Gibson Epiphone Acoustic electric

[blizzard]

Can anyone tell me what my guitar is worth I can't seem to find anything on the net? its a real beauty which I paid £500 back in the late eighties, and i'm curious.

Its a flat bodied acoustic electric guitar with a star surrounded by a crescent on the head.

it says gibson just below, rosewood back and sides with maple front. 2 jack imputs

a graphic equalizer at the top where it says Epiphonic V

label inside says Epiphone model B0-1 Serial number Y304893 made in Korea

 

I'm gathering its pretty rare because I can't find another if anyone can help that would be great

cheers

Blizzard

[TommyK]

Short on time, no time for links. Back up out of this thread. At the bottom click the selection "Show Topics" and select "All" Default is "1 week".

 

Then Search for Crescent and / or Orville in the ACOUSTIC ONLY section.

 

This one's come up before without a lot of info. It was a short run 'tribute' model paying homage to the owner of Epiphone's parent company Gibson, Orville Gibson. As you state it was sold in the 80's.

 

The headstock shape, star and moon logo mimmick a very, very, early logo Orville Gibson used.

 

Not sure if this was pre or post Norlin ownership of Gibson.

 

Model nomenclature might be EO. Read everything on it.

 

Might also select electrics or All boards to see if there's anything on other boards.

 

"Orville" was a knock-off brand of fairly good quality electrics out of Japan before Gibson asserted it's copyrights on headstock shape... and I think ended up owning the company. Gibson continued to build Orville electrics for sale only in Japan for a time. They show up in the US and on Ebay from time to time. These models really don't have anything to do with this one.

 

Rare? yes. Valuable? Whatever someone else is willing to give you for it.

 

Oh, yes... got any pics you can post?

[zombywoof]

TommyK called it - sounds like an Epiphone E0-1 Orville. These are not to be confused with the Made in Japan Orville by Gibson/Orville guitars. The Korean-made Epi versions were available for quite a few years beginning in the late 1980s and were fairly low end guitars. They seem to be far more common in Europe than in the States. Value - don't have a clue.

[Red 333]

 

"Orville" was a knock-off brand of fairly good quality electrics out of Japan before Gibson asserted it's copyrights on headstock shape... and I think ended up owning the company.

 

"Orville" was not a copy brand started by some company other than Gibson, and Gibson did not take it over as result of any lawsuit. If Gibson could take over a rival Asian company because they appropriated their headstock or body shape, Gibson would own Tokai, Greco, Burny, and many others, too

 

Gibson had "Orville," "Orville by Gibson," (which were intended for the Japanese market) and "Nouveau by Gibson" (which I believe were intended for the US market) to be made by various Asian manufacturers. Eventually, all non-USA manufacturing would be consolidated under the Epiphone brand. The "Orville by Gibson" electrics, for instance, became Epiphone Elite (later Epiphone Elitist).

 

Red 333