Gibson Custom Shop
Carrying on Orville Gibson’s historic pursuit of sonic excellence and aesthetic perfection, the Gibson Custom Shop combines traditional instrument-making techniques, innovative methods, and meticulous attention to detail to craft instruments worthy of its banner-era slogan, “Only a Gibson is Good Enough.”

This instrument exclusively features woods hand-picked by CME’s expert guitar-buying team at the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville, paired with one of our favorite finishes, plus a thoughtful combination of preferred fingerboards, neck profiles, pickups, and hardware, to make this customized Gibson guitar.

Murphy Lab
Following decades of research for the Gibson Custom, Art, and Historic Division founded in 1993, Gibson Custom Shop established the Murphy Labs Division in 2017 to take Tom Murphy’s proprietary techniques to the next level.

Sporting a scientifically reverse-engineered nitrocellulose lacquer identical what was used on Gibson guitars of the ‘50s and ‘60s, this Custom Shop instrument has been meticulously aged by hand at Murphy Labs—with all the wear-and-tear of a well-played original, including an extra-rolled fingerboard binding for a broken-in feel and true-to-life look.  

1956 Goldtop
1956 was the only full year in which the Les Paul™ model featured the powerful P-90 pickups and the adjustable ABR-1 bridge setup, a combination that allowed the Les Paul model to intonate, sustain, and thrill like never before. This Gibson Custom Shop '56 Reissue captures the look, feel, and searing sound of an original 1956 Les Paul Goldtop in exhaustive detail. Featuring all solid woods, vintage-accurate gold paint, authentic replica parts, Historic narrow/tall frets, and hot hide glue construction. It also features Ultra Light Aging by the skilled artisans of the Murphy Lab. The Murphy Lab Ultra Light Aged finish treatment, paired with lightly aged hardware, simulates decades of light play wear, giving it the unique character, vibe, and feel of an original example from the Gibson Golden Era.