Honest and fair comparison: Heritage Aged Custom Core 150 vs Gibson Murphy Ultra Light Aged R9

[Andyv94]

Great, great post OP!!!!

I own 5 LP guitars, I am very new to guitar playing, but being an architect I absolutely go bananas for the look and design of the Les Paul. It just makes you want to pick it up and play it!!.....even if you are a newby like myself. So I have five, lol....2 Gibson (Classic & Slash November Burst) and 3 Heritage H150's....'14,'22,'23. 

My Gibson Slash is an absolute dream to play, everything in that guitar is just perfect (I think I got lucky with that guitar, I spent 4 hours at Gibson Garage looking at LP 50's & 60's and they all sucked, until they brought me this one. It took me 5 minutes to know that it was it!!! Having said that, it being a Gibson...something had to be wrong. The finish on the guitar started to "check/crack" on me on the oddest of places AND the finish was super sensitive to scratching. Took it to Gibson repair and they washed their hands, blaming me for the issue, mind you I bought it in April '24 and by June it was already doing this. I baby my guitars, so it really pissed me off that Gibson would blame me. So I will never buy a Gibson guitar and will only buy Heritage!!!! 

Once I get better, I plan on taking a trip to the holly land in Michigan and picking myself up a 150 Custom!!

 

Side note, for decades, my wife has had an obsession with purses (Gucci, Channel, LV, etc....) for years I gave her shit, after finding my passion in guitar playing and specifically in Les Paul models........I don't say a word to her about her purses anymore, lol!!! As a matter of fact I encourage her to pursue her happiness because every time she buys a new purse, it gives me the excuse to buy another Heritage!! 😂

 

Sorry for going on a tangent post!!🙂

[Andyv94]

I have a question for the OP 😇

I went looking for a new Gibson 59 R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged, and new, they are roughly $8,500! 😳

 

where did you get yours? I would love to know. I went over to Gibson Garage and that’s the price I was quoted, which bum me out! 
That’s way above my price range! 

[hinesarchtop]

Those are both such beautiful specimens. 

[brentrocks]

Great post KUZ!!

I did a similar comparison a couple years ago.  My findings were tilted towards the 150 a little more than yours, but still very similar to yours.  
 

Beautiful guitars!!!

[Kuz]

On 1/31/2025 at 9:26 PM, Andyv94 said:

I have a question for the OP 😇

I went looking for a new Gibson 59 R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged, and new, they are roughly $8,500! 😳

 

where did you get yours? I would love to know. I went over to Gibson Garage and that’s the price I was quoted, which bum me out! 
That’s way above my price range! 

I had a friend that used to be the store manager at Willcutt guitars (where I bought 90% of my guitars).  Eric gave me killer deal right before he retired.

You probably can't get close to the deal I got, but call Willcutt Guitars, ask for Brandon (and tell him John Kuziak from Ohio referred you).

[Kuz]

2 hours ago, brentrocks said:

Great post KUZ!!

I did a similar comparison a couple years ago.  My findings were tilted towards the 150 a little more than yours, but still very similar to yours.  
 

Beautiful guitars!!!

I remember that review and you did an excellent comparison as well.  Overall they both have their own strengths, but now with Heritage's aged Core 150 (verse a standard 150 which is still a great guitar) compared to the Murphy aged R9... they are both growing increasingly closer & similar in comparisons.  I am so blessed to have both.  Thankfully they both sound different enough (each sound great in their own way) to keep both.

[Andyv94]

Sorry, not to be that guy 🙂

in reality we are comparing a $4,500 Heritage vs a $8,500 Gibson and Heritage was just as good! 👍🏻

I do wonder how much better are the Gibsons you pay well over $15,000 to get at the store?? 
are they really worth that much? After all you have a finite product/material you are working with. 🤔

in my opinion Gibson has jumped the shark and have gone so mainstream that it reminds me of the Harley motorcycles brand! 
 

nothing against Gibson (other than their costumer service, and crappy quality…even today on their standard models) 

I own a few and hence why I have a bad taste in my mouth about them. 
 

maybe I’m wrong?! 

[Spectrum13]

37 minutes ago, Andyv94 said:

in reality we are comparing a $4,500 Heritage vs a $8,500 Gibson and Heritage was just as good! 👍🏻

I do wonder how much better are the Gibsons you pay well over $15,000 to get at the store?? 
are they really worth that much?
 

