Gibson has permanently secured its place in the guitar pantheon, from jazz to rock, blues to metal. Founded in 1894 by Orville H. Gibson in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, the company reshaped the guitar world through major technical and aesthetic innovations such as humbuckers and iconic designs like the Flying V, Explorer and Firebird. With ambassadors ranging from Charlie Christian to Slash, via Tony Iommi and, of course, Lester Polsfuss, Gibson has crossed eras and styles, establishing itself as a cornerstone of both electric and acoustic guitar history.
Tom Murphy and his team build every Murphy Lab guitar in the Gibson Custom Shop workshops in Nashville, Tennessee, using the most advanced tools and technologies available. Each instrument is hand-built and finished with techniques that produce highly authentic ageing effects, delivering the character, tone and feel that elevated the original models to iconic status.
This ES-335 ’64 is a particularly accurate interpretation of the pivotal 1964 model, combining Custom Shop precision with a very restrained Murphy Lab ageing treatment. The laminated maple/poplar/maple body paired with a solid maple centre block achieves an ideal balance between sustain, feedback control and acoustic openness. The Light Aged nitro finish allows the wood to vibrate freely and immediately conveys the feel of a played-in instrument, without visual excess.
The mahogany neck with an Authentic ’64 Medium C profile sits naturally in the hand. It offers more substance than a Slim Taper while remaining fluid, well suited to both wide chord work and more articulated phrasing. The rosewood fingerboard, 12” radius and small block inlays typical of the period reinforce the sixties feel, with stable playability across the entire neck.
The two unpotted Alnico III Custombuckers give this 335 an open voice rich in harmonics, with gentle compression and a very musical midrange. Clean tones are wide and precise; under crunch, the sound becomes dense and vocal without losing clarity. We spent extensive time playing it through several amplifiers (notably a Fender Twin, a Princeton, a Magnatone and a Friedman Twin Sister), and each time the guitar stood out for how easily it found its place, from broad clean tones to more driven sounds. An ES-335 that clearly shows why this model remains an absolute reference, equally at home in blues, rock, jazz or soul.
2-year warranty from our workshop.
