Take A Look Back At Some Of Tom Murphy’s Earliest Contributions To The Gibson Custom Shop!

While the guitars from the Murphy Labs at Gibson Custom Shop now showcase Tom Murphy’s work in developing the painting and aging techniques Gibson uses to replicate the finishes on its limited-run historic models, Murphy’s contributions to the Custom Shop started long before the establishment of Murphy Labs, going all the way back to the first years we opened up shop!

Now, in addition to CME’s existing inventory of some of the best guitars Gibson has to offer, The CME Collection gives us a look back at a tradition of excellence that Tom Murphy helped begin at the Custom Shop, including models that have been aged and painted by the man, himself!

Made to Historic Measurements

Not long after Gibson officially founded the Custom Shop, it was moved to a separate building from the Gibson USA plant in Nashville, becoming its own entity. In 1993, with Rick Gembar at the helm, Gibson hired Tom Murphy hired alongside J.T. Riboloff to spearhead the Gibson Custom, Art, and Historic division within the Custom Shop.

Together, with the Custom Shop’s team of master luthiers, Murphy and Riboloff were granted access to over two dozen historic Les Paul Standard guitars, meticulously measuring and documenting the attributes of each. The Custom Shop team then combined their research to build exacting replicas—all the way down to recreating the same wear-and-tear that was typical on well-played guitars. 

SHOP CME COLLECTION MURPHY GUITARS

From the earliest editions onward, Tom Murphy helped lay the foundations for the Custom Shop guitars that Gibson has produced in the three decades since, throughout all these years we’ve been selling them, here, at Chicago Music Exchange! 

Where Artists and Historic Models Intersect

At the same time that the Custom, Art, and Historic division was creating its first replicas, the Custom Shop at Gibson began creating limited edition replicas of popular artists’ instruments, still based on these initial tried-and-true vintage designs, but also including modifications that particular artists.

The first in this series was the Gibson Custom Joe Perry '59 Les Paul Reissue, and The CME Collection has brought one of these editions—aged by Tom Murphy, himself—within our walls, in addition one of the Ace Frehley ‘59 Les Pauls from the limited Custom Shop run that followed the Joe Perry!

To see and play some of the earliest, most sought-after editions of guitar to come out of Gibson Custom Shop these past three decades, come to CME and check out the Tom Murphy aged and painted editions and ask about The CME Collection, as well as all our Murphy Labs guitars!

SHOP GIBSON CUSTOM SHOP MURPHY LAB GUITARS

Related Posts

Bad Cat | Mark Sampson Mod Shop Black Cat 30

The iconic Bad Cat Black Cat returns—reimagined by legendary amp designer Mark Sampson. Hand-built in California, the new Mod Shop Black Cat 30 blends boutique tone with modern features, including EL84 power, two channels, lush reverb, and vintage tremolo. This limited-edition combo is the first release from Bad Cat’s Mod Shop series—and it's available now at Chicago Music Exchange.

Read more

Ibanez | Summer 2025 Electric Guitars

Discover the latest 2025 Ibanez guitars at Chicago Music Exchange—your destination for cutting-edge electric guitar innovation, shred-ready performance, and legendary craftsmanship. From iconic RG and AZ models to bold new designs, the 2025 Ibanez lineup delivers next-gen features, sleek finishes, and high-performance specs built for today’s players. Be among the first to shop the newest Ibanez releases, available now at Chicago Music Exchange!

Read more

CME on Tour | Powers Electric May 2025

Recently, CME Director of New Product, Dan Bordonaro, visited Powers Electric’s San Diego headquarters to select tonewoods for a new run of A-Type Select guitars! Working with Andy Powers himself, who is uniquely hands-on with the tonewoods and building process of every Powers Electric guitar, the two selected tonewoods and specifications for our next run of striking Powers Electric A-Type Selects!

Read more