2000, how can you tell a Murphy?

1958jr · Jan 4, 2020

Any way to ID a Murphy or other hand highlighted paint job on a 2000 R9? Any other features to look for that makes one 2000 R9 worth more than another?
I have an R9 with pretty stable flame (some movement translucency), but not aged.

AA00475Bassman · Jan 4, 2020

COA? Sometimes in a pickup cavity .

Ace139 · Jan 4, 2020

Send the SN# to Gibson. Go to their web-page Imthink it’s under support. They will be able to tell you:salude.

zacknorton · Jan 5, 2020

If it’s that hard to tell if it’s an upcharged “Murphy” then it’s hard to justify the price no??

markguitar · Jan 5, 2020

Tom didn’t paint any guitars in 2000.

duaneflowers · Jan 5, 2020

2000 Murphy Aged R7

AA00475Bassman · Jan 5, 2020

duaneflowers said:
2000 Murphy Aged R7

Now that's a plank just crying to be spanked !!

AA00475Bassman · Jan 5, 2020

Ive been shopping Murphys for the past 6 months that GT gives me chill's !!

duaneflowers · Jan 6, 2020

AA00475Bassman said:
Now that's a plank just crying to be spanked !!

Its a Yamano spec fiddle sporting a set of Wizz Old Wire Laylas that sound absolutely amazing!! When I bought it there was a 2001 available as well... the aging and coloration was almost identical, but this one came with a Costa Rica Lifton Reissue case which screamed COOOL.... and Y2K way cooler than '01. :salude

There was another thread on them here from a while back... I got this one from nikku who discussed some of the various offerings available there... he has since been looking for one to replace it... :teeth

Big Al · Jan 6, 2020

What makes you think it's a Murphy?

Tom Wittrock · Jan 7, 2020

As I recall, Tom marked the guitars with his initials in the age cracks on the face. :hmm

AA00475Bassman · Jan 7, 2020

Tom Wittrock said:
As I recall, Tom marked the guitars with his initials in the age cracks on the face. :hmm

Not all Murphys have this , I have been shopping .

AA00475Bassman · Jan 7, 2020

Here is one way of telling the COA's are varied , as far as TM between the bridge pickup knobs I would not hold that as solid Tom Murphy under the paint in the neck pickup cavity . Many variations and and lots of people own razor blades to sign a guitar . I'm still learning all the variations !

duaneflowers · Jan 7, 2020

Big Al said:
What makes you think it's a Murphy?

Because of the price, silly!!! :##

In Japan, Tom Murphy is like a God... at least in our little Les Paul universe. During the early 2000s Yamano Gakki (Yamano Music Store) was the exclusive importer of Les Pauls into Japan and as such wielded tremendous power over Gibson's #2 market. This relationship continued until late 2006/early 2007 when the market was officially opened up. During their tenure as reigning grand poobah they were afforded many perks, one of which was control over special limited runs just for the Japanese market. 2000 and 2001 saw one of these exclusive runs in the form of the limited run Murphy aged goldtops. I have examined several of these and the aging on them is tastefully quite subtle and quite similar on all of them... although I never noticed any indications that they were aged by Tom Murphy other than Yamano's own advertisements as such. There are no initials carved in either the control cavity, neck bout or anywhere on the face of the guitar. There is no signature on the COA and no documentation suggesting he had anything to do with them. The Japanese are quite meticulous about record keeping, so I suppose a little bit of digging would turn up something of import. I'm sure the music stores have access to that information or they wouldn't be uninhibitedly advertising Murphy Aged Yamano Spec Goldtops from those years for so many years. I have just shot off an email to Yamano asking if they can shed any light on this... so I'm hoping to hear back from them with something more definitive. I asked Gibson once before, but their helpfulness on any requests for information I have sent to them, be they Les Pauls or Acoustics has been as inconsistent as their quality. I will try them again as well though in the hopes they will be a bit more forthcoming this time around. So, in a nutshell, when I bought it it was advertised as Murphy Aged and I have/had no reason to doubt it. :salude

AA00475Bassman · Jan 7, 2020

markguitar said:
Tom didn’t paint any guitars in 2000.

Really do tell ?

nikku · Jan 7, 2020

Not sure of any Murphy painted guitars in 2000 but as has been said there were some aged ones. The COA situation was pretty irregular in 2000 as they had not officially been issued yet, they had for the '99 40th Anniversary ones, but I believe the Tom Murphy signed COAs were officially released in 2001. I'v been out of the Les Paul world for a bit but getting back in now the CITES has been resolved (look out for some amazing LPs from Japan!)

As Duane said there were some very nice Murphy aged goldtops made in 2000 and 2001. Some R6s and R7s. Also a run of (I think 25?) aged R2s! I sold a few of those back in the day.

How can you tell it was Tom? Well who else would it have been at Gibson back then? Gibson will let you know if you give them the COA.

Tom didn't start doing the TM initialing until around 2006 I believe. For me it is easy to tell a Murphy aged guitar and non-Murphy wear. Seen hundreds of them.

I'm really liking these older 99/2000/2001 guitars. The quality of fretboard wood is so much nicer than recently (although I do like the recent offerings from Gibson!)

Just picked up a killer 2001 Custom Authentic myself.

duaneflowers · Jan 8, 2020

I received a reply from Gibson today about this...

Dear Customer,

Yes, at that time Tom did all of the aged guitars for us.
Have a good one!

Sincerely,
Gibson Japan Customer Support

That should lay it to rest... :salude

AA00475Bassman · Jan 10, 2020

duaneflowers said:
I received a reply from Gibson today about this...

Dear Customer,

Yes, at that time Tom did all of the aged guitars for us.
Have a good one!

Sincerely,
Gibson Japan Customer Support

That should lay it to rest... :salude

Did Murphy paint your guitar as well as age ? Thank you

duaneflowers · Jan 10, 2020

AA00475Bassman said:
Did Murphy paint your guitar as well as age ? Thank you

I don't believe he was painting any at the time... he was just focusing on aging them... :salude

AA00475Bassman · Jan 10, 2020

Thank you !

2000, how can you tell a Murphy?

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