- A website dedicated to a man and his dream -
The 'MURPH' guitar - a name most people ( including many expert guitar collectors ) will scarcely have heard of. Why?... well, they were built in southern California for only 2 years in the middle of the 1960's and even though nearly 1200 were made, they had become largely forgotten. This website was created to change that..... and it seems to be working!
HERE ARE SOME ( VERY IRREGULAR ) UPDATES
OCTOBER 2008 Another few months have gone by and I never seem to get the time to update. Thanks to all the visitors who have emailed me questions & stories - I hope I have been able to help out. One of the most common questions is "where can I get a bridge from?" ..... this is because in the factory they left the bridge to float on the scratchplate and when the strings were detensioned when the guitar was put under the bed, closet, garage or whatever, they fell off never to be seen again. Well I can help ( sort of ) .... I have a good quantity of bass bridges ( look at the Squire page ) and by regrooving the saddles for a guitar ( with a small triangular file ) they will work fine & are after all, a genuine Murph bridge! Want one? - give me an email - they are US$20 each plus postage. I also have patterns for truss rod covers you can cut from plastic sheet ( Stewmac or Allparts ) with a bandsaw and can repair or supply replacement pickups with genuine screw polepieces & covers with new innards..... US$50 for a rewind, US$80 outright.
JULY 2008 Hello again. I forgot to mention that site visitor John Kally wrote to me several months back to say he has found out that the Murph amps were made by Tom Howard McCormick in Phoenix AZ, who also made amps under the Howard name plus a few Howard guitars. Duane Eddy used the Howard for some of his classic recordings. Thanks for solving that one John & sorry that I forgot to post it!
JUNE 2008 Hi out there. Well, don't hold your breath on this new site ..... nothing ever seems to go as smoothly or as quickly as you like and this is a part time labour of love, so I have to fit it in when I can. Thanks to all who have sent me pictures of their Murphs and I will post them for all to see. As I said, I hope it will be up soon, easier to navigate and less susceptible to bugs & glitches!
JANUARY 2008 Site visitor John Kally has found a quantity of NOS Murph Squire scratchpates ( pickguards ) in white & black and in 1 & 2 pickup versions. If you need a replacement please email John at jkally3@cox.net and he can help you out.
DECEMBER 2007 Hello again & a merry Christmas to all those Murph fans out there! Well, the lack of apparent activity on the site doesn't mean no information has been surfacing - in fact, only this month another visitor has sent photos of a genuine prototype 'Baby Murph' he has found which will end up here for all to see. BUT, despite the fact that life takes most of my time up, a recent scare with a trojan virus infiltrating the website and feedback that the site is looking old ( 3 years now ) means I have more to do ....SO, early in the year there will be some fixing done to the page layouts & photos so uploads will be easier for all visitors..... my skills in web design are limited so a work colleague who does have them has offered to freshen it up...... at 'mates rates' so I said yes!
SEPTEMBER 8, 2007 Hello 'murphaholics' .... I told you these updates were irregular! Thankyou AGAIN Vintage Guitar! Finally the Murph Squire gets a writeup in a national / international magazine. Teisco led the charge in the March issue ( with the heart shaped Satellite ) and now Michael Wright follows with the 2nd wave! ........ makes an old man & a crazy Aussie proud! .......beaudy mate!
MAY 19, 2007 Mark from Los Angeles has found a 'Psychadelic Murph'! Paying homage to Hendrix's Flying V, Clapton's SG or Harrison's Strat, or maybe closer to the Strawberry Alarm Clock / Von Dutch / Mosrite creations, this tripped out Murph is way cool .... here are a couple of photos.
APRIL 4, 2007 Where are they all coming from? ...ANOTHER 12 string !! ...in the last month there have been 3 of them on Ebay, all commanding around the $800 - $900 mark - not bad prices for a 1960's 12 string. Try buying another electric 12 for that! Thanks for rekindling the fire Teisco!!
MARCH 16, 2007 - It just keeps on getting better! Teisco Del Ray ( the writer, not the guitar ) has written an article on the Murph heart shaped 'SATELLITE' for Vintage Guitar Magazine, revisiting the insrument that he wrote about 20 years ago. A great article - WELL worth picking up a copy ( or 2 ) and if that's not good enough, a custom made MURPH semi-hollow bass has turned up made specially by Murphy Music in early 1966 and retained still by it's owner .....have a look at the Semi-solid page for Skip Straw's custom Murph bass!
JAN 2, 2007 - What a way to start the year - Tim of Michigan has a Westerner!!! ( plus some other treasures that I will add soon ) Another Murph mystery revealed! - Have a look at the models page under 'Squire'
SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 - A Murph left handed bass just sold on Ebay for a HUGE amount! - yes, I know Ebay prices can be an poor guide at times but maybe the humble Murph has FINALLY got some cred? ..... I for one hope so, it's the reason I did this website and I believe it deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with other Southern Californian marques of that era ( Mosrite, Hallmark, Magnatone ) and IS in my view, more than just a 'cheapie'.
Hi and welcome to the fresh new 2006 Murph Guitars website.
November 2005 - I flew across the Pacific to Los Angeles and met up with Pat Murphy and his family for the first time. Pat was a fantastic host and helped fill much of the missing information I had been searching for since I started researching his guitars history back in 2004. I must admit, it was a trip to remember ( it’s a long way from down under ) and for a “Murphaholic”, a trip of a lifetime!
A big highlight was the unearthing of a treasure trove of leftover parts from those years ago. Pat had doggedly held onto a couple of pallets of cardboard boxes that contained some leftover parts and most of the jigs & fixtures from the guitar factory days. It was my pestering that prompted the whole Murphy family to visit the place they were being kept in and the exhuming of parts from boxes that hadn’t seen daylight in nearly 40 years. It was a real family history lesson for all concerned, Pat remembering quite clearly what parts went where … and with what – but it was an exercise tinged with sadness at what COULD have been!
Sadly there were NO NECKS or COMPLETE bodies but quite a lot of semi finished ones and small parts ( screws, switches, jack sockets, capacitors, etc. )...so if you are a Murph owner that needs something small to help restore or maintain your guitar, drop me a line and I’ll pass the request on to the family to see what can be done to help you out! (From a personal point, I can allways send you a photo or pattern of the missing item for you to make or track down to help keep your Murph alive ....I'd be only too glad to help!)
Also, I caught up with Deke Dickersonrockabilly artist extraordinaire and good pal who was a proud Murph owner once – a SUPER rare heart shaped ‘Satellite’ model – now in Japan. Deke, Pat & I travelled to Terry McArthur's home in LA where he builds custom Joe Maphis type double neck guitars – the TNM Custom. Have a look at Deke’s website and also Terry’s …..they are both on my links page and WELL worth the effort!
We found a guy in LA with a Murph amp!! – the only one to surface so far – and a valve one at that. Robert Dixon owns the beast and consented to Pat & I visiting and taking some photos for the site….enjoy!
I also interviewed most of Pat’s family and we were able to correct some things in the history that time had distorted – and finally found out info and pictures of the elusive semi-hollow models.
Lastly, I found a couple more Murphs, a blue guitar and a bass. Both will grace the site as soon as I get the photos done. ( they are now in the gallery ) Thanks to Woody Nordan &Mike Davis for selling me their toys! ….cheers guys!
Anyway, enough of my yackin’ …… have a look at what’s new!
Cheers, DAN
If you want to contact me, you can via danm@preformed.com.au
