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"Murphy painted" What's that entail?

Guitardon

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Joined
Feb 3, 2002
Messages
2,134
Based on the number of ‘murphy’ aged guitars released in a year there is no way he can physically age them all himself, he must have a team with him and is supervising them, and then he just does the finishing touches. You can’t have several ‘1 of only 150 Tom Murphy’ and again ‘1 of 50 CCs Tom Murphy’ and dozens of custom orders all in 1 year. It implies when you add them up he’s working on a guitar every single day of the year and has to do it all in a day. Not possible

True but I’m sure Orville Gibson had a crew working for him but the guitars they made were still called Gibson. I would agree TM can’t do all of them alone, but I bet he keeps a close eye to make sure each one is done to exacting specifications, it doesn’t bother me at all. The cert has his name on it and that simply adds value.

I own both a Murphy aged and a Murphy painted. My only criticism is on my aged one is only the top is aged, the back isn’t. Don’t know if it was intentional or it was missed in the final inspection. Really doesn’t matter to me. As far as the Murphy painted one, I bought it cause I love the color of the original bursts he painted in the 90’s. The new 90’s bursts painted by TM are spot on as far as the color. Weather he actually paints them, he got the color right and my guess is that he overseas the entire process. Plus almost everyone I see is 8lbs4oz. Nice and light, I would guess he requests them to be on the lighter side.
 

renderit

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Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
Murphy is a genius and an artist and anybody who says he is not is being a hater.

I don't care for Picasso. It does not make him less of a genius and an artist.
 

zacknorton

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Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
:rofl that is hilarious. And awesome.

Picasso was a bonafide genius, in all forms of visual arts. Print making, sculpture and painting and has had a significant cultural and social impact on the world.

Murphy is good at painting guitars. He’s probably fantastic at it.

But there’s No comparison.
 

Tom Wittrock

Les Paul Forum Co-Owner
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
42,567
Murphy is a genius and an artist and anybody who says he is not is being a hater.

I don't care for Picasso. It does not make him less of a genius and an artist.

:rofl that is hilarious. And awesome.

Picasso was a bonafide genius, in all forms of visual arts. Print making, sculpture and painting and has had a significant cultural and social impact on the world.

Murphy is good at painting guitars. He’s probably fantastic at it.

But there’s No comparison.

You misunderstood Rederit's point. :ganz
[he wasn't comparing them, he was comparing perceptions of their abilities based on whether you liked their abilities]
 

latestarter

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Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
4,173
Absurd? Quite possibly. Maybe even hyperbole.

But I’d still stick with a Bavarian makeover over a Murphy anything.

And for the record, that is only my opinion. So burn it up and throw it away. There is zero currency to my opinion.

Without taking away anything Murphy has done for Gibson, and us as Gibson lovers, I support this notion zack has expressed above. I have owned a Murphy aged Custom and I have seen HM work in the flesh and Bavarian work in this forum. I would take the latter two.

But why would we argue this? It's not really apples with apples. We're lucky to live in a world where we have these choices. It's great that Tom's work demands a premium, as does the others, and we all win as a result.
 

deytookerjaabs

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Nov 6, 2016
Messages
1,592
No thanks to 99% of it for me. I've seen a few jaabs I like, some early Nachos, a couple HM's look good, some early FMIC were okay but the rest? Yuck. I also don't like VOS and have wanted to take my own VOS guitars and polish the living **** out of them. That ridiculous extra even tanning bed tinting then those overly obvious dings yet minus a gillion microscratches then add the faux darkened fretboard with zero natural swell to the wood..most of it is gross and hardly the work of "a true master" but more the work of a market demand. I'd much rather have a Gibson/replica that looks factory perfect when new and just give it 5-10 years. Hell, I've had my reissue strat for a year and it's already got checking/dings/scratched/cracks and finger grooves starting to show. I guess I'm a "TRUE MASTER." :hee
 

surfreak

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Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
1,115
I highly rate Tom Murphy's skills at painting guitars, and in my opinion a Murphy-finished LP is among the very best.

As the owner of a great 2015 True Historic LP aged by Tom, I think instead that when it comes to ageing a guitar, both his technique and results are not particularly convincing or authentic-looking, and there are others who have perfected the ageing makeover well beyond Murphy.

Skillful as it might be, simulating lacquer checking lines with a razor will never look as realistic as, say, the forced freezing technique used by others.
 

