In 2000, Tom Murphy created a relic guitar based upon the 1957 Les Paul Gold Top guitar.  He and the Gibson Custom Shop did everything possible to make this new guitar identical to the ones created over 50 years ago, and they have done an excellent job.  You could compare a 1957 Les Paul Gold Top to this relic guitar, and you’d find them nearly identical.  The attention to every small detail is outstanding, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from Gibson, would you?

The 1957 Gibson features a maple top with a mahogany back.  The neck is fairly long, but it produces an amazing sound thanks to the long neck tenon.  The Les Paul Gold Top guitar has a rosewood fingerboard that features pearloid trapezoid inlays.  The bridge is an ABR-1 and has a stopbar tailbpiece.  The guitar also features two 1957 classic humbuckers and, if ordered new from the Gibson Custom Shop, will ship with its own hard shell case.  The Gibson Custom Shop also applies a number of interesting techniques that made their relic guitars look like they’ve been around for ages.  These hand-done aging techniques include adding nicks and scratches and used aged parts.  The entire instrument feels and looks like it has been played for years.