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The NEW $20,000 Murphy Lab 1959 Limited Edition Brazilian Les Paul... what are your thoughts?

Any Name You Wish

Any Name You Wish

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Apr 15, 2021
Messages
510
Right now Wildwood (who had 5 or 6 of these Brazilians I believe) has two left. Maybe some famous and rich musicians bought them, or maybe just rich people that play a little now and then (or not at all) bought them. One thing is for sure, Gibson will be making more of them if they can get the Braz. Those cats at Fender better up their game too. Braz Strats man!

Anyway, I focus on my playing these days. Once in a while I'll even get a compliment, and some respect, and that's worth a lot too. Nobody ever asks about the guitar. Come to think of it, I never ask other players about their guitars (such as "is it a Custom Shop or whatever") either. When it comes down to it, it is really not about the guitar. Some of this holy grail guitar stuff is pretty weird.
 
Dave P

Dave P

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Oct 13, 2001
Messages
991
I've tried a few of both the Brazilian and non-Brazilian Murphy Lab LP's. The finish looked and felt cool, but I don't think they sounded any different that the regular non-ML version. I liked my R8 I bought a year ago better to be honest.
 
bursty

bursty

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Dec 25, 2012
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564
Any Name You Wish said:
Right now Wildwood (who had 5 or 6 of these Brazilians I believe) has two left. Maybe some famous and rich musicians bought them, or maybe just rich people that play a little now and then (or not at all) bought them. One thing is for sure, Gibson will be making more of them if they can get the Braz. Those cats at Fender better up their game too. Braz Strats man!

Anyway, I focus on my playing these days. Once in a while I'll even get a compliment, and some respect, and that's worth a lot too. Nobody ever asks about the guitar. Come to think of it, I never ask other players about their guitars (such as "is it a Custom Shop or whatever") either. When it comes down to it, it is really not about the guitar. Some of this holy grail guitar stuff is pretty weird.
Click to expand...
And your last comment makes my entire case for MIJ knock offs.
Thank you 👍
 
B

BlueGuitar!

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Nov 4, 2019
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74
renderit said:
You should get 30K for it if you list it as:
Pre-20k Braz 'good woody' year.
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Brilliant! I even have a Ziploc baggy with Woody from Toy Story on it. I could put the pickguard in there!

Collectors shell out the big bucks for the little things like that. Like the trucker hat you get with the Slash Brazilian Dream.
 
ADP

ADP

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Jul 16, 2015
Messages
691
I bought a Brazilian Dream and returned it outright. What a shit guitar! The Chinese hat was a hell of a bonus! What an insult to consumers.
 
corpse

corpse

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Jun 9, 2007
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4,889
I don't think the 50 or 100 $20K guitars has much impact on their bottom line- the cost of designing, specifying and building them is likely barely break-even.
The chatter does though.
 
sws1

sws1

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Women pay more for limited edition handbags....not because there are more costly parts, or because they hold more stuff...but because buyers respond to "rare", "limited edition", etc etc.
People pay MUCH more for mined diamonds when compared to lab built diamonds when in fact they are exactly the same. Arguably, the lab built diamonds are better because they don't contain flaws. But people pay alot more for mined ones because of perception. Period.
Brazilian fingerboards are not gonna transform a guitar into a killer. And you'd have no way to prove the wood is the reason. Yet, people still gobble it up, because it's limited.
Costs of parts has very little to do with pricing. (see "Marketing 101") When you finally learn this, markets will make alot more sense and become easier to navigate.

Gibson exists to make money. If they can sell a bunch of these (and I have not doubt they will sell all of them), good for them. They're smart. And I bet everyone who buys one will wind up fine (or better) financially in the long run. These brazilian runs have always done well as collectors pieces. (Limited edition Nike air jordan, anyone?)

Worth getting upset over? Not in the slightest. If you want one, buy it. If you don't want one, don't buy it. If you only care about utility, buy an Epiphone Les Paul for $700 and put in some Throbaks or Seymour Duncans. If a $9000 Les Paul historic makes sense to you, but you scoff at a $20k LP (really $16k), perhaps it's time to take a hard look at your own internal reasoning.
 
