DaveJTR Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 Went to Righteous Guitars in Alpharetta today (shoutout to Jeff). Played: Two J-45 Murphy Labs One Southern Jumbo Murphy Lab Two J-45 42 Banners One LG-2 Banner Was surprised at the distress levels between the two J-45 Murphy models. One of them seemed like a very light distress, while the other was more heavily distressed. The more distressed J-45 Murphy Lab is the best sounding acoustic guitar I’ve ever heard/played in my life (I’ve strummed a lot). The other Murphy Lab sounded very good, but not great. The J-45 Banners sounded different than the Murphy Labs, despite being the same structurally. They just didn’t sound as open as the Murphy Labs. The Southern Jumbo was a great sounding (and pretty to look at) Rosewood option. Totally different tone and more dense sounding than the Hog. More heavy too and sounded that way. The LG-2 Banner had a great tone. But the sound was just so small after strumming full-sized guitars. I was opposed to Reliced guitars before today, but Tom Murphy’s work is very classy and looks great. And FEELS great too. The necks are distressed too, and the playability was appreciably better. Dave 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovadelic Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 I played a Murphy Lab Hummingbird at Gibson Garage in Nashville last fall. As a long time Hummingbird TV owner, the Murphy was flat out amazing - very "open sounding" and dynamic. It was also my first time playing a thermally aged top so it could be that too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 (edited) semi related I have here at the house a M-Labs SG, it's not mine, it's a friends who wanted me to play around with it for a while (dude has like 40 guitars) the neck had the finish "artificially" removed down to the bare wood IMHO A disappointing decision. Feels like crap whenever the hand rubs over that section which of course is a lot because they put it where most of the wear would be (first 6 frets.) DOH! I don't know man,, this stuff aint for me Edited May 21 by kidblast 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJTR Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 48 minutes ago, kidblast said: semi related I have here at the house a M-Labs SG, it's not mine, it's a friends who wanted me to play around with it for a while (dude has like 40 guitars) the neck had the finish "artificially" removed down to the bare wood IMHO A disappointing decision. Feels like crap whenever the hand rubs over that section which of course is a lot because they put it where most of the wear would be (first 6 frets.) DOH! I don't know man,, this stuff aint for me The necks are distressed and the distressing is different on each guitar. So there will be some guitars that have more/less wear on the neck. The ones I played were great, but I can totally see your situation being the case. Note* none of the ones I played had necks down to the bare wood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Exciting thread-theme. The Murphys still hide in future for my part, so taken all reports in with curiosity. Confess bein' ambivalent about the concept - yet can see they (in their own artificial way) look amazing. But the relic necks, , , , may be too much to handle. . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 19 hours ago, kidblast said: semi related I have here at the house a M-Labs SG, it's not mine, it's a friends who wanted me to play around with it for a while (dude has like 40 guitars) the neck had the finish "artificially" removed down to the bare wood IMHO A disappointing decision. Feels like crap whenever the hand rubs over that section which of course is a lot because they put it where most of the wear would be (first 6 frets.) DOH! I don't know man,, this stuff aint for me Huh, in my daily constitutional around the web, I just came across someone offering a “recent gibson” (probably a j-45? Might have been ‘bird) but the pic of the neck was gruesome: bare wood. So I snorted about how much/hard you’d have to play a newer guitar to do that kind of damage, and scrolled on by. Now I’m second guessing. I don’t recall they were pitching it as an ML, and it must have been in the 2k range since I clicked in. Wonder if I can reconstruct that particular search… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 10 grand cdn up here for a J45 ML. No thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 19 hours ago, DaveJTR said: The necks are distressed and the distressing is different on each guitar. So there will be some guitars that have more/less wear on the neck. The ones I played were great, but I can totally see your situation being the case. Note* none of the ones I played had necks down to the bare wood! 50 minutes ago, PrairieDog said: Huh, in my daily constitutional around the web, I just came across someone offering a “recent gibson” (probably a j-45? Might have been ‘bird) but the pic of the neck was gruesome: bare wood. So I snorted about how much/hard you’d have to play a newer guitar to do that kind of damage, and scrolled on by. Now I’m second guessing. I don’t recall they were pitching it as an ML, and it must have been in the 2k range since I clicked in. Wonder if I can reconstruct that particular search… since a Pictures worth 1,000 words ... here's three My friend says the finish is called "sage green" which is a color that I don't ever recall, so this one here was a custom finish I suppose. it's not a bad player, and sounds decent. it's light, with a little bit of neck dive. but this is not how I'd want to spend $8k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 12 hours ago, slimt said: 10 grand cdn up here for a J45 ML. No thank you Just like the prostitutes say, you gotta pay to play. People love em. Go ahead and make Gibson richer it’s your $. