This Gibson Custom Murphy Lab 1964 ES-335 Ultra Light Aged in Sixties Cherry weighs 7 lbs 13 oz. This guitar has tone for days! Acoustically it is rich, voluminous, and projects very well. Personally, I love the way nylon saddles on a 335 sound, they never disappoint! There is so much to discuss with this incredible offering from the Gibson Custom Shop and Tom Murphy that we should probably just dive right in.
Tom Murphy is the guy who nailed aging or relicing Gibson Guitars years ago. His early pieces have gone on to be collector's items and the execution of his aging techniques has only gotten better and better. This guitar features his Ultra Light Aging. This consists of some light weather checking, a nice patina on the finish, lightly aged hardware, and a couple of intelligently placed dings, like around the volume jack.
This is a classic Small Block, 1964 ES-335 in terms of its design. The body is semi-hollow and is constructed from Maple/Poplar/Maple Laminate with a maple center block. Double F-Holes add an elegant look and help with a stronger acoustic tone. Finished in Sixties Cherry and then aged to perfection, this guitar gets a gasp whenever the case opens!
The neck is made from Mahogany and features a period-correct neck profile. The neck is fit with a long neck tenon along with hide glue for the utmost in tone. A bound rosewood fingerboard carries a 12" fingerboard radius and 22 medium-jumbo frets. The nut is made from nylon and is 1.69" wide and the scale length is 24.75". The small-block cellulose nitrate fingerboard inlays add another sweet visual element to the mix.
The pickups are a pair of unpotted Custombucker Humbuckers with Alnico III Magnets. Each pickup has its own volume and control and is accessible alone or in tandem by the three-way pickup toggle switch. Paper in Oil capacitors gives us a straight-from-the-60s tone.
