Gibson Murphy Lab '59 Les Paul Standard Reissue Ultra Heavy Aged

79
AUGUST 2021 GUITARIST
review
GIBSON MURPHY LAB
cracks, with none of the secondary or
ancillary lines running between them.
There’s no playing wear and only the
mildest hint of tarnish to the nickel work.
Like the ’59 Les Paul, none of the plastic
parts are aged, but here they don’t sit
too awkwardly against the mild ageing
elsewhere on the guitar.
However, this situation is quite different
with the ’59 Standard, which comes with
the Lab’s most extreme ageing. So pristine
humbucker rings, pickguard, knobs,
jack socket surround, and so on, do seem
somewhat at odds. It’s the same with the
’57 Junior where the classic shape of the
single-piece plastic pickguard on this TV
Yellow guitar really plays its part in the
guitar’s appearance – much more than
it does on a sunburst variant. The P-90
sits under the dog-ear cover and, unlike
the rest of the guitar, these plastic parts,
including the rear backplate, are unaged in
contrast to the finish and hardware. It’s a
glaring oddity in this Murphy Lab concept.
Continuing with the ’59 Les Paul, its
lacquering and ageing is mostly excellent.
Gibson hasn’t fallen into its old trap of
dulling the finish, nor leaving the dreaded
‘orange peel’ of some VOS instruments.
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1. The Custom Shop
makes its own
humbuckers such as this
Alnico 3 Custombucker
2. Exactly what you’d
expect in terms of
control: here, Gibson
uses CTS pots and
paper-in-oil capacitors
3. Such a classic, this
‘narrow’ headstock
places the ‘crown’ inlay
(a design that dates
back to 1938) adjacent
to the A- and B-string
tuners. Over the years,
it moved and that
headstock got wider
4. You can see some light
lacquer cracks, but do
they ruin the tuxedo
vibe? That’s the debate
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