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* TNM NOW RESIDES IN THE NASHVILLE AREA  *


TNM Shop
All weather - Climate Controlled. Appx. 800+ sq ft.

NASHVILLE, TN - April 2016 - Jesse Cunningham has added a third TNM to his collection. A Tele/Bigsby with TK Smith hardware. Thank you Jesse.

NASHVILLE, TN - January 2016 - Jesse Cunningham's second TNM is complete. A Bigsby type single neck based on the Billy Byrd guitar. Features Maple front and back with Mahogany rim. The neck is a 5 piece maple with Ebony fret board and bound Bloodwood headcap. Jesse supplied the TK Smith tremolo and pickups. Email or call for more information.    Check out the Jesse Cunningham page. More photos of the Corral and the Bigsby Billy Byrd guitars.       

     

NASHVILLE, TN - September 2015 - Jesse Cunningham's CORRAL #004 has been completed and shipped. Features a knotty pine carved top with mahogany body and neck with bloodwood sleeve guard, pickguard and headcap.


          BOB REGAN - MOSRITE SPECIAL Restoration

NASHVILLE - JULY 2015 - Restoration has been completed on the Bob Regan - Mosrite Special for David McCarthy.   A 7 month process that started with retro creating the 1st generation head stocks, filling over-sized pickup holes, replacing all binding, new fingerboards with name inlays, pick guard and sleeve guard, contour edge fillers, scratch building vintage tremolo, violin tailpiece, scratch built bridges and . . . . .plenty more. Portrait photos will be taken soon.

   Bob Regan Complete


Larger and slightly thicker body then regular M5. Here are a few progress shots of the bent rim process and body carve. Body- 15 1/2" wide 2 1/8" thick.
PROGRESS PHOTOS

                         M5-P with LR Baggs T-bridge
NASHVILLE - July 2014 - TNM model M5-p features the LR Baggs T-bridge piezo passive pickup sysem with the Gig Pro off-board preamp. Guitar features carved spruce top, extreme curly maple back, rim and 3 piece set neck. 7 layer w/b binding on front. 5 layer on fingerboard. 3 layer on back. Pickguard made of Bloodwood also features 5 layer binding. . Premium ebony violin tailpiece and 5 layer bound fingerboard with completely new designed head stock and new script TNM logo. Sperzel satin gold tuners. Comes with high quality TKL fitted case. Price - $4500 + shipping if required        More Photos


                              The Joe Maphis Super 200 Project
 NASHVILLE - July 2014 - The "other" Joe Maphis guitar - a Semie Moseley modified Gibson Super 400. The rim cut in half, creating a 2 3/4" thick body adorned with the customary 'over the top' Mosrite decorations, thinned down neck, Joe Maphis name inlay, special headcap and signature Semie pickguard and sleeve guard. Renamed the Super 200. A spectacular companion to Joe's Mosrite Special doubleneck. But what ever happened to it.

THE SUPER 200 STORY - CLICK TO VIEW

The chronology is still being studied. What we (Jody Maphis and myself) are fairly certain of is that Joe had at least 2 Super 400's. The earliest one, modified with a white Bigsby pickguard. (Shown on page 149 of the Paul Bigsby Story book) Below is a photo dated 1954. Gary Lambert and Joe Maphis with the S400 and the Bigsby pickguard. This Super 400 is believed to have been sold to Carl Smith and not the guitar modified by Semie Moseley that became the Super 200..

                                 
  
 The next Super 400 is seen in a few photos with a serial number that indicates a mfg of 1956. Perhaps given to Joe by Gibson. Semie gave this his gingerbread treatment. Pickguard, sleeve guard and some headcap mod as well. A huge mod came with the slicing of the rim of the guitar to make it a 'thin' model. This look was fairly short lived as it was even more customized in the next version.

                                 
In the last version, the Super 200 was born. A Mosrite type headcap was created, a new radically radius fingerboard with "Joe Maphis" inlaid in script and the neck slimmed down to broom handle size with a flamboyant pickguard that can never be forgotten and curiously a pair of Gibson 'humbucker' pickups with a B3 Bigsby with what is now known as the "Duane Eddy" arm.

        

This final version of Semie Moseley's creations is the projects goal. It's unknown why or when the guitar was brought back to Semie but Joe returned to the Mosrite factory in the mid to late 60's and found his Super 200 in a scrap pile totally stripped of all its parts. He took it and asked a friend to hold it for him until he could get Semie to restore it. But that never happened and that's another great story.

