Murphy's Lore

We’ve heard the buzz and seen the online ads, but with a trio of aged Murphy Lab Gibsons actually in our hands, we wonder, was all the hype worth the wait?

- Neville Marten (Les Paul Standard & ES-335) & Dave Burrluck (Les Paul Junior)

The history of Gibson’s Custom Shop is cloaked in mystery and intrigue. In Walt Carter’s book Keeping The Flame Alive he states: “In the early 90s, the Custom Shop didn’t really exist. It was an undefined group within the regular production facility at Gibson’s Nashville division. The R9 debuted at the January 1993 NAMM Show. Tom Murphy painted the finish on the first 25 sunbursts and the first 15 Goldtops.”

Of course, as is always the case with Gibson, the story is more complicated than that. There had been Custom Shop designated instruments for many years prior, but the Custom Shop as we know it today started as a separate facility back in 1993, with its own craftspeople and its own front door.

At Guitarist, we’ve been reviewing such examples as they’ve come and gone, and it seems every time we’d say something like, “…with this one they’ve come even closer to the originals”. Will the same be said of the three reissue guitars we have here: a Murphy Lab 1959 ES-335 in Ebony, a 1957 Les Paul Junior Single Cut in TV Yellow, and a 1959 Les Paul Standard in Lemon Burst? The ES-335 is ultra-light aged, the Junior is heavy aged, while the ’59 Standard gets the top-level ultra-heavy ageing. As you’ll see in our Murphy Options box later in the review, the heavier the ageing, the higher the price. Time is money.