“Since 1969, Murphy’s Music Center has provided a corner of Irving with a place for musicians to shop for equipment. But beyond just selling instruments, it builds them.”
From stump to stage: The art of guitar building
ABOUT MY PHOTO ESSAY
by Drew Shaw
Since 1969, Murphy’s Music Center has provided a corner of Irving with a place for musicians to shop for equipment. But beyond just selling instruments, it builds them.
Brothers Vincent and Mike Murphy inherited the shop from their father, who opened the store originally as a piano and organ shop. From a young age, they have cultivated their love for musical instruments – a sentiment echoed by their staff, most of whom have decades of history playing guitar. Through the decades, their services have expanded to selling guitars, amplifiers, drums and bases.
In the backrooms of the shop, tucked behind the rows of acoustics, stacks of amps and spread of drumkits, patches of sawdust and wood glue stain the floor. Here, staff repair and construct guitars, as well as teach customers to do the same.
People pay to learn how to build their guitars from scratch, starting with raw wood, often mahogany. It can take weeks for a guitar to be completed. Creators go through a long routine that includes shaping, buffing, polishing, painting and rebuffing their soon-to-be instruments. Eventually, it results in an instrument complete with custom colors, inlays and decals. The process costs the builder an average of $3,500.
In a world dominated by online shopping and tutorials, Murphy’s Music Center offers a community-oriented, brick-and-mortar shop where music lovers can get their hands dirty creating guitars next to other musicians. If music brings people together, building musical instruments side-by-side makes them friends.
Meet Drew Shaw
Drew Shaw is a journalism and political science senior at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he currently works as the managing editor for The Shorthorn, a student-run newspaper. On top of writing, Drew loves reading long-form journalism and classic fiction. He spends most weekends slowly making his way through an ever-growing collection of magazines and books.
Between the words, Drew is either hiking, watering his houseplants, practicing photography, or spending time with his family. Before graduating in May 2024, he will spend the spring interning in Washington D.C. with the Archer Fellowship program.
About AMA+UTA CreateCollab
Since the Fall 2022 semester, the Arlington Museum of Art has partnered with The University of Texas at Arlington and a senior-level digital storytelling class to explore a wide variety of contemporary themes inspired by the museum’s mission, values, and exhibitions.
Class projects include photo essays, one-minute documentaries, and brief audio stories.
Associate Professor of Communication Erika Pribanic-Smith teaches the class. She values opportunities to bring real-world experiences to her students.
“My goal is to give my students real-world experience in all of my classes, creating real stories using real sources,” said Dr. Pribanic-Smith. “Creating stories that will be published for the public to see, not just submitted for a grade, gives students extra incentive to put forth their best effort. Furthermore, working with professionals gives the students another layer of feedback to re-enforce what they’re learning in the classroom. I prefer to work with organizations like the Arlington Museum of Art who will benefit in some way from the students’ content so that we are providing a service to the community.”
