Gibson Artist Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ive been reading that Orville by Gibson was started in 1988 and by 1998 ended production. What i want to know is why do some say Orville by Gibson and others just say Orville? I looked up on Wikipedia and could not find a satisfactory answer but so many here are knowledgeable about the brand i figure someone here will know. This is a picture of a 1990 Orville Les Paul Custom headstock and what i dont get is why it doesnt say by Gibson?? Also, would you consider an Orville a Gibson? Yes, it is made in Japan so one could argue our quality was better but it still was a Gibby was it not? Confusing but from the times i have heard the Orville's they sure do have some nice tones, any info appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 From what I can remember the O by G used better quality fitments - such as Gibson '57 Classic p'ups and so on - whereas the regular Orvilles used Japanese (Korean?) hardware throughout. I think I'm right in saying the ObyG had a long neck-tenon into the bargain. Even the 'normal' Orvilles are good instruments and the higher specs of the O by G make them better still. I've played a friend's '59 R-I ObyG and it was very, very good. Not a Gibson by definition but bear in mind that the name on the peghead doesn't have any influence on final tone.... P. EDIT : I knew there was an interesting page somewhere! http://www.guitarsja...oninfopage.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 An Orville and/or an Orville by Gibsin is a Gibson made specifically for and intended to be sold only in the Asian markets as a way to confound counterfeiters by giving that market an actual Gibson that couldn't be called a Gibson for a variety of financial and business reasons. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 From what I can remember the O by G used better quality fitments - such as Gibson p'ups and so on - whereas the regular Orvilles used Japanese hardware throughout. Even the 'normal' Orvilles are good instruments and the better specs of the O by G made them better still. Not a Gibson by definition but bear in mind that the name on the peghead doesn't have any influence on final tone.... P. I actually watched a video of gibson les paul custom and orville les paul custom and it was pretty close. Ive always loved the look of those 70s gibson customs, wonder if those pickups are made any different than today? It would be tempting to put 70s custom pups in the Orville if i ever got one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 An Orville and/or an Orville by Gibsin is a Gibson made specifically for and intended to be sold only in the Asian markets as a way to confound counterfeiters by giving that market an actual Gibson that couldn't be called a Gibson for a variety of financial and business reasons. rct Oh, that's a neat idea, people can see the quality difference easily then if its not up the Orville one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 ...wonder if those pickups are made any different than today? It would be tempting to put 70s custom pups in the Orville if i ever got one. Sorry, G-A, I was editing my post as you were typing your reply. If you missed it I'll repeat here that the ObyG used '57 Classic p'ups so sound-wise they're right on the money. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 Sorry, G-A, I was editing my post as you were typing your reply. If you missed it I'll repeat here that the ObyG used '57 Classic p'ups so sound-wise they're right on the money. P. Ah, i thought it sounded pretty close, now i know why. I was just trying to find if Orville made acoustics also but i only found one on fleabay. Wonder if its a fake or if they made them also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 From what I understand they are the first attempt by Gibson to license a product produced over-seas and were generally an Asian market product. They are as I understand it, the predecessor to Epiphone. A Gibson licensed guitar manufactured over-seas. From my own research the quality seems higher than most Epiphone products. Their market average seems to be approx. $700 for a good Standard LP and the '59RI's and Customs go from $1K to approx. $1.4K (on average) on eBay. Lots of 'em on eBay, mostly in Japan and shipping is pretty much standard $115 - $165. (USD) For about 1/3 the price of a Gibson, they are a damn good deal from what I gather, and I myself keep my eyes peeled on them for a good deal... I wouldn't be afraid to buy/own one... They were made from 1988 to approx. 1998 in production by two different factories. There is some good history on them here: http://www.guitarsja...oninfopage.html The author of that web page thinks Tokai, Greco, and Aria had better mojo, but that they are great guitars... He seems to contradict himself in his description while attempting to evaluate them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Ah, i thought it sounded pretty close, now i know why. I was just trying to find if Orville made acoustics also but i only found one on fleabay. Wonder if its a fake or if they made them also? Yes they made acoustics... Plenty of them! Put in a search to follow as I have on eBay and you'll get an email of new items nearly every day, not many, but enough to peak the curiosity and they made plenty of acoustics. All Gibson model copies... FYI we've touched on this topic not too long ago, here: 1997 Orville 335 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 Yes they made acoustics... Plenty of them! Put in a search to follow as I have on eBay and you'll get an email of new items nearly every day, not many, but enough to peak the curiosity and they made plenty of acoustics. All Gibson model copies... FYI we've touched on this topic not too long ago, here: 1997 Orville 335 Im buying an Orville Les Paul Custom this weekend, trading my esp for it lol. Someday, id like to check out one of those Orville acoustics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErickC Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 The author of that web page thinks Tokai, Greco, and Aria had better mojo, but that they are great guitars... He seems to contradict himself in his description while attempting to evaluate them... I don't see how having Greco on the headstock instead of Orville gives a guitar more 'mojo.' Any time someone uses the word 'mojo' to describe pretty much anything, they're full of crap. Orville and Orville by Gibson guitars were made at FujiGen (and at other factories, too, but the FujiGen ones tend to gather more praise for whatever reason). Along with Greco, Burny, Fender, many store brands, and others (today that includes Epiphone Japan). As to the others... Tokai has their own factory, Aria guitars were produced at Matsumoku. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 ...Any time someone uses the word 'mojo' to describe pretty much anything, they're full of crap... Can we make this a 'Sticky'? P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 I don't see how having Greco on the headstock instead of Orville gives a guitar more 'mojo.' Any time someone uses the word 'mojo' to describe pretty much anything, they're full of crap. Orville and Orville by Gibson guitars were made at FujiGen (and at other factories, too, but the FujiGen ones tend to gather more praise for whatever reason). Along with Greco, Burny, Fender, many store brands, and others (today that includes Epiphone Japan). As to the others... Tokai has their own factory, Aria guitars were produced at Matsumoku. I concur w/Pippy's sticky idea... For whatever reason, I think the author was attempting to convey the thought that he'd rather see original models as opposed to simply exact Gibson replica's... Funny thing is it (Orville) was an Asian Gibson, not just a replica... It seems the author didn't take that fact into account. They were manufacturing original Gibson models over-seas, possibly for the first time. I'm not sure why he was expecting something else as an "original." At least that is exactly what this manufacture line was supposed to be, not its own entity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 I concur w/Pippy's sticky idea... For whatever reason, I think the author was attempting to convey the thought that he'd rather see original models as opposed to simply exact Gibson replica's... Funny thing is it (Orville) was an Asian Gibson, not just a replica... It seems the author didn't take that fact into account. They were manufacturing original Gibson models over-seas, possibly for the first time. I'm not sure why he was expecting something else as an "original." At least that is exactly what this manufacture line was supposed to be, not its own entity! Check out the tonal difference between the two, the Orville stands up quite well in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Here's another with 2 Orville's in a lawsuit era shootout... I've never seen that silver-burst with a flame inlay on a Gibson before either... I wish they included a Memphis brand like I had back in the day... That was one of the original lawsuit brands too... It must have been Gibson's compromise to the lawsuit to give the pacific rim a far east made Gibson product to help eliminate such pirating/competition with their Orville brand... The red Orville is some messed-up. Looks like someone intended to do a refinish and gave up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Here's another with 2 Orville's in a lawsuit era shootout... I've never seen that silver-burst with a flame inlay on a Gibson before either... I wish they included a Memphis brand like I had back in the day... That was one of the original lawsuit brands too... It must have been Gibson's compromise to the lawsuit to give the pacific rim a far east made Gibson product to help eliminate such pirating/competition with their Orville brand... The red Orville is some messed-up. Looks like someone intended to do a refinish and gave up... Wow, the Orville beat the burney, and totally smoked the aria pro, not even close. Im impressed! Not a fan of that guady fretboard on the Gibson tho, ya the tone is great but i dont like overdressed guitars yuck. Thanks for the comparison tho, if i couldnt afford a gibby and couldnt find an orville, the Burney seems like the next best tone. The Orville standard was just a beast. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter.556 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I know a guy who swears by these.. He has a few Grecos too. I haven't played them but he says they play as good as any Gibson does. He buys em and puts in Dimarzio Super D's and Pafs in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 He buys em and puts in Dimarzio Super D's... Tell yer friend Jimmy Carter is no longer the president and he can use other pickups now. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter.556 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Tell yer friend Jimmy Carter is no longer the president and he can use other pickups now. rct Lmao! He's kinda stuck in the 70's. He portrays someone in a tribute band so he is stuck with that thought process. I wont say which one or whom he portrays. Really good player just kinda old school. I can't say much, I still use a JB and a 59 in almost everything I own except my Sig T. I love my 57s in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I wish they included a Memphis brand like I had back in the day... That was one of the original lawsuit brands too... There were no "lawsuit brands". It was about scripts used for the logo, and headstock shape. No one particular "brand" was ever singled out. The makers knew who made them, including the guys that made the Memphis. They also made about a dozen other Fender/Gibson knockoffs. It must have been Gibson's compromise to the lawsuit to give the pacific rim a far east made Gibson product to help eliminate such pirating/competition with their Orville brand... Once the determination was made to stop using scripts and headstock shapes that could be confused at a certain distance, it was clear that companies could make copies of the ideas of guitars. Gibson simply couldn't export Gibsons to the pacific rim, and they couldn't make guitars there and call them Gibson. Epiphone was growing, so they had them make Orvilles to be sold overseas only. It was giving the overseas market an acutal Gibson, they thought, hopefully cutting into the copy business for themselves instead of the big, anonymous makers of copies for everyone. The makers of Memphis guitars also made guitars with no company name on them at all. You could buy a Les Paul and put whatever decal up at the pointy end you wanted. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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