                    
Joe found his old Super 200 guitar in this condition at the Mosrite shop. He picked it up and asked an old friend Henry Sharp to hold it for him until he could get Semie to restore it. But that never happened.

Here's the starting point of the project. As I said before the guitar was rescued from the scrap heap and restored in 1980 to the version you see below by Gene Moles, Bill Grugett and Dale Shehan. We will be taking it back to it's glory days of the late 50's

        

        The Super 200 on the bench. Ready for its return to it's Town Hall Party days.

        

     

                                       M-5 Staple
NASHVILLE - March 2014 - The new M-5 Staple has been completed. Similar to the original M-5 with these exceptions. A new classic head design, multiple binding front and back and the Alnico 5 pickup know as the "Staple" for its rectangular shape magnets. The "Staple" was available on a few high end Gibson's in the mid-50's. Similar to the Dynasonic pickups of DeArmond. Only installed a few short years and now reissued by Seymour Duncan. With fingertip volume and tone control at edge of pickguard. Crystal clear and clean, is perfect for jazz or fingerstyle playing   View Portrait Photos

                                 The Martin Project
NASHVILLE - October 2013 Commissioned by our good friends Alan and Lloyd Mills who
have a combined total of 4 custom TNM guitars, will add a TNM re-necked Martin D-28 with custom pickguards to their collection. Reminiscent of the Bigsby and Moseley creations of the 50's and commemorated by Martin with the release a few years ago of the Merle Travis D-28/Bigsby, this will follow in similar fashion. See Progess page..

The Steel n' Guitar
NASHVILLE - September 2013 - Commissioned by Buddy Dughi, now 3 time TNM doubleneck owner.  Similar to the famous Junior Brown "Guitar/Steel"


We started with a full size blowup of the real thing to get the shape just right. Buddy supplied all the hardware, including pickups and strings. The biggest donor for all steel parts was a vintage 8 string Fender Stringmaster. It was about a 2 month project that turned out quite convincing. Thanks Buddy for this fun project. We're not adding the Guitar/Steel to the TNM line, so please don't ask. This instrument also has the distinction of being the first guitar to come from the new TNM shop here in Nashville.


Buddy with Suzy and Pete at the Coach House. Pete taking a close-up look.

The Strat in the Attic
By Deke Dickerson

May 29, 2013

Just released!
Highly tantalizing accounts of discovery. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. One story in particular is the account of the chance meeting sometime in the late 90's of Deke and myself and the unearthing of TNM Maphis #2 (made in 1959 for Ernie Odum) stored in the attic space in my garage. That moment eventually leads to its restoration and transformation into the Deke Dickerson TNM Custom doubleneck that Deke played for many years and still plays on special occasion.

Deke's restoration of that guitar inspired me to recreate these crazy instruments once more. And when I saw Deke playing the newly restored TNM Custom at The House of Blues I was hooked all over again.

Thank you Deke for including our story in your book.

NORTH HILLS, CA - July 31, 2012 - The last TNM to be made in North Hills, CA has been
completed and will be sent to it's owner in the next couple of days. Final portrait photos
are here. The #03 Town Hall will reside in Texas.

NORTH HILLS, CA - I acquired a couple of photos of the Bob Regan guitar that I have in my shop for restoration. They were sent to me by Bob's former wife Lucille Starr. These date somewhere in the late 50's. I believe the earliest is the one with the Carvin pickups.
They will be used as reference for the complete restoration of this historic instrument.
No photos have turned up of the last incarnation that resides in my shop. Bob Regan was a flashy, hot guitarist that was half of the duo Bob Regan and Lucille Star known as
the "Canadian Sweethearts". They did marry . Bob passed away quite some time ago. His Mosrite Special turned up a few years ago in a long lost box of artifacts at the home of Andy Moseley, brother of Mosrite luthier and founder Semie Moseley.


Bob's original build sporting a red burst.


Bob Regan and Lucille Starr the "Canadian Sweethearts"


Bob's guitar as it exists today. Waiting for the go ahead to restore.

NORTH HILLS, CA - March 18, 2012 - Mike Brown picked up his new TNM CORRAL 12 string. Features plenty of Southwest panache and Jones T-Armonds Hope you enjoy. Thank you. See official portrait HERE

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.