Well what lovely beasty do we have here! This is one of the most sought after Custom Shop Collectors Choice Les Paul’s ever made! It’s the ‘Murphy Aged’ Sandy #4 Sometimes referred to as the 9-1228 model. A Precise ‘Bench Copy’ of a Rare and Prized ’59 Burst owned by Tom Whitrock. You will see it featured on page 84/5 in the Beauty of the Burst book by Yasuhiko Iwanade.
This baby is in pretty much pristine factory condition & has not seen any stage or gigging use at all. Finished in luscious Faded Dirty lemon, over its fabulous figured maple top. It has a sublime 59 neck profile.
There was a maximum run of just 300 Sandy’s with significantly less numbers aged by Tom Murphy. This is from the 2012 run and is aged by ‘The Man’ Tom Murphy. If you are not familiar with Tom or his work, just hit Google! Please do not mistake this one with the VOS version. These Murphy aged models are much more highly sought after and rare, hence they command a higher ticket price.
Although its tempting, I wont blab on too much more about it, as there is quite a lot of info and spec on the web, so if you are interested in a once in a lifetime purchase, then do yourself a favour and check it out in detail!
Below is some info taken from the web:
The Gibson Collector’s Choice series focuses on producing exacting replicas of some of the most important and beautiful individual Gibson guitars ever produced. Collector’s Choice #4 is “Sandy”, the famed 1959 Les Paul Standard Sunburst owned by noted collector Tom Wittrock. Tom (known by many as TW59 on the Les Paul Forum) has said that “Sandy” is his favorite of all the 1959 Les Pauls he’s ever owned. This guitar has been heralded by many who have been fortunate enough to play her as about as perfect an expression of what makes a ’59 Les Paul the holy grail of guitars. Perfect neck shape, great neck pitch, lovely top, great colour. This one’s got it all, and is a perfect candidate for a Collector’s Choice run of replicas. Check out the behind the scenes materials below of how Gibson goes about indexing all the details that Sandy has to offer.
The original Sandy itself is a pretty amazing example of a 1959 Les Paul. it is in pretty good shape considering it has been passed around a bit. At one point one of its owners, in an effort to keep the finish from coming off of the body, had lacquer shot over the neck. It was sprayed over the wear and everything. It was during this time frame also that the pickup covers were removed from the pickups to expose the zebra coils, with the offset square windows that were a major identifying tooling mark on the original Patent Applied for pickups. One of the other nice things about this guitar is has a wonderful full sound versus some of the other original guitars we have inspected. The current owner, Tom Whitrock, and I were even joking that when this guitar was made it must have been a Wednesday because so many things were right on it. Sandy plays beautifully, the neck is a really comfortable neck with just the right amount of “beef” to it and a fairly low neck pitch so the strings feel almost like butter when playing. One of the more standout features about Sandy is the curly eastern hard maple top, it is absolutely a knockout. The flame on this guitar is not very wide flame, but its crossing in and out on itself make it one of the most intense and busy tops we have copied. Overall this guitar really is the perfect example of a Great 1959 Les Paul Model guitar making the Collectors Choice fizl, of Sandy an honor to reproduce.
Payment
Payment can be done via PayPal, bank transfer, cheque or cash on collection!
Very important: If paying by PayPal, please note that we will only ship to confirmed Paypal addresses! Please double check your address is confirmed with Paypal!
Feel free to drop us an email for our bank details for SWIFT/BACS transfers and for any international shipping costs.
If paying by cheque, or collecting in person, please contact us on 07932 074096 to arrange.
Shipping
Our shipping policy is simple: We ship Guitars, Amps and Accessories to the UK, Europe & ROW. We’ve been shipping items to the UK and abroad for many years without any issues, as we always use the best and most reliable shipping companies. All guitars and amps will be shipped insured and tracked. So you can check your shipping status anytime. We always package them to the highest possible standard.
Note: All amps are preferably UK shipping or collection only. We rarely ship amps internationally, due to potential breakage, unless this is agreed separately. If you are outside Europe and are interested in any of our guitars or amps please contact us for a special shipping quote.
Returns
We operate a 48hr approval period for on-line mail order purchases only. Customers who buy goods in the RGG showroom can fully evaluate them prior to making the payment, and as such do not have this return and refund option available to them. The 48hr mail order returns period offered is with regard to either a problem with the guitar upon receipt, IE, the goods appear to have a defect that was not outlined in the sale listing or clearly not sold as advertised. If the purchaser wishes to return the goods for any other reason, then there will be a re-stocking fee of 10% of the original sale value & return carriage must be paid by the purchaser, there are no exceptions to these rules.
If you want to return an item please make contact for a returns authorisation. You have 2 days to try the instrument. We offer a full refund minus our shipping costs (including our cost of free shipping if applicable) It is the purchaser’s responsibility to organise the return promptly to the company in the condition it was received, using the original packaging and with a copy of the sales receipt. (We recommend you insure the item in transit). The item must be shipped back via a service comparable with which it was delivered, within 24 hours (Excluding weekends) upon receipt of the return authorization. Goods that have been altered from their original condition in any way cannot be returned.
Any items returned after the 48hr agreed approval period, and not exceeding more than two weeks, are subject to a 10% re-stocking fee, based on of the original sale value of the goods. PayPal, Credit/Debit card refunds will be processed immediately upon receipt of the returned goods and normally take 3-5 working days to show on the customer’s account. Bank transfer and cash purchase payments will be refunded by Bank transfer to your nominated bank.
