The Marvels of the Murphy Lab
There are 7.764 billion people on this beautiful ball of water and dirt that we call home, and hardly any of them know Gibson guitars better than Tom Murphy. Tom is a legend in the world of guitars, and instruments bearing his name have acquired a deservedly sterling reputation due to their outstanding tone, jaw-dropping looks, and stunning vintage accuracy. But, he wasn't always a rockstar of lutherie. In fact, he worked as a professional touring musician for many years, and during that time he became intimately acquainted with vintage guitars: how they sound, how they feel, and how they look. After deciding to stop touring, Tom got a job as a finish specialist at Gibson and eventually became a project manager in charge of the first reissues of the 1959 Les Paul standard.
For a while, Tom also gained valuable experience working as a luthier to the stars, and his client list included luminaries like Jimmy Page, Dickey Betts, Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, and Gary Rossington.
Now, things have come full circle, and our friends at Gibson have handed Tom the keys to a brand-new institution of sonic savagery within the Gibson Custom Shop: the Murphy Lab. Tom and his team of skilled craftspeople have one mission, and one mission only: to create the most ridiculously awesome recreations of vintage Gibson guitars that the world has ever seen. Now, they've expanded their efforts and stepped into the acoustic realm, and the resulting resulting guitars are surely the product of some sort of dark sorcery, because they have bewitched the Wildwood staff with their true-to-life, authentic aged finishes and superior sonic horsepower.
Step Into the Lab
Murphy Lab is aptly named because it is basically the musical equivalent of what happens when you give a mad scientist a laboratory fully stocked with warp drives and flux capacitors. With a plethora of resources behind them, Tom and his team have been able to create guitars that are essentially carbon copies of vintage Gibsons. They look, feel, and sound so close to the originals that it's downright scary.
Of course, the heart of the Murphy Lab is the aging process. Part of what made Tom a legend was his ability to replicate the natural wear and tear found on distressed vintage instruments by hand-aging brand-new instruments. With his practiced eye and skilled hands, Tom artfully mimicked the finish and feel of old guitars, and he has imparted his skills to the talented team at the Murphy Lab.
Though Tom may not age each and every guitar himself, he has done a bang-up job of teaching his team the Way of Murphy, and they do a marvelous job of replicating his masterful work. As a result, each guitar looks like it came out of a time machine and feels like your favorite worn-in pair of blue jeans.
Their acoustics offerings are meant to mimic the feel of one of a guitar that was someone's "number one" for many years. In other words, a treasured guitar that got played often but was well-taken-care-of, beloved but not babies. All in all, it feels pretty sweet--sitting down with one for the first time is kind of like saying hello to a best friend you've never met before.
The Beauty of the Banner
The Gibson Acoustic Custom Shop 1942 Banner J-45 you see to the right has one of the most fascinating stories in all of six-string history. Everyone knows that Gibson's "banner guitars" (World War II-era guitars named for the banner logo on their headstocks) are among the most revered vintage guitars of all time, but there's more to the story here than wood and wire. The tale of the Banner J-45 has it all: war, mystery, intrigue, unlikely heroes, and redemption. These modern recreations are stunning tributes to the Banner J-45's legacy, and they exemplify the high standards of quality and peerless craftsmanship of our friends at Gibson Montana. But, before we jump into all the reasons these guitars sound so incredible, we have to take a detour to Kalamazoo, Michigan during World War II to understand their magic.
The Story of the Kalamazoo Gals
During World War II, the Gibson Guitar Corporation was in a bit of a pickle. Almost all of its employees were overseas fighting in the war, and production ground to a halt as a result. To complicate matters more, Gibson
technically wasn't supposed to divert workers and material from the war effort to build guitars.
But, the world needs music, and you need guitars to make music (well, most music, anyway), so Gibson opted to keep the factory open. But, they still needed workers, and more and more men were getting drafted every day. So, as many other companies did during World War II, they turned to women in their hour of need, and soon the Gibson factory on Patterson Street was bustling with gals from Kalamazoo.
It is far beyond the purview of this product overview text to tell the entire story of all these skilled women (and if you want more information, John Thomas wrote a fascinating book about them called "Kalamazoo Gals: A Story of Extraordinary Women and Gibson’s Banner Guitars of World War II"). But, here's the condensed version: the women that worked at Gibson from 1941 to 1945 churned out some of the finest acoustic guitars in the world. Many of them weren't musicians, and they viewed their work at Gibson as just a job. Nevertheless, they produced holy grail guitar after holy grail guitar in relative anonymity over the course of the war.
Phantom Guitars
Unfortunately, they never received any credit for their work until recently. According to their records, Gibson didn't produce any guitars during World War II, and any that they sold were labeled "New Old Stock" produced before the war. Officially, the Kalamazoo Gals' work didn't exist. They kept their wartime activities clandestine for two reasons: first, because they weren't
technically supposed to be building guitars during wartime; and second, because they were afraid musicians wouldn't buy guitars built by women.
The opposite turned out to be true. As time passed, musicians began to realize that Gibsons with the banner logo on the headstock were on another level of greatness. Resale prices steadily climbed, and soon the guitars built by the Kalamazoo Gals became some of the most sought-after guitars on the vintage market.
The Kalamazoo Gals finally got their moment in the spotlight, too. After John Thomas published his book, they received the recognition they deserved for their contributions to Gibson's legacy and Kalamazoo history.
A Tribute For the Ages
Of course, since John Thomas's book brought them back into the spotlight, the price of Banner Gibsons has been on a steady rise. Thankfully, our friends at Gibson have built these wonderful recreations at the Custom Shop in their Bozeman plant. Using old-world manufacturing techniques and top-notch tonewoods, the master luthiers of Montana have captured the magic and mojo of the banner-era Gibsons in a modern package.
The top wood is the cornerstone of any acoustic guitar, and Gibson chose to use premium red Adirondack spruce for the 1942 Banner J-45, a move that we wholeheartedly applaud. Here at Wildwood, we love Adirondack spruce's tonal properties the way Kirk Hammett loves wah pedals: truly and deeply, with our entire collective heart. It just gives acoustic guitars a little more of everything: more percussive articulation in the attack, more projecting power, more volume, and more headroom. When paired with mahogany back and sides in these J-45s, it produces a warm, open, full tonality with plenty of midrange punch, and it responds equally well to subtle, nuanced fingerstyle playing and enthusiastic bluegrass strumming.
Adirondack spruce is enticing in an unaltered state, but our friends at Gibson took it a step further by putting it through their thermal engineering process. Basically, they torrify the top by subjecting it to heat in a vacuum, which removes all the moisture from the wood and helps it achieve a cellular structure similar to that of a real old guitar. It imparts a clear, woody character to the guitar's sound, and it also helps the guitar sound open, lively, and three-dimensional.
Only a Gibson is Good Enough
We're proud to showcase the 1942 Banner J-45, a guitar with a spectacular sound that tells an incredible story. It's a beautiful tribute to the Kalamazoo Gals and Gibson's rich history, and we are proud to showcase it for our exceptional customers. We know that its spectacular vintage-inspired tone will inspire you to embark on all kinds of exciting fretboard adventures!
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