Dr. Green
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2018
- Messages
- 683
so today I had an opportunity to check out some Murphy labs vs regular Historic Les Pauls
a few observations :
1) the Murphys Labs did indeed look " vintage " in comparison to many relics I have seen which looked so fake to my semi trained eyes who has seen several vintage bursts first hand - but not played one
2) the back colors were obviously different with the Murphs having almost a burnt chocolate coloration in comparison to a deep classic red of a normal historic or the wonky milk chocolate of a historic goldtop
its obvious that the wonky plasticizer formula has been changed
the crazing looked right and close to vintage Gibson I have seen
3) the Maple used was not impressive in the sense that there were no begal tiger dramatic tops
4) the Maple did look right for a les paul and being less "over the top" lent itself to the vintage vibe .... short of a "less is more" type thing
5) the hardware was aged but I will reserve comment as I am not the ultimate guru on that particular detail - it did seem right in the sense that it was subtle and not ridiculously over the top such as home attempts using nitric acid , salt and coffee grounds which look silly
6) now we get to the "meat and potatoes " - the NITRO was a HUGE step up from the sticky, gummy , tacky soft mess of years past - it was rock hard on all surfaces with the neck having a wonderful glass feel. the nitro felt thinner - there was none of the wonky VOS type surface finish - THE NITRO WAS SUNK INTO THE WOOD - in other words you could feel the wood grain had absorbed nitro into the pores
any comments or criticisms ?????????
a few observations :
1) the Murphys Labs did indeed look " vintage " in comparison to many relics I have seen which looked so fake to my semi trained eyes who has seen several vintage bursts first hand - but not played one
2) the back colors were obviously different with the Murphs having almost a burnt chocolate coloration in comparison to a deep classic red of a normal historic or the wonky milk chocolate of a historic goldtop
its obvious that the wonky plasticizer formula has been changed
the crazing looked right and close to vintage Gibson I have seen
3) the Maple used was not impressive in the sense that there were no begal tiger dramatic tops
4) the Maple did look right for a les paul and being less "over the top" lent itself to the vintage vibe .... short of a "less is more" type thing
5) the hardware was aged but I will reserve comment as I am not the ultimate guru on that particular detail - it did seem right in the sense that it was subtle and not ridiculously over the top such as home attempts using nitric acid , salt and coffee grounds which look silly
6) now we get to the "meat and potatoes " - the NITRO was a HUGE step up from the sticky, gummy , tacky soft mess of years past - it was rock hard on all surfaces with the neck having a wonderful glass feel. the nitro felt thinner - there was none of the wonky VOS type surface finish - THE NITRO WAS SUNK INTO THE WOOD - in other words you could feel the wood grain had absorbed nitro into the pores
any comments or criticisms ?????????
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