Tom Wittrock

Les Paul Forum Co-Owner
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Aug 2, 2001
Messages
42,567
Skillful as it might be, simulating lacquer checking lines with a razor will never look as realistic as, say, the forced freezing technique used by others.

I don't think Tom Murphy uses razors anymore. Not sure when he quit, but that was my impression from listening to him in Dallas a month ago.
 

Big Al

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Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
No thanks to 99% of it for me. I've seen a few jaabs I like, some early Nachos, a couple HM's look good, some early FMIC were okay but the rest? Yuck. I also don't like VOS and have wanted to take my own VOS guitars and polish the living **** out of them. That ridiculous extra even tanning bed tinting then those overly obvious dings yet minus a gillion microscratches then add the faux darkened fretboard with zero natural swell to the wood..most of it is gross and hardly the work of "a true master" but more the work of a market demand. I'd much rather have a Gibson/replica that looks factory perfect when new and just give it 5-10 years. Hell, I've had my reissue strat for a year and it's already got checking/dings/scratched/cracks and finger grooves starting to show. I guess I'm a "TRUE MASTER." :hee

Yup, das rye!:dude:
 

bandcgrizzly

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Messages
119
I can appreciate the talents of the men who work on build and 'age' guitars.
But I just don't dig the fake aged finish thing.
Buying a guitar that's been aged by use of tools is like buying a new car kicking a couple dents in it and saying it looks and drives better now.
 

JPP-1

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Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Messages
1,336
I can appreciate the talents of the men who work on build and 'age' guitars.
But I just don't dig the fake aged finish thing.
Buying a guitar that's been aged by use of tools is like buying a new car kicking a couple dents in it and saying it looks and drives better now.

irrespective of the various views on factory aged guitars, your car analogy really doesn't work. There's no market for dented cars. There is a large market for relic'd guitars. The whole aged guitar bit is not dissimilar, if you must use an analogy, to things such as distressed wood floors, crackled porcelain tile, or worn blue jeans were an antique or aged aesthetic is something that many folks like.
 
Last edited:

Patek

Active member
Joined
Dec 4, 2015
Messages
415
I can appreciate the talents of the men who work on build and 'age' guitars.
But I just don't dig the fake aged finish thing.
Buying a guitar that's been aged by use of tools is like buying a new car kicking a couple dents in it and saying it looks and drives better now.

No it isn’t

an original 59 LP is an antique
 

D Anthony

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2016
Messages
17
Skillful as it might be, simulating lacquer checking lines with a razor will never look as realistic as, say, the forced freezing technique used by others.

I know you can control the results with a razor but I can pretty much always tell if a razor was used. Eg: any time the lines have a curve to them the curve is never smooth, its often janky and it looks like it flakes off part of the laquer - you can see this with any of the razor checked finishes but I thought the black lacquer here shows it well.
a7qrNqF.jpg
<script async="" src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

surfreak

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Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
1,115
I don't think Tom Murphy uses razors anymore. Not sure when he quit, but that was my impression from listening to him in Dallas a month ago.

My 2015 TH, and all the more recent Murphy-aged LPs I have seen are still aged with a razor.

Aside from it being fairly obvious even to the naked eye, I guess we all know that one of the tell-tale signs are the "TM" initials carved in the area between the two tone knobs.
 

PHILBERT

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Nov 25, 2006
Messages
1,659
When I went to the HOG to (finally) pick out my ultimate lester out of dozens, now that they really do have "all that mojo going on", it turned out that the one I thought was miles above for color (front and back) was painted by Tom.

2018 Tom Murphy Custom Shop 59 Les Paul_01.jpg2018 Tom Murphy Custom Shop 59 Les Paul_02.jpg2018 Tom Murphy Custom Shop 59 Les Paul_03.jpg

Lucky for me it was also incredible sounding (best out of many I tried), and a real "flamer". Never heard that growl and bloom out of a Custom Shop Les Paul before, with all the classic LP tone we know and love, from a newly made Gibson. But when I learned it was a Murphy, I then knew the difference. I love this "thing"! :jim

Phil
 

zacknorton

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Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
Gotta be the paint and the color/shading pattern that makes that guitar sound so good.
 

Chef Greg

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Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
6,611
I must say that every refinisher discussed here is very, very talented... each in their own way -- imho Murphy painted is a bit more desirable because the market dictates it.... now I must post my favorite Murphy painted just because.... :salude ...(nfs)

9 9125 in 1999 :
148851_106075356128322_2624421_n.jpg



and in 2019 :
21617657_1563312083737968_7324350422380885477_n.jpg
 
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