Murph Guitars

[Dennisthe Menace]

Deke and Murph (on the right) came by my shop back in 2002 for a visit. The guy in the middle, I'm sorry to say I can't remember his name, came over from Australia for the most part to meet Deke and Murph. He is an historian of the Murph guitars and wanted to meet Murph first hand. I've tried to connect with him a couple of times but with no luck. Haven't had any contact with Murph since then either. Maybe Deke can fill in more information about this photo.
I put the year at 2002 because that's was the date generated by the photo properties but it might be later than that.

Terry, I'm wandering if the gentleman in the pic might be the same person that started the Murph website? His name is
Dan McGonigal from Sydney, Australia. Sadly, he also mentions that Thomas Patrick 'Pat' Murphy passed in NOV 2009.

[dubtrub]

This guitar reminds me of one that I built in the summer of '66. I built all the parts including single coil pickups and a Jazzmaster shaped vibrato I cut out of aluminum. I remember it was painted candy apply blue. The guitar was pretty crude so I traded it for a Honda motorcycle shortly after building it. I tried to trace it's location a few years ago but it's long gone. Fortunately I still have a drawing of the guitar that I made when I was coming up with the design.

[TerryTNM]

Deke and Murph (on the right) came by my shop back in 2002 for a visit. The guy in the middle, I'm sorry to say I can't remember his name, came over from Australia for the most part to meet Deke and Murph. He is an historian of the Murph guitars and wanted to meet Murph first hand. I've tried to connect with him a couple of times but with no luck. Haven't had any contact with Murph since then either. Maybe Deke can fill in more information about this photo.
I put the year at 2002 because that's was the date generated by the photo properties but it might be later than that.

Terry, I'm wandering if the gentleman in the pic might be the same person that started the Murph website? His name is
Dan McGonigal from Sydney, Australia. Sadly, he also mentions that Thomas Patrick 'Pat' Murphy passed in NOV 2009.

Bing! That's the guy. Sorry to hear that Thomas Patrick Murphy has passed on. I'm glad I got to meet him.

[Veenture]

Interesting to see how Leo's Jazzmaster -flagship of the Fender fleet in the day- has been such an inspirational design for others...not to mention Semie Moseley's
"The Ventures Model" having been so 'inspirational' too, and interestingly enough, it too has traces of Jazzmaster body-design in it along with the reversed Strat outline

[Sarah93003]

Danny, that is a sweet looking guitar!

[rynaro]

Danny that is a great lookin guitar! Nice jagstang feel about it (but decades earlier)

[Dennisthe Menace]

Danny, I myself saw a Hybrid 'Jazz/Caster' in your '66 blueprint......

[MWaldorf]

Wow Danny, that's cool! Too bad you can't track it down, but I'm amazed that after all these years you've got the blueprint! I'm lucky if I can find my car keys in the morning...

[dubtrub]

Wow Danny, that's cool! Too bad you can't track it down, but I'm amazed that after all these years you've got the blueprint! I'm lucky if I can find my car keys in the morning...

You know me, I keep everything. Heck, I've still got all the paperwork including the little color catalog that came with my 1965 Bandmaster amp when I purchased it new. Never know when I may have to send it back for warranty work.

[Deke Dickerson]

Danny--You're a wealth of surprises! Does that mean if I turn up the "Ellisonic" that I have to give it back to you?

And yes, Dan McGonigal is the guy who runs the Murph web site. I'm glad we got to get together with him and Pat Murphy and Terry.

My 12-string Satellite was a real weird find--it was on craigslist, down in Orange County. I went down there and it was an old lady with her son helping her sell stuff. Her husband died and they were selling stuff they found in the closets around their house. Apparently they had other guitars that another dealer bought, but he passed on the Murph. The dang thing was still in it's original plastic bag, never played, in totally mint condition! Her husband had been a Rickenbacker and Murph salesman back in the 60's and these things had stayed in his closet for over 40 years. Wild.

What's even wilder is that recently a real nice guy in Kansas named Steve Jirak walked up to me at a show in Wichita and GAVE me a prototype "Baby Murph" Satellite guitar from the 60's. He wanted it to join the 12-string. Nice guy, and another cool and crazy Murph! There is a picture of this Baby Murph on the website... www.murphguitars.com

Deke