Gibson's New Murphy Lab

ICBM

WezV said:

[Gibson Royal Worcester Porcelain Edition]

to me it looks terrible... like the crazing you get on a tea cup, not a guitar.

WezV said:

the problem is Gibson are more likely to stop at this stage, which was just knife work and stain - its far too flat

[Unfinished job]

... but even that looks infinitely better than Gibson's finished attempt.

WezV said:

this is the last one i did with a knife AND temperature checking

[Finished job]

... whereas that actually looks like an old guitar.

Which begs the question, how much would you charge Gibson to send them all over here and you do the job properly?

RaymondLin

 The relic in mine is far narrower.  All these Murphys looks to be double to triple the size.

RaymondLin

Oh, found a photo I took of Jesse's 54.

roberty

No comparison really @WezV yours is far far nicer looking

Philly_Q

WezV said:
I have done both, i first got much better results with a blade at first, but am moving towards more temperature checking - mostly though, its a mix of both.  I think both methods can be done well, both can be done badly.

The goldtop pics above look like its just been finished with the knife, a few more steps after may help make it look a lot more realistic

this is the last one i did with a knife AND temperature checking

Which looks excellent.

I've never attempted to age a guitar - heaven forbid - but by its very nature temperature checking must give unpredictable results, even for skilled users of the technique. 

From Gibson's point of view, if they pop a guitar in the freezer and it comes out looking shite, what do they do?  Strip the finish and start over?  Assuming they always have one-and-three-quarter eyes on their profit margin, can they afford to do that?  I suspect they'll just put out terrible-looking efforts like the one in the Instagram pic @WezV posted earlier.

guitars4you

Suspecting now - But assume Tom is heading the operation and not the only 'luthier' - So more of a 'team built' approach to appropriate work - I dare say Gibson will offer the odd 'personally aged by TM' with an additional premium attached to the price ticket - I've seen some very good TM aged work and own a 57 Gold Top that oozes appropriate aged character - So I know good examples exist - But the pics attached above are not of the same grade

Barquentine

I don't get it. I understand the idea of a 'played in' guitar but surely that can be achieved without beating the hell out of it. 

lustycourtier

guitars4you said:

Suspecting now - But assume Tom is heading the operation and not the only 'luthier' - So more of a 'team built' approach to appropriate work - I dare say Gibson will offer the odd 'personally aged by TM' with an additional premium attached to the price ticket - I've seen some very good TM aged work and own a 57 Gold Top that oozes appropriate aged character - So I know good examples exist - But the pics attached above are not of the same grade

A good friend of mine works for Gibson, and when I said the same to him he was adamant that Tom does still work, not just head the team or licence his name. This was around the time of the changes last year, and probably before the 'murphy lab' started   

skippy76

Im normally a fan of Toms work (Even though I’ve had plenty of real vintage Gibson’s and the checking isn’t the same, but it’s interesting in its own way , but these prototypes look pretty average at best.

guitars4you

lustycourtier said:

guitars4you said:

Suspecting now - But assume Tom is heading the operation and not the only 'luthier' - So more of a 'team built' approach to appropriate work - I dare say Gibson will offer the odd 'personally aged by TM' with an additional premium attached to the price ticket - I've seen some very good TM aged work and own a 57 Gold Top that oozes appropriate aged character - So I know good examples exist - But the pics attached above are not of the same grade

A good friend of mine works for Gibson, and when I said the same to him he was adamant that Tom does still work, not just head the team or licence his name. This was around the time of the changes last year, and probably before the 'murphy lab' started   

I can see him handling some work and maybe Gibson charge a premium for work personally handled by him - But I bet with this new Murphy Lab, that it will employ 'junior Murphies' that will operate under his control

HandwrittenHero

Brize said:

tony99 said:

Brize said:

johnl said:

I can't see anything wrong with any of those? Alright they look a little on the light side in the photos (which can be deceptive) but that doesn't mean much at all. There looks to be quite an attractive pattern / figuring on the SG as well....

Each to their own, but those fretboards and dry and streaky, which is a hallmark of low-grade rosewood. Compare those boards to the rosewood that the Gibson Custom Shop was using just a few years ago and there's no comparison.

When do you think it changed?

It started going downhill in 2012, although there were good boards on 2013 and 2014 guitars. In the last few years the quality of the rosewood has generally been dire.

Before fretboard condition and restring

After fretboard conditioner.

Just because I said I’d post after doing so.

ThePrettyDamned

Whitecat said:

johnl said:

Brize said:

It will count for nothing if they continue to use low-grade rosewood for their fretboards.

Are they using low-grade rosewood for their custom shop fretboards? 

It’s better than the USA stuff but not nearly as dark as what Fender Custom is using for example. 

Darkest stuff goes on 59s/60s, then trickles downwards as the reissues go back in time. 

Why don't they dye them? 

Right looks, feels the same, everyone is a winner. 

duotone

Just seen Peach have a video up now

https://youtu.be/0P5MrTpjp_s

RaymondLin

duotone said:

Just seen Peach have a video up now

https://youtu.be/0P5MrTpjp_s

Sold already!

duotone

£11k

Crazy prices really

HandwrittenHero

I don’t believe the Murphy Lab is up and running yet, so the one at Peach was more in line with previous offerings.

Not gonna lie, it sounded good and I don’t mind relicing, but even as someone with 2 Gibson CS I adore I can’t see enough value in the guitar over paying half the price for a 2019 or 2020 R9, where the only spec difference is the ageing. 

We’re all different though and there’s obviously a type of person it does cater for and I’m sure someone will be happy with it.

soma1975

HandwrittenHero said:

there’s obviously a type of person it does cater for and I’m sure someone will be happy with it.

These types of people.

Brize

HandwrittenHero said:

Before fretboard condition and restring

After fretboard conditioner.

Just because I said I’d post after doing so.

Is there any difference? If there is, I can't see it.

Gerz6558

11k for that, jesus. Well hats off to Gibson, they are somehow getting away with it. Comical.

HandwrittenHero

Brize said:

HandwrittenHero said:

Before fretboard condition and restring

After fretboard conditioner.

Just because I said I’d post after doing so.

Is there any difference? If there is, I can't see it.

Shade darker, not much close to body but up at nut you can tell where I started with a bit more oil :-p I was probably a bit tight with how much I gave it!