I bought an "Orville by Gibson" Les Paul Standard

Skel · #1 12-05-2006, 06:53 PM

To anyone interested in 6 string eletric guitars, I stumbled on these "Orville by Gibson" Les Pauls. "Orville" was Orville Gibson's first name. From 1988 to the mid 90's or so, Gibson had Les Pauls made in Japan exclusively for the Japanese market - not for export, and branded them "Orville by Gibson". They are identical to a USA Les Paul, Gibson '57 classic PAF pickups, nitro finish, and close to a 60's slim neck. The only difference is that the headstock (same exact shape) says "Orville by Gibson" I just bought a 1990 cherry sunburst "Orville" Les Paul Standard after owning several USA made Les Pauls. The "Orville" brand eventually ended up being what is now Epiphone, first made in Japan, then Korea, now China, and the quality degraged significantly after the Epi switch.

I bought this after owning a Fender Geddy Lee (Japan) which I thought was incredible craftsmanship, my Sadowsky MV4 (Japan) again, incredible, and just the fact that Japanese quality in cars is so good. This is the best sounding Les Paul I've ever owned. They cost about 2/3 what a comparable USA Gibson costs..I paid $850 for mine on eBay. If you've ever heard of these or know anything about them, please let me know. No idea whether they made basses or not.

Tbirdbassist · #2 12-06-2006, 09:51 PM

Orville is makes Les Paul bass and Thunderbird bass copies. I believe they did the same for the EB basses, but I'm not sure.

Theres a seller on ebay from japan who has a couple up very once in a while. I've never played one, but I hear they are still competition with an actual Gibson.

Greco is also another Gibson "lawsuit" brand. They also made make some great instruments from what I hear.

Skel · #3 12-07-2006, 07:56 AM

But I think "Orville by Gibson" is not a "lawsuit" brand. Weren't they an attempt to prevent lawsuit brands? But they were "not for export" because Gibson didn't want such high quality competition floating around the USA.

EunosFD · #4 12-07-2006, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skel

But I think "Orville by Gibson" is not a "lawsuit" brand. Weren't they an attempt to prevent lawsuit brands? But they were "not for export" because Gibson didn't want such high quality competition floating around the USA.

Yeap, that pretty much nails it. It was a company started in Japan to try to compete with the big brands there like Tokai, Burny, Greco, and so forth. Ironically the OBG's can be every bit as good and sometimes better than US made Gibbys. I believe there are some Orville's still being made today, but it might be in Korea now. I'm a big fan of Japanese guitars as their quality is usually top notch and on-par with most production stuff here, but you don't pay the big premium for the name on the headstock like you do with a real Gibson. Plus the QC tends to be a lot better than recent Gibbys too.

Skel · #5 12-07-2006, 06:05 PM

I love mine. The Japanese vintages will become collector's items, I think.

Johnny Crab · #6 12-28-2006, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skel

I love mine. The Japanese vintages will become collector's items, I think.

You are correct.
I've one(see avatar)
Price AND quality were the reasons. Take a look at what you get for a LOT less than full Gibson price. This one is owned by a player in the UK:

http://www.vintagebass.com/thedudepi...0&page=1&pp=10

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_By_Gibson
http://www.guitarsjapan.com/orvillegibsoninfopage.html