Murph Guitars

Murph guitars were billed as being “professional quality” and the choice of materials & components in the build reflects this. Selecting top quality local and imported woods, German hardware, dual truss rods, Kluson tuners & top quality electronic components, the Murphy Music Industries product assured the customer of a robust, well made instrument and let the opposition know that the MURPH guitar was a force to be reckoned with …………if only the company had lasted longer!

All Murphs are noted for having a super thin neck design made from Eastern hard rock maple. Early ones were 3 piece construction although later necks were made from one piece - this was less economical but much stronger.

The early models had a large rounded off heel but developed into a smaller squared off heel on later production models to enable easier access to top frets.

Dual single acting truss rods were fitted to all but the very earliest Squire 1 models. These were accessible from under the MURPH nameplate on the headstock .

The neck was fitted with a bone nut with zero fret ( later it was plastic )

The fretboard was an imported rosewood slab board finished in clear lacquer.

21 medium size nickel frets were used with pearloid dot markers and ‘clay’ side markers.

24 ¾” was the scale length for guitars & 12 strings, with 30 ½” for basses.

Early Squires had a rectangular neck cover plate under which the 3 attachment screws were placed while from late 1965, a 3 screw chrome plate neck attachment plate was used. Serial numbers were stamped into these chrome plates AT THE TIME OF ASSEMBLY so with Murphs ( unlike some other brands ) the number ACTUALLY MEANS YOU CAN DATE THE GUITAR!

The code goes like this….
¨For 6 strings, if the first number is 5, then it is of 1965 production, if it is a 6, then it is from 1966

¨The next numbers are the SEQUENTIAL number in production ( regardless of type )
For example, 5206 would be 1965 production, the 206^th overall made. 61148 would be 1966 production and the 1148^th Murph made overall.

¨For 12 strings the year is prefixed with a ‘12’
¨For basses, the year is prefixed with a ‘4’

All Murph guitars & basses used single layer plastic for the covers attached with 4 dome head screws. For the early production the ‘MURPH’ logo was silk screened in gold onto the black or white plastic, mid production the logo was in Black ( the gold on white was hard to see ) while the last production ones had ‘MURPH made in USA’ in black on white.

The shape of the cover changed a bit with the later ones being more “pointy” than the early ones but as this was a hand made part, ( routed off a wood pattern ) none appear to be exactly the same as each other.

The above photo shows ( from top to bottom ) ……
-the earliest cover with the ‘gold on white’ logo which was difficult to read
-a left hand version of the final cover ( with the ‘made in USA’ addition )
-the replacement for the ‘gold on white’ ( & the most common example found )
-the ‘gold on black' version which WAS readable! ( this is a semi-finished example with no holes )

A white or black plastic single layer, unbevelled pickguard was used on early guitars; the later ones were bevelled and finally made from 3 piece WBW with bevelled edges.
13 medium Phillips head chrome screws held the pickguard onto the body. Later a 14^th screw was added near the jack socket for strengthening.

The pickups were a single coil low impedance ( 5k ) design, wound onto black plastic bobbins with aluminium top & base plates. These plates served as an anchor point for the screw polepieces as well as the height adjustment screws. Locally sourced injection molded black ( & white ) plastic covers were used.

All Squires were made out of Poplar in 2 or 3 piece construction. This explains their light weight and ‘bright’ tone. ( but being a light wood the bodies are easily dented )
A total of 10 coats of nitrocellulose paint supplied by Sherwin Williams were applied onto Squires.

All Murphs used Kluson tuners.

The Squire 6 strings used Kluson Deluxe slotted post ( 3 on a plate ) tuners with black plastic keys ( double & single row were used )

The Squire 12 string, the Gemini & Satellite models and other prototypes seem to have used only double row Kluson Deluxe individual tuners with chrome keys. Those on the back were the slotted post style while the six that came through the sides were the drilled style to permit stringing.

Elephant ear type open gear tuners were used on all the bass models

The bridges used on Murphs were imported from Gotz in Germany and there appear to have been several versions. The ones used on the 6 strings & basses were adjustable in height only and as they were not intonateable, they were left to “float” on the pickguard so adjustments could be made by the player - this also meant they would fall off if the instrument were detuned or strings broke ( many Murphs are found missing bridges ) The 12 strings had fully adjustable bridges, some with a snap on cover, others not.

The 6 string Squires used a polished, nickel plated brass Gotz tremolo.
( these have also been seen fitted to Framus & Klira guitars )

The tailpieces for the 12 string & bass guitars were locally ( Los Angeles ) made for Murphy Music from nickel plated brass.

The Murph used unique knurled head / drive in, one-piece strap buttons that were locally machined by the same machine shop that made the tailpieces. These look like a thread but were hammered directly into the body base and top horn. Designed to be used with thin straps, these buttons were a little small to stop a worn strap from disengaging from the instrument.

Electronics consist of 500k Canadian made Mallory pots for tone & volume with a Erie ceramic .05F capacitor & a Switchcraft jack.

A Carling SPST slider switch was used that brought in the neck pickup when required. ( the bridge pickup was always on )

The volume & tone control knobs were screw locked & made by Daka-ware of Chicago.

There was no shielding in the body cavities. This was a simple guitar that used quality parts.