 

That would be two or three different questions. Define "better" {Play, Feel, Sound, Looks, Status or ability hold its tuning, not finish crack be perfect from the factory or?}

"Hold its value" has been a subject here since the beginning. A Gibson will {almost always} have a higher resale value than a 150 but if it starts at twice the original cost or more do the math.  A $15,000 Les Paul could depreciate 33% when you leave the store but it's now worth $10,000 and lost more than the total cost new of a CC150. Looking at the sale price of a used CC150 on this forum (a premium market for Heritage guitars) and a $4,500 CC150 goes for what? $3,000? It lost 33% of its value or $1,500 the cost of an Epiphone. What is the lost investment value of the $10,500 never spent on the Gibson over the period of time until it's sold (if ever) minus the $7,000 more in resale value for the Gibson.

Then again, some people pay a premium price for a luxury brand because, they are "worth it"  

[Andyv94]

4 hours ago, Spectrum13 said:

That would be two or three different questions. Define "better" {Play, Feel, Sound, Looks, Status or ability hold its tuning, not finish crack be perfect from the factory or?}

"Hold its value" has been a subject here since the beginning. A Gibson will {almost always} have a higher resale value than a 150 but if it starts at twice the original cost or more do the math.  A $15,000 Les Paul could depreciate 33% when you leave the store but it's now worth $10,000 and lost more than the total cost new of a CC150. Looking at the sale price of a used CC150 on this forum (a premium market for Heritage guitars) and a $4,500 CC150 goes for what? $3,000? It lost 33% of its value or $1,500 the cost of an Epiphone. What is the lost investment value of the $10,500 never spent on the Gibson over the period of time until it's sold (if ever) minus the $7,000 more in resale value for the Gibson.

Then again, some people pay a premium price for a luxury brand because, they are "worth it"  

That’s my question, do they play THAT much better? Besides the brand, what are you paying for? Better wood? Fit and finish? Pick ups are pick ups……so to me that’s a wash……is the fret that much better by feel, playability than a $5,000 Gibson or a Custom Core H150? 

[bolero]

Spectrum13 makes some astute points

I think in the 90s? when PRS was a newer brand & threatened Gibson as "best of" they were priced higher too, so Gibson jacked their prices up. It's market perception and people responded to it.

 Of course they need to have stupidly expensive models. They're projecting a brand image. Does it really cost that much to build them? Is it worth it to you? Quality wood costs money, so does extra labour to hand build & cosmetically age things. Only an individual can decide if a guitar is worth it to them, we all have differing ideals & tastes

 

Edited February 3 by bolero
broader philosophy

[Spectrum13]

7 minutes ago, bolero said:

 

I think in the 90s? when PRS was a newer brand & threatened Gibson as "best of" they were priced higher too, so Gibson jacked their prices up. It's market perception and people responded to it.

 Does it really cost that much to build them? Is it worth it to you? Quality wood costs money, so does extra labour to hand build & cosmetically age things. 

 

Unlike the 60's I can remember the 90's when PRS was either an improvement over a Gibson, a cross between a Fender and a Gibson or the rediscovered secret sauce of the McCarty era due to Ted McCarty offering his insights from 1948 through 1966 at 225 Parsons street. They were built with a flawless finish and had the "10" tops.

One could argue that J.P., Moots, Marv Lamb and Jim D. were the craftsman that actually built these golden era guitars and ordered the woods and thus were the secret sauce and we on this forum were/are their cult members.

Does the additional cost of a 10 top from the mill equal the additional retail pricing? Does the visual difference justify calling a guitar better or are we talking about a piece of art? What makes a painting hanging in a museum worth more that paint and canvas? 

[bolero]

"And then you get an artist

Says he doesn't want to paint at all

Takes an empty canvas, hangs it on the wall"

[TalismanRich]

52 minutes ago, bolero said:

"And then you get an artist

Says he doesn't want to paint at all

Takes an empty canvas, hangs it on the wall"

I'll pay a Million extra if you duct tape a banana to that canvas!

[bolero]

🤣

[bolero]

-->I did see a platinum banana at an art gallery recently. Actually it was a plantain. But close enough.

Ok back to guitars. Plantain top or flame top? plantains are good on the BBQ

Edited February 5 by bolero
BBQ

[TalismanRich]

I like all that swirly stuff on the tops.   Plantain tops are only good on TV Yellow guitars.      However, if you leave them out for a few days, they start to do some self aging.

[bolero]

Well it's plantain to see both the CC H150 & the R9 are nice guitars.

[Kuz]

12 hours ago, bolero said:

Well it's plantain to see both the CC H150 & the R9 are nice guitars.

That is basically the take home message from this comparison.   

There are some features of the R9 that I wish were on the Custom Core, and visa versa.  But they are both great guitars.

[bolero]

Yeah thanks for taking the time to do that. Great read. Great look. Great googlymoogly!