Gibson Custom Shop 1955 J-45 - murphy lab light aged vintage sunburst

The Murphy Lab is the section specializing in the “Aging” process of the Gibson Custom Shop. Like Lloyd Loar, Les Paul or Ted McCarty, Tom Murphy is an inseparable figure in the history of Gibson. After a brief stint at the Nashville sawmill, which he joined in 1989, he joined the paint department where he acquired fundamental knowledge to become a specialist in finishing and more particularly in nitrocellulose varnish.
In 1994 he established his own company. He will devote several years to analyzing the characteristics of vintage Gibson guitars, and developing exclusive techniques for varnishing and early maturation of instruments. Impressed by this unequaled expertise, Gibson decided to collaborate with the master builder and introduced the “Aged” models in 1999. The plebiscite was unanimous. To meet exponential demand, Gibson is opening the Custom Shop Murphy Lab division in Nashville Tennessee in 2021. Each craftsman on the team is trained in person by Tom Murphy for complete mastery of the sophisticated tools and procedures needed to craft these guitars. exceptional.

The Murphy Lab offers four levels of aging:

• Ultra Light reproduction of an instrument that would have spent most of its existence carefully stored in its case. The rate of wear is very subtle, with a discreet V.O.S. style patina. (Vintage Original Specs).
• Light presents more frank but nevertheless discreet marks (scratches of pick, small shocks).
• Heavy presents the appearance of a guitar having spent several decades on the road, with many marks on the varnish at the level of the friction zones (belt buckle, forearm, back of the sleeve). Metal parts are oxidized by Murphy Lab.
• Ultra Heavy is the ultimate stage of aging. You will have in your hands the replica of a Les Paul or an SG having been the subject of intensive use since its acquisition in the late 1950s. but naturally arranged on all the surface of the instrument, significant oxidation and patina.