble

VENTURA, CA - THE STANDEL CO. The 25L15. The premier guitar amp of all time. Having one of these fantastic amps would be a dream come true for most us. Our friend Don Hunt Jr. recently received his MAPHIS SN012 with a special ordered natural hair-on cowhide case. Now to complete the ensemble, Don asked Danny McKinney to make not 1 but 2 matching 25L15's.  Well done Don and Dan!


TNM display at Deke's Guitar Geek Festival - 2011. We thank Buddy Dughi and
Mike Brown for bringing their guitars and Alan Mills, coming from the UK to
pickup his new black beauty - The Roc-King.

ANAHEIM, CA - HERE IT COMES - The Deke Dickerson Guitar Geek Festival #8 - January 15, 2011 at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel - Doubleneck (of a strange kind) legend Junior Brown will headline the show this year with many more memory jogging acts and current talent to keep you toe-tapping and smiling the whole day. Of special interest to luthiers will be a tribute set to R.C. Allen, who was there at the beginning of the electric guitar phenomenon in 50's California right along side Paul Bigsby, Leo Fender, Semie Moseley and others. The big show starts at 3:30 pm and won't end till the "cows come home"

NORTH HILLS, CA - December,, 2010 - Update - The Alan Mills Roc-King will be on display at the Deke Dickerson Guitar Geek Festival on January 15th at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel. Alan will be available direct from the UK for autograph signings and photos. See finished photos. Rocking Portrait

NORTH HILLS, CA - September 2010 - Introducing the newest TNM. The M-5. Inspired by the timeless designs from Gibson's historic arch top series but scaled to fit today's modern requirements. Our new 14", spruce carved top with Honduran mahogany chambered body and 5 pc neck neck with multiple binding, features the ultimate jazz floating pickup by Bob Benedetto. Wafer thin volume and tone controls easily adjusted on the edge of the multi-bound bloodwood pickguard. Other features include ebony violin tailpiece, 'Art Deco' ebony bridge, combination end pin and jack plus locking satin gold Sperzel tuners with perloid knob s.

         M-5 Photos

          

NORTH HILLS, CA - September 2010 - Don Hunt Jr's TNM - Maphis is ready for delivery... and has been for quite some time. We've been waiting for the special case Don ordered for it. A black and white, hair-on, cow hide show stopper. Don recently bought 2, Standel 25L15 amps covered in the same material. Here's the finished guitar and the super case. . Here are the finished photos. Portrait - Don Hunt Jr. SN012

            

NORTH HILLS, CA. - August 2010 - Bill Bartlett from Liberty, IN has ordered Maphis #013. Bill has been a musician since his early youth. Has been with groups; The Lemon Pipers, Starstruck, Medicine Wheel and Ram Jam from which came the country rock anthem "Black Betty. Bill was lead guitar and singer on that rock classic. We'll be starting his 'Maphis' shortly. It will feature the 3X3 heads, name inlays with dice dots, violin tailpiece and Bigsby tremolo. Bill's been a huge Joe Maphis/Larry Collins fan his whole life. Look for this in the late spring. Thank you kindly Bill. Read Bill's story about his "other" doubleneck and his musical history. HERE     SN013 Progress photos

UNITED KINGDON - Rothwell - Alan Mills takes possesion of CORRAL #1 after name inlay in pickguard. We're looking forward to photos from it's first gig. Thanks Alan.

         

Lloyd Mills gets the honor of introducing the CORRAL #1 to Great Briton.Lloyd,seen hear with the Star Tones. England's foremost country/swing band headed up by Rusti Steel.

UNITED KINGDON - Rothwell / Kettering -July/August 2010 Trip to visit friends Alan and Lloyd Mills and family with the highlight being Lloyds wedding. . At wedding reception for Lloyd and his lovely bride Monique, 2 TNM's were getting a workout. Lloyds #09 Maphis and Alan's #02 Town Hall. A big thank you to the Mills family for all their hospitality and friendship making this the most memorable trip we've ever had.

Lloyd getting down on the mighty TNM with Pete Colley on the Town Hall. Alan was in charge of the vocals and is out of camera frame . . . what a shame

         

Lloyd with the mighty TNM and England's own Rusti Steel on the Town Hall

         

eBAY - July 18, 2010 A previously unknown Joe Maphis Mosrite Special made for Doyle Burgess in 1957 was sold on eBay for $9,300. Originally offered at $49,900 Buy it Now found its own level when offered with no reserve. Looks surprisingly like the original Maphis double neck and in almost original condition sans the bolt on Bigsby and the strange bridge. It would have been great to have this in a guitar stand in the music room.

