Whitstable Guitars

1990 Orville By Gibson Les Paul Standard Cherry Sunburst & Used Hard Case

CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

JAPAN IMPORT

Here we have a 1990 Orville by Gibson Les Paul Standard. A beautifully made guitar from the Terada factory in Japan where they also make the Japanese Gretsch guitars. Orville guitars usually have domestic made pickups installed but the OBG models have PAF '57 Classic Gibson pickups . The reason they are so popular is that they are really well made guitars from either Fujigen or Terada factories in Japan.

Orville guitars were made in Japan from 1988-1998 when Yamano Gakki took over the distribution of  Gibson guitars in Japan. They decided to expand the brand & so guitars were built in the above mentioned facilities for Gibson USA but were branded Orville, which was Gibson's christian name. Orville & Orville by Gibson guitars are very highly rated. They are really well made. In 1998, they changed the name from Orville to Epiphone Elite but essentially they are the same guitars

This guitar is now 32 years old and has been used & although the body & neck are in good condition, some of the chrome hardwear & pickup covers are showing signs of tarnishing with pitting in the chrome. Having said that, some people prefer a more worn in look.

There are chips on the headstock and back of the body as well some discolouration to the back of the neck.  All of this is photographed & in the gallery pics. 

When it came in, the guitar was missing its pickguard which I have replaced with a generic one but it's a good match to the pickup surrounds. It can very easily be removed.

The guitar comes with an unbranded but period correct hard case. The seller in Japan stated that this was the original hardcase purchased with the guitar from new although I cannot verify this, it looks to be correct.

The frets have no indents and the trussrod operates as it should. The guitar plays really nicely and is definitely one worth collecting as I don't see them very often & the prices are quite high

Orville by Gibson Les Paul Specifications

Body Material: Solid Mahogany with Maple carved top. Cherry Sunburst

Neck material: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Rosewood

22 medium frets with trapezoid inlays

Scale Length 24" 

Width at 1st fret 42.5mm

Width at 12th fret 52.5mm

Weight: 4020 grammes

Enclosed tuners (unbranded)

Tune-o-matic bridge & stop bar tailpiece

cream pickguard (Replaced)

2 x Gibson USA PAF '57 humbuckers

3 way switch

2 x Volume & 2 x Tone Controls

Used fitted hard case