Tops Medium

Orville by Gibson (also known simply as Orville) was the Japanese brand of Gibson guitars catering to the Japanese market during the 1980s and the 1990s. more...

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History

During the 1970s and the 1980s, some Japanese Guitar companies using brands such as Tokai, Burny, Greco, and Ibanez were making high-quality copies of Fender and Gibson guitars. Some brands were manufactured just for the local Japanese market and some brands were exported like Ibanez for instance. Fender opened Fender Japan with the intention of selling mid priced Japanese Fenders on the local Japanese market only but after a while also decided to export guitars from Japan as well. Fender contracted Kanda Shokai and Yamano Gakki to oversee production and distribution of Fender Japan guitars in 1982. Gibson realized that Fender Japan was a success so they did the same as Fender and in 1988 Orville was established, catering only for the local Japanese market. Orville was the first name of the corporation's founder, Mr. Orville Gibson. As with Fender Japan, Kanda Shokai and Yamano Gakki were chosen to oversee production and distribution of the Orvilles. Yamano Gakki managed the "Orville by Gibson" models and also the Orville bass models and Kanda Shokai managed the so called K serial Orville models. Kanda Shokai ceased to be a part of Orville in 1993 leaving only Yamano Gakki involved. Yamano Gakki then took over the Orville models that were previously produced by Kanda Shokai. When Orville was established in 1988 Gibson were also selling USA made Gibsons and Korean made Epiphones (Samick) on the local Japanese market. The Orvilles were priced in the middle of the USA made Gibsons and the Korean Epiphones. Gibson then had 3 brands (Gibson, Orville and Epiphone) available on the Japanese local market. Orville guitars were produced from 1988 to 1998, with headstock logos reading both "Orville by Gibson" and simply Orville. The "Orville by Gibson" models had more features and were sold at a higher price than the Orville models. There were a number of changes to the "Orville by Gibson" and Orville model range between their beginning in 1988 and their end in 1998 that are explained in the Serial Numbers section. The Orvilles were discontinued in 1998 due to Gibson Japan (Epiphone Japan) wanting to export Japanese made guitars under the Epiphone brand name (Epiphone Elite Series).

Characteristics

Contrary to popular belief, Japanese made Orville guitars are on par with the American series, and not of a lower standard, such as Epiphone (excluding Epiphone Japan guitars). African Mahogany is used on the majority of the guitars, with maple being used as a cap on the Les Paul models. One special detail about this line of guitars is that some models feature long tenon necks with dovetail joints which can give increased sustain. This type of quality is currently only offered on Gibson's Historic series guitars, but at a much higher cost than the Orville brand. The "Orville by Gibson" and Orville models were built strictly to Gibson USA specifications and the "Orville by Gibson" models used Gibson USA pickups and the Orville models used Japanese pickups. The model number on some models included the original price in yen for example, LPS-75 Les Paul Standard 75000 yen, SG-65 SG '62 Re-issue 65000 yen.

Read more at Wikipedia.org