gringopig's guitars
2022 Gibson Murphy Lab Ultra Heavy Aged 1959 Les Paul
This was a guitar that I had to have. I Love the look and feel of Heavy and Ultra Heavy Aged guitars from Gibson. I think they do a fantastic job of making not only exceptionally well done finishes but the guitars themselves weirdly seem to benefit from it. I have played many reliced Fender guitars that aren't very good but not one Gibson that wasn't great.
This one was used and I had 2 to choose from: one new and this one and it came home with me.
The other contender was a Made to Measure Ultra Heavy Relic in Dirty lemon Burst and I played it first and was almost convinced it was for me until I was handed the used one you can see above and it was immediately obvious that it was the better guitar for me. Even acoustically, it rang out.
Not to say the other wasn't a great guitar and for many, it would have been the choice but this one had a 'pop' and character to it that I liked
Click on gallery for larger version
It's a 2022 70th Anniversary model made by Gibson's Murphy lad and they really know how to relic a guitar.
I like relics for the look but more importantly, the feel of them. Plus the fact that I don't like feeling nervous about a perfect unblemished guitar. I had a 1964 Jazzmaster that was mint and a PRS Yellow Tiger McCarty and both of those made me nervous about playing them. At least with an Ultra Heavy Aged instrument, you could ding it and not even be bothered or even notice!
I sold both of them as I didn't enjoy playing them.
This one has the unpotted Alnico III Humbuckers that I like so much and a really springy vibrant sound and attack. The difference between it and the other I had asked GuitarGuitar to bring up from Newcastle was quite noticeable. I had expected to go for the other one
The contender as seen above looks amazing and I was fully expecting to buy it but got the used one up as well so I could compare but what counts is how it sounds and the one I went for was better sounding to me and cheaper being used!
The one above sounded less vibrant acoustically but had a nice solid sound indeed. Just different. No worse really.
I'm very happy with the one I went for. Except for the toggle switch which was white. Minor niggle I know so I have an amber tip coming from Crazyparts.
Watch my Murphy Lab video featuring this video below:
