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Just bought this Orville by Gibson Les Paul Custom

Ad_02Std

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Apr 12, 2005
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5,055
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Ebay job. Shipped from Japan. Seller was great to deal with. Arrived in the UK in two working days.

Always wanted a black Custom, but can't really justifiy the expense of another Gibson right now; this looked like a good way to go.

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Glad I went for it. It's an excellent guitar. Made in 1988, weighs 8.8lb, nicely played in, nitro finish, long neck tenon. The thing that always sets the copies apart for me is the poly finish; really alters the feel, so the nitro finish was a deciding factor in choosing an Orville by Gibson over a regular Orville or Burny or something. Fretboard isn't ebony, but is a nice dark piece of rosewood, so doesn't stand out too much. Plays and sounds lovely.

Check out that top-carve:

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Came with some great old Seymour Duncans fitted.

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Thought I'd share, but I don't think I'm allowed to post this in the main forums. :dang
 

DANELECTRO

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Feb 24, 2003
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6,318
Nice guitar! I passed one of those up that was priced at $600 at the Columbus Guitar Show a few years ago. It was really nice, but the cash in my pocket was intended to be spent on a Junior. I didn't find a Junior there that I wanted and when I went back for the Custom, it was gone. It looked and played every bit as nice as a Gibson and would have made a nice affordable player.
 

GotTheSilver

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Apr 14, 2007
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2,433
Nice guitar! Congrats!:salude

I was very impressed by the one Orville by Gibson Les Paul that I got to play unplugged for 90 seconds. I heard the owner playing it in a bar gig and it sounded great.
 

Rev.WillieVK

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Jul 26, 2002
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Those can be excellent guitars! :dude:

My buddy has a Burny and it's actually great (except for cheap electronics and so-so fretwork).
 

DMB70

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May 25, 2002
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Congrats, great guitars, I have a OBG 335 & j-200 & a Orville LP Standard. Great values!!!!

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cryptozoo

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I had an OBG Custom just like that one for a while. Not sure if these are chambered or what, but all the ones I've seen seem to be strangely light for a Custom. Mine was around 8.5lbs. Cool tone!
 

Wisertime

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Aug 3, 2002
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Adam, nice guitar. Good luck with it! (DMB nice too!)
 

Ad_02Std

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Those can be excellent guitars! :dude:

My buddy has a Burny and it's actually great (except for cheap electronics and so-so fretwork).

A friend of a friend used to play a Burny Custom on our local circuit. He was a great player and always got a fantastic tone.



I had an OBG Custom just like that one for a while. Not sure if these are chambered or what, but all the ones I've seen seem to be strangely light for a Custom. Mine was around 8.5lbs. Cool tone!


Yeah, it's a little lighter than my Standard, but it balances well, not neck heavy. I don't think it's chambered, it sure sounds great.

I just spent a while hacking out some riffs and licks on it through my 2203. It absolutely smokes! It doesn't feel like a cheap imitation at all, it feels and sounds like a great Les Paul. It has a lot of honest play wear, so I figured that was a sign that it sounded good before I bought it. I can see me putting a lot more miles on its clock though!


DMB70: Love that J-200!
 

MapleFlame

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Jul 3, 2005
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They made some great LP's from the 80's, kinda made USA Gibbo wake up.
 

DMB70

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May 25, 2002
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The Orville By Gibson line is the higher end stuff, nitro finishes, 1 piece backs, US made electronics & the Orville brand is "lower end" sometimes multi piece backs, poly finishes, Japanese electronics. The monster flame OBG's, like Mike's, that I've seen have all been veneer's, but they might have made some with fully flamed caps. Also both lines have long tenon construction.

My 335 had Gibson Bill Lawrence "circuitboard" pick ups in it, but I didn't care for them so I swapped em for Antiquities. My Orville LP Standard is a 2 piece back, the original owner had upgraded the pots, caps & had a Burstbucker 2 & 3 in it, but I thought it sounded to much like my R9 so I put in a 498t & 490r. It's a cool hard rocking machine. IMO
 

gmann

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May 26, 2003
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I got an Orville Custom back in the late '90's and I still have it. I changed out the pups and had it routed for a middle pup. It's one of the very few that I've seen that actually has an Ebony fingerboard. Great guitar all the way around. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I hadn't routed it as the middle pup gets in the way of my playing even with the pup lowered. I just thought it would look cool, and it does, but I never even use the middle pup. I had it wired in for awhile but now it's wired up standard.
 

j45

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Jun 14, 2002
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I've got an Orville project that's just about finished. I kinda like this guitar. Made cheaply compared to a standard Gibson but still feels great and hopefully make a good player:
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gmann

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I see alot of these over here Kerry. I've had two myself. They are really cool guitars with glued on necks as opposed to neck thru the body construction.
 

j45

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Jun 14, 2002
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I see alot of these over here Kerry. I've had two myself. They are really cool guitars with glued on necks as opposed to neck thru the body construction.

The headstock is also scarfed on which is something you would hopefully not find on any standard Gibson but still a very good utility instrument. I'm hoping my Firebird/Tele hybrid will turn into my regular player.....
 

lefty lespaul

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Aug 6, 2002
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Just got back form Japan myself. The amount of LPs over there was insane. Orville , Greco and Burny everywhere. Also Cheaper Grassroots and Blitz everywhere. Nice guitar.
 
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