Murphy & Co.A NOTE FROM JOE MURPHY
I call her Ol’ Ma Belle. With a telephone number scratched into the back of her headstock, the name more or less chose itself.
The number is 688-5850. Above it is Gibson’s factory serial, 4 2343. I would like to know whose number it was and how it ended up there. We haven’t put a name to it yet. That part of her story is still open.
There is plenty to look at while we work on it. The gold is warm and dark, the lacquer is checked, and the edges show wear. Look closely at Carter’s photographs and you begin to recognize this particular guitar. The marks are part of how we know her.
She also has a public appearance worth keeping with the record. Michael Lemmo played this Goldtop for Guitar of the Day at Norman’s Rare Guitars. Pull up the video while you look at the instrument. I like being able to offer that with a guitar: a chance to watch it in a player’s hands and hear it for yourself.
A ’54 puts you close to the beginning of the Les Paul. Gibson introduced the model in 1952. Here you have the early combination of two P-90 pickups and a wraparound bridge, before the later changes became familiar.
Carter’s record is useful, too. It identifies original electronics and describes the work: a replacement nut, their refret and a small binding splice. Those details belong in the conversation with the photographs and the music.
Ol’ Ma Belle came to us through Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville. She fits what we’re doing at Murphy & Co. very well. You can appreciate the guitar, put on the Lemmo feature, and spend a little time with the history. And there is still that number on the back of the headstock.
Sources and evidence.
Collection identity: 1954 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, serial 4 2343; dossier cross-reference Carter GS11413-A. The Norman’s feature is identified with this guitar by Joe Murphy; its public title alone does not verify the serial. Carter’s condition descriptions are historical source descriptions, pending current inspection. The photographed telephone marking has seven digits; its owner, date and area code remain unverified.
- Norman’s Rare Guitars — Michael Lemmo demonstration
Public demonstration; exact-object identification follows the collection account.
Source edition: Ol’ Ma Belle, October 22, 2026, instrument record and photograph appendices. Carter instrument photographs and the Murphy & Co. headstock close-up are available in the dossier; further reproduction requires a documented rights check.
The record behind the story.
- Identity
- 1954 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop; serial 4 2343.
- Condition source
- Carter Vintage describes original electronics, a replacement nut, an in-house refret and a small binding splice. Current inspection still needs matching.
- Open question
- The scratched telephone number is transcribed as 688-5850. Its owner and the date it was added remain unknown. No area code is visible in the photographed marking.
The telephone-owner identity remains unresolved. Joe’s Nashville association is an owner account; the photographed marking does not independently establish an area code.
From the Murphy & Co. collection journal · October 22, 2026. Provenance statements and open questions are distinguished in the record above.