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 I noticed the bridge is wrong on the SJ 1942 murphy lab or is that part if the worn look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 19 minutes ago, slimt said: I noticed the bridge is wrong on the SJ 1942 murphy lab or is that part if the worn look? 😆 , , , , good eyesight, BUT ! , , , , don't know if the ghost of the old folkie was involved, but if you look at W. Guthrie's legendary Southern Jumbo, the same bridge direction will show. Believe this wasn't a lone-swallow, , , , happened now and again - a possible up'n'down logic would be JT's department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 Not sure had the cut through saddle though. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 Such a beauty ~ , , , with bindings. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 7 minutes ago, E-minor7 said: Such a beauty ~ , , , with bindings. . . Thats pretty nice. I see now on the bridge. Looks odd compared to the other flattops of the time frame 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 6 hours ago, E-minor7 said: 😆 , , , , good eyesight, BUT ! , , , , don't know if the ghost of the old folkie was involved, but if you look at W. Guthrie's legendary Southern Jumbo, the same bridge direction will show. Believe this wasn't a lone-swallow, , , , happened now and again - a possible up'n'down logic would be JT's department. Well, it's Gibson, so no logic involved! 🙂 The Banner/WWII-era SJs featured both the belly-down and rectangular bridges. Gibson seems to have made the switch from belly to rectangular in late 1945. The Banner SJs never had the belly-up bridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 Thank you. I was more just curious about the period correct items applied to these guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 (edited) Interested to play the L-00 Murphy - one just arrived at a shop here after they advertised it as 'coming soon' since last September! Good way to cool ya heels! They want Oz Dollars $9999...yikes. I better go give it a blast before some rich nong buys it. (I prefer the real deal oldies). https://skymusic.com.au/products/gibson-custom-shop-murphy-lab-1933-l-00-light-aged-ebony I could get this delivered from Rudy's for about the same OZ dollars after travel, custom, tax, minor and major fleecings.... https://reverb.com/item/81020637-gibson-1933-l-00-black I will go look in my music room to see what I already have...oh look, I got a 37! BluesKing777. Edited May 26 by BluesKing777 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 (edited) When is a 10k guitar from Gibson gonna be the cheapest guitar they make? Soon? Edited May 26 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 (edited) On 5/22/2024 at 3:11 PM, kidblast said: Okay ~ Edited May 26 by E-minor7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 3 hours ago, BluesKing777 said: Interested to play the L-00 Murphy - one just arrived at a shop here after they advertised it as 'coming soon' since last September! Good way to cool ya heels! They want Oz Dollars $9999...yikes. I better go give it a blast before some rich nong buys it. (I prefer the real deal oldies). https://skymusic.com.au/products/gibson-custom-shop-murphy-lab-1933-l-00-light-aged-ebony I could get this delivered from Rudy's for about the same OZ dollars after travel, custom, tax, minor and major fleecings.... https://reverb.com/item/81020637-gibson-1933-l-00-black I will go look in my music room to see what I already have...oh look, I got a 37! BluesKing777. I bought a 1931 L00 about a month ago. One of the very first in the second batch according to spann It has character , years of wear. , years of stories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 8 hours ago, slimt said: I bought a 1931 L00 about a month ago. One of the very first in the second batch according to spann It has character , years of wear. , years of stories. Did I miss the NDG? Pics! Pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 1 hour ago, PrairieDog said: Did I miss the NDG? Pics! Pics! I kind of went over my quota for photos. Trying to figure out how to get rid of the past ones 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 13 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said: When is a 10k guitar from Gibson gonna be the cheapest guitar they make? Soon? From what I see. This is including the electrics in the MLabs There are two variances . Standard rosewood then a 6000 up charge for a Brazilian board model they are getting more expensive like everything else . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieDog Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 2 hours ago, slimt said: I kind of went over my quota for photos. Trying to figure out how to get rid of the past ones 🙂 Are you on imgur? I got that message once so I deleted a bunch of photos that are now broken links, including my bear video 😞 But I only had like 20 pics in my file left and was still getting the flag. On a whim I tried making a new guitar folder to put pics in, and that worked. Haven’t had the problem since, although I haven’t posted too many pics since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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