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

review
GIBSON MURPHY LAB
84
GUITARIST AUGUST 2021
new guitar. But even if some of the finer
details might be lacking, there’s little doubt
that this is a very, very good example of the
Junior style. It’s also one of the closest legal
‘clones’ of the original that this writer has
ever experienced.
Verdict
To sum up a brand-new artisan-made
guitar that sits north of the five grand mark
is easy enough. Is it perfectly built? Are
the materials, electrics and hardware of
superlative quality? Does it play brilliantly
and sound amazing? Simple! However,
when it comes to guitars such as this that
have been artificially aged to recreate
various levels of use and abuse, at serious
cost, it’s rather more tricky.
So, is the ageing authentic looking? Is that
really how a guitar goes after a number of
gigs? And by the standards of whichever
style of player – aggressive, careful, cleans
the instrument after every show, or just
chucks it in the trunk?
The ultra-light aged ES-335 is an odd
one. We think we’d rather see either a
totally new guitar or one that’s an ageing
grade or two above. This one, while a truly
super ES-335 in every other respect, sits
uncomfortably in no-man’s-land, the big
cracks spoiling an otherwise cared-for
‘vintage’ guitar. At the moment, only a ’61
Cherry model in a heavy age is available,
or a ’59 ultra heavy aged Vintage Natural
version. And they are roughly two-and-a-
half to four grand more!
The Junior has the same dilemma. The
light aged version of the same thing comes
in £1,700 cheaper than our heavy aged
review model, and while it really is a very
good Junior, unlike our other two historic
models here, you could buy a ‘player’s grade’
real thing for that amount of cash. There’s
also those unaged plastic parts to consider
(also present on the ’59), which do give the
impression that the Murphy Lab ran out
of time in creating these fetching illusions.
Nevertheless, despite those caveats, the
Junior not only looks beautifully antique
but it really captures the essence of this raw
rock ’n’ roll classic.
Finally, the ’59 Les Paul. It’s a particularly
fine example of its breed and one that’s
been made to look as though it’s lived a
pretty tough life. Most of the distressing
is exceptionally well done and perfectly
plausible, but we’re not convinced by some
of the bare wood areas on this model. We
12. Now, although the
Custombuckers have
heavily aged covers,
Gibson doesn’t explicitly
state that these are
based on a specific
historic pickup
13. As with our Junior,
that central decal was
applied over the lacquer
back in the day – an
oddity that means it
wears away very easily,
hence the simulated
wear here
14. Aside from the fact it’s
a solid body, the Les Paul
hangs very differently
from an ES-335 on a
strap. The ageing in this
area is hugely evocative
of the real thing
It’s important to
remember that
what you get here
is a vintage-style
guitar with no issues
of provenance
or originality
12
GIT474.rev_gibson.indd 84GIT474.rev_gibson.indd 84 09/06/2021 20:0609/06/2021 20:06