Gibson Garage London opening videos.

[MarcB]

no

In your opinion what is?

The stairway solo has to be right up there, in public opinion as the best, simply due to the huge number of people who know the song ?

 

[J T]

I've heard it a zillion times and the more I listened to it, really listened to it, came to the conclusion that it is just showing off. There is no embellishment of the melody at all, and just a string of noodles. At the time, it was what was happening. So be it.

Hey but it is one of the most popular rock songs of all time. So who am I to question any of that.

Rock On.

 

[lure555]

I just wanna know who pissed Mark off in the Gibson video.

 

[MarcB]

I've heard it a zillion times and the more I listened to it, really listened to it, came to the conclusion that it is just showing off. There is no embellishment of the melody at all, and just a string of noodles. At the time, it was what was happening. So be it.

Hey but it is one of the most popular rock songs of all time. So who am I to question any of that.

Rock On.

I’ve also heard it a zillion times.. but I’m reviewing Led Zep right now.. and as much as I agree with your comment.. I have to admit that I think for the time it was made and for posterity, the solo has to be classed as phenomenal with a huge appeal to the masses.. I think Page nails the flow of his solo and accents the “rock aggression” perfectly.. as the song starts as a folk ballad.. and the juxtaposition into the heavy ending works perfectly.. which is why, as we wind on down the road, the solo is still a fan favourite..

 

[MarcB]

I just wanna know who pissed Mark off in the Gibson video.

London lol.

 

[jb_abides]

He claims jet lag ?? ->->??... but it was probably Justin and Dan from The Darkness!

 

[metropolis]

Bumping this thread rather than starting a new one. I paid a first visit to the Gibson Garage in London and thought it was great. Very cool fit-out and lots of very interesting guitars in there. I spent some time with some custom shop and Murphy Lab ones and found a few interesting things. I played an ultra-light aged '58, an ulta-heavy aged '59, and a regular '60 V2. All three very interesting guitars each with pluses and minuses.

I was surprised to find a lack of attention to detail on some of them; the fret ends weren't dressed properly on two of them on the bass side past the 15th fret (one was terrible with really obvious square corners on the binding) and the nut wasn't finished on another (rough shaped and set up well but not buffed or even cleanly filed). Certainly things I wouldn't expect to see on guitars that individually cost more than 3 of my current Les Pauls are worth together. While the ultra-heavy aged had a cool look to it, the worn away finish on the neck was very uncomfortable due to the height difference between the finished and unfinished parts. Not the slick feeling you'd expect from a worn in neck. Safe to say I won't be taking the plunge of any of those specific ones.

Here's some photos:

The '58 (struggled with the narrow frets and what I think was a dry board):

The '59 (unfinished nut, fret dress issue and weird aging on the neck, but a lovely neck carve):

Some other random ones I liked the look of:

Mini-humbuckered '59 M2M:

Pelham blue '58 M2M (I think):

Beautiful firebird:

 

[MarcB]

the worn away finish on the neck was very uncomfortable due to the height difference between the finished and unfinished parts

A lot of people are saying the same thing.. I find it amazing that Murphy Lab, being so “authentic” with their work, haven’t addressed this fundamental aspect of the aging process ? it seems obvious that worn paint/varnish on wood is smooth to touch.. not sharp and flakey ?

 

[metropolis]

A lot of people are saying the same thing.. I find it amazing that Murphy Lab, being so “authentic” with their work, haven’t addressed this fundamental aspect of the aging process ? it seems obvious that worn paint/varnish on wood is smooth to touch.. not sharp and flakey ?

Yes I totally agree. I've got a very well worn in LP Standard ('89) with worn away finish on the neck and it's worn away to be smooth and slick, not jagged. I also pointed out to the sales guy that the wear pattern they adopt on the back seems odd - all the wear is along the top edge, as though people have worn the guitars incredibly low. The buckle rash on both of my Les Pauls that show it is right in the middle of the back. When you see a handful of Murphy Lab guitars together you can spot the patterns they follow.

 

[MarcB]

When you see a handful of Murphy Lab guitars together you can spot the patterns they follow.

I guess Murphy Lab are now just in full production mode.. rather than Tom’s original authentic versions.. which obviously take much longer to produce.. and from the interviews of Tom over the years.. it would seem the Lab were taking his ideas and making them standardised for mass production.

 

[metropolis]

Yeah totally, I get that feeling too from his interviews - that he's now got a team trained to follow his methods. To scale beyond a one-person operation you have to have some processes and templates to follow. Appreciate it's a very hands on unique thing to do, and I don't dispute that, but they have been trained and are managed to do it in a certain way... but I also think some of those templates are slightly questionable, or at least very specific to a certain type of player.

 

[MarcB]

very specific to a certain type of player.

It does seem that way.. all the heavy aged guitars are modelled after hard core rocker types who couldn’t give a flying …. about their guitars lol.

 

[NickiC]

As long as the British and Euro market has Gibsons manufactured by the
epiphone factory, our USA line should safe from over rushed production to meet the secondary and third export market demands. It’s a better deal for them, over there.

 

[jb_abides]

As long as the British and Euro market has Gibsons manufactured by the
epiphone factory

Huh?

 

[MarcB]

As long as the British and Euro market has Gibsons manufactured by the
epiphone factory, our USA line should safe from over rushed production to meet the secondary and third export market demands. It’s a better deal for them, over there.

“All Gibson guitars are made in the USA. With their solid-body and hollow-body guitars manufactured at their Nashville headquarters”

 

[NickiC]

“All Gibson guitars are made in the USA. With their solid-body and hollow-body guitars manufactured at their Nashville headquarters”

Euro market will have the foreign made “Gibsons”. We will have the Original USA made.

 

[MarcB]

Euro market will have the foreign made “Gibsons”. We will have the Original USA made.

 

[60thR0]

It does seem that way.. all the heavy aged guitars are modelled after hard core rocker types who couldn’t give a flying …. about their guitars lol.

And it’s the same rocker in case of ML since they follow a formula. The guy that did 1000 gigs with every ML heavy aged wore all of them at the same height, same belt, same jewellery every night, same playing style and mishaps, plus plenty of outdoor events to age both the front and back analyne dyes. In reality it seems in my zero experience far more real bursts that retain some red- often in patches rather than nicely or uniform, with minimal or no checking, and minimal “damage”. Much more are modified than actually worn out…

Maybe they should invent a fictional backstory/provenance for every heavy aged and tailor the wear to that?

 

[MarcB]

Much more are modified than actually worn out…

Murphy Lab should do a run of called “the dog”.. which are heavily modified (badly) versions of 58/59s lol

 

[metropolis]

Murphy Lab should do a run of called “the dog”.. which are heavily modified (badly) versions of 58/59s lol

That would have at least made a great April fools gag. I did comment that the "59" with the mini humbuckers was sacrilege but very cool (I love mini humbuckers and thought it was the best looking top in the whole place).