Mule Guitars Tricone Electric Made for Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Model Resophonic Guitar, made in Saginaw, Michigan, serial # 1383, Pink enamel finish, steel body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, original tweed hard shell case.
Why look thar, it's a pink Mule! OK that was hokey, but really how often do you see any pink mule, either animal guitar? Well, here she is, a steel bodied resonator guitar under a weathered pink coat. Mule guitars are modern hand built guitars, fabricated in Saginaw Michigan by Matt Eich and his crew. While working mostly in the vintage National resofonic pattern they are evolved designs embodying a mixture of old and new ideas.
This Tricone model is a perfect example, featuring John Dopyera's original three-cone system set onto a body and cone style that the National company used only on single cone instruments. The steel body is painted pink and heavily weathered, the roasted maple neck has an ebony fingerboard with maple binding. The instrument is also electrified with a Mule "Tomthumbucker" magnetic pickup (a variation on Gibson's mini-humbucker) in the neck position with a single volume control. It comes in the original case with a lovely printed illustrated COA stating "#1383 Made by Hand in Saginaw Michigan for J. Tweedy".
Overall length is 39 1/8 in. (99.4 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 in. (635 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.)., 10.53 lbs.
This guitar is in heavily "reliced" condition, so it is difficult to say how much use it actually got but it LOOKS like it lived on the Delta for decades. There does appear to have been some genuine use and the instrument is fitted with the "Loft Special" pre-aged strings. The guitar plays and sounds great both acoustically and electrically, housed in the original tweed HSC with a Loft leather strap and the storage markings on the base of the case, along with some Mule Guitars promo items including a hat, sticker and card and the COA confirming it was built specifically for Tweedy. Excellent Condition.