ADP

ADP

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Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
691
sws1 said:
Women pay more for limited edition handbags....not because there are more costly parts, or because they hold more stuff...but because buyers respond to "rare", "limited edition", etc etc.
People pay MUCH more for mined diamonds when compared to lab built diamonds when in fact they are exactly the same. Arguably, the lab built diamonds are better because they don't contain flaws. But people pay alot more for mined ones because of perception. Period.
Brazilian fingerboards are not gonna transform a guitar into a killer. And you'd have no way to prove the wood is the reason. Yet, people still gobble it up, because it's limited.
Costs of parts has very little to do with pricing. (see "Marketing 101") When you finally learn this, markets will make alot more sense and become easier to navigate.

Gibson exists to make money. If they can sell a bunch of these (and I have not doubt they will sell all of them), good for them. They're smart. And I bet everyone who buys one will wind up fine (or better) financially in the long run. These brazilian runs have always done well as collectors pieces. (Limited edition Nike air jordan, anyone?)

Worth getting upset over? Not in the slightest. If you want one, buy it. If you don't want one, don't buy it. If you only care about utility, buy an Epiphone Les Paul for $700 and put in some Throbaks or Seymour Duncans. If a $9000 Les Paul historic makes sense to you, but you scoff at a $20k LP (really $16k), perhaps it's time to take a hard look at your own internal reasoning.
Click to expand...
These guitars represent the fact that the owner is a Grade-A-Chump. Gibson took their money and laughed all the way.
 
MarcB

MarcB

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Sep 1, 2023
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989
sws1 said:
If you only care about utility
Click to expand...
People have forgotten the importance of the “Standard” range and how in my opinion it’s the only LP guitar you need (in this style) to fulfil the purpose of a LP. All the other models only exist to appeal to those that have more money and have a statement to make (and to make Gibson money).

The standard does the job it’s supposed to do.. make music. If you think the upper range models, play and sound better.. you’ve been had. It’s a guitar, it’s a tool to play music, nothing more.

As I’ve said before, the modern Standard range is the best it’s ever been.. straight out of the box.. with no need to change anything and of all the LP range is the best bang for buck.. hands down.
 
MattD1960

MattD1960

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Mar 17, 2009
Messages
755
sws1 said:
Worth getting upset over? Not in the slightest. If you want one, buy it. If you don't want one, don't buy it. If you only care about utility, buy an Epiphone Les Paul for $700 and put in some Throbaks or Seymour Duncans. If a $9000 Les Paul historic makes sense to you, but you scoff at a $20k LP (really $16k), perhaps it's time to take a hard look at your own internal reasoning.
Click to expand...
I think the deal is they are just that much more out of reach for some of the guys here who do maybe have a few 4/5/6000$ Les Pauls and that next step with a somewhat small detail of the Braz board is JUST outa reach. i think its more frustration by some who feel like they bought the best thing available and it seems each year they come back with someone "better"

this argument has been had at the dawn of any major improvement for the historic reissue series.
 
sws1

sws1

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Dec 4, 2001
Messages
2,850
MattD1960 said:
I think the deal is they are just that much more out of reach for some of the guys here who do maybe have a few 4/5/6000$ Les Pauls and that next step with a somewhat small detail of the Braz board is JUST outa reach. i think its more frustration by some who feel like they bought the best thing available and it seems each year they come back with someone "better"

this argument has been had at the dawn of any major improvement for the historic reissue series.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. But virtually every company that sells a product follows the formula of producing 'new', 'improved', 'enhanced', 'updated' etc versions of their products. It's a well worn trick. The good news, for those that feel frustrated with "last year's model" is that you'll never fall for this marketing tactic again (I hope). And BTW...your "last year's model" is every bit as good as the new one.
 
Any Name You Wish

Any Name You Wish

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Remember that not all re-issue guitars are created equal. Companies do go off the rails from time to time and make changes that few people even want, and these versions of re-issues don't hold their value well (looking at you Fender). Adding Braz boards to a limited run of R9's is probably not going to be a problem and they will hold their value well. Other than adding a Braz board, what else can Gibson do to improve on the current R9? They fixed the bridge, so there's not much left except maybe offering different pickup voicings or something like that. The Murphy Lab guitars are clearly a profit margin machine of wonder, so that one is done. So far they have not screwed up. Whatever changes they make from here will probably be a mistake.
 
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