         

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - June 12, 2010 - Bill Bartlett has been in contact with TNM. First of all, it's not Bill Bartlett in the photo holding the guitar. What!!! That's right. Bill called and was shocked to see his guitar on my site. Bill never actually saw the guitar finished. It's a long story. The short version; While with the group 'The Lemon Pipers"and the hit 'Green Tambourine'. (Remember them from the 60's?) They had an endorsement deal with Mosrite. Bill commissioned Semie Moseley to built him a fancy 6/12 doubleneck with all the trimmings like Joe Maphis's. The band came apart and Bill wasn't able to make the final payments for the custom guitar. As a consolation Semie sent him another not so fancy 6/12. Bill never knew this guitar ever got finished or even existed until last week when he saw the photo of it in our News page .He has no idea who guy in the Nudie type outfit is .
       Another very interesting note is that Bill was the singer and lead guitar for the Southern Rock Band "Ram Jam" that had the classic rock hit "Black Betty" More on Bill and his other Mosrite's in a separate entry soon. READ BILL'S MOSRITE RECOLECTIONS.

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NORTH HILLS, CA - April 15, 2010 - TNM Guitars announces the creation of a new guitar type to be known as the M-5 series. Styled after the timeless design of the Gibson L-5 body but about 3/4 size. Number 1 will feature a carved spruce top with mahogany body and neck, tasteful inlays in the headcap and fingerboard with a single Benedetto B-6 jazz pickup at the neck position. Neck: 1 3/4" at the nut, 2 1/4 at the 22 fret. The perfect blend for jazz or fingerstyle expression. Look for it this winter at NAMM and DDGGF. Price TBD.
NORTH HILLS, CA - April 4, 2010 - Alan Mills has commissioned a new single neck guitar based on the Buddy Dughi TNM Special ..The new guitar dubbed the "Roc-King" will feature the same killer black lacquer finish and white pickguards as its 2 neck sister. Construction will begin shortly. Look for progress photos in the Town Hall Series pages. This will be Alan's 3rd TNM and his family's 4th. Lloyd Mills, Alan's son is the proud owner of Maphis #009. Thank you guys. Roc-King page.
NYC - March 31, 2010 - Andy Taub has purchased the Corral #2. It feature all chrome hardware and vintage '65, DeArmond pickups. Andy has a killer recording studio in NYC called Brooklyn Recording with a magnificent studio and a class A who's-who client list. Thank you kindly Andy. Ready to ship. Andy Taub Corral photos.
    
SANTA BARBARA, CA - March 29, 2010 Larry Collins receives his Collins/Moseley creation he calls the "Larrico". Built in 1957 or so in Semie Moseley's shop in Granada Hills, CA. Built by Larry, with the help of Semie. Larry played this guitar on Town Hall Party at least once. He says that the audience wanted to see the doubleneck so it didn't get much stage time. Larry loaned it out to a friend some 30 years ago and finally got it back about a year ago in sad condition. It went thru a minor refurbishing, including thorough deep cleaning, tailpiece and bridge replacement, new contour filler under the sleeve guard, re-wiring and repaired a nearly broken off headstock. It's ready to rock and still plays and sounds great! Take a look at the Larrico on Town Hall Party   

    

NORTH HILLS, CA - February 20, 2010 - Smokin' Joe Robinson, international super guitar hero tries out the Gentry in recent visit to Los Angeles. Joe was in town to do a concert with Jazz legend Lee Ritenour. 

    

ANAHEIM, CA- January 16, 2010 - Alan Mills surprised me again this year purchasing the Corral prototype #1.( Alan also has Town Hall #2.) I'm going to have to personalize it a bit before he takes possesion with his name in the pickguard. Thank you Alan. I had an offer the same evening from another one of my previous customers on this guitar as well but  Alan had spoken first. Not to worry . . . I can make more. Here's what the mod will look like for Alan. Subtle but nice.
     
ANAHEIM - ANHEIM PLAZA HOTEL-January 16, 2010 -Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival #7. Another great show, perhaps the best yet. Deke's tireless efforts really made for the best show in town that night in Anahiem. It was the place to be! - Check out the photos. click the Misc Photos button
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ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER - NAMM January, 2010 - A big thank you to Wayne LaFarr of Aphex Systems for inviting me to display and demo my Town Hall guitar at his booth. I don't know how many pickers played it but the 2 times we swung by Aphex I snapped these shots. Top: Thom Bresh, next: Gary Lambert, bottom Brian Lonbeck and Gary Lambert and not pictured, Michael O'Dorn. Wayne said it got a real workout.