Japanese Orville better than Gibson USA? 1993 Orville Les Paul SHOWCASE 

Gibson isn't really cork sniffer material unless vintage IMO. They just charge cork sniffer prices. The cork on vintage Japanese guitars actually smells better. I'm fairly certain the board on my Greco is Brazilian. When I scraped it it gave off that aroma, then I did the water, blacklight test on the dust. The DRY pickups are better than any of Gibson's offers that I have tried. Not all Japanese guitars are amazing, but neither are Gibson's.

@@qua7771 Japanese have been making awesome guitars for a loong time. Thank you for agreeing with me.

@@electraman92 I mean, with Gibson you get a short neck tendon, they either weigh a ton, or are chambered, a budget fret-board, and multi-piece back. I don't see the value in them at all. Japanese guitars are an excellent value, and you can buy vintage for cheap. I have a '92 OBG, but I like the '88 Greco better as a matter of preference. The OBG only weighs 7.8Lbs which is almost unheard of. It's a bright sounding guitar though. The neck is a bit thin for my liking.

I have a '92 OBG. The serial starts with a "G" code. I thought it was made in the Terada plant, but I could be wrong. I also have a '88 Greco mint collection that I like better (Fujigen) EG59-70. I don't see the vale in Gibson guitars at all.

They’re great. Gibson “cork sniffers” don’t like them. Threat to their valued collection. I was a Gibson snob for years, but there’s room for both.

@@electraman92 I just got a '78 EG800 Greco today, and a '88 EG59-70 a few weeks ago. I'm a cork sniffer. These corks smell fine to me. I have more expensive guitars, but after playing these MIJ, I'm impressed. They seem to have been able to source the same or better material, like tonewood, magnet wire for pups, etc... For a grand I got a vintage guitar that has insane sustain.

Good point Dunsy- I might change the bridge pickup in my ObG 335. It doesn’t have enough bite and raising it too high just eliminates clarity. The strings hit the pickup when I mute them as well if they are raised too high.

I have one too. A 1994 Fujigen with the long neck tenon. I got it from that guy Mr Chingo. He was famous back in the day, on all the guitar forums, he used to sell hundreds of MIJ guitars from Japan in the late 2000s/early 2010s but I haven't heard of him in years. My only small regret is I got a plaintop.. at the time I had seen so many flametops I just wanted something different and basic. Plus a lot of Orvilles came with a photoflame.. to be fair I'd rather have a plaintop than the fake flametop. The very first thing I done with it was gutted all the electrics.. replaced absolutely everything. I put Bareknuckle "The Mule" humbucker set in it. I also got a custom old style harness made from a boutique electrics place that is no longer in business. I got the CTS 550k pots, Russian paper in oil capacitors, all braided wiring, Switchcraft switch, jack etc. Gold top hat knobs. Few other things here and there. It's a really good Les Paul now. Easily holds it's own with any Gibson or any other Les Paul type I own.. I have two main Les Pauls. The Orville is my No #1 and the Gibson is my No #2. I actually modded the Gibson quite a bit also.. but I put a PAF in the neck and a T-Top in the bridge for the Jimmy Page 1973 setup. They're different but equally as good as the other.

@@DevinRyanVitek Being an Orville by Gibson it would have regular Gibson '57 Classics? I think the Orville by Gibsons were essentially the same construction wise, at least as the Fujigen Orvilles, but the ObG generally got the best tops, proper nitro finishes opposed to poly, and genuine US made '57 Classics as stock opposed to the iffy PAF clones they put in the Orvilles. I honestly don't have much experience with '57 Classics myself.. the only guitar I own with '57 Classics is an ES175 that I bought on a whim one time I was in a jazz phase and I've barely ever used.. it's been a case queen ever since it arrived.

@@Sinnerboy88 Yeah man, 57 Classics! Not bad pickups, really. Not my favorite though. I love upgrading the pots and caps in my guitars. Being able to turn down the volume and actually get sound from 0-10 and not just 10 to one is a gift. Orville by Gibson’s are really dope tbh, and they always get people talking. People are catching on now but they’re always a good find if you can get one. I got mine from Ishibashi.

@@DevinRyanVitek Sorry for late reply, just saw your message now! That's great to know about Ishibashi! I was not aware of them as I haven't really been part of the guitar scene in a few years. I used to be into it it back about ten years ago when all the forums were more of a thing. It seems everything is changing now though! There was a small guitar dealership close to where I lived years ago that sold a lot of MIJ guitars, I haven't heard of them in years. That is really where I got into the MIJ Les Pauls. I missed out on two or threw Orvilles and ObG they had so eventually just bought one online. They weren't really all that expensive back then. I dunno how much they're going for these days but I'll have to have a look. I always would have liked another. I have an old Made in Japan Stratocaster copy also. It was made my a company called Profile, I was told it was 1978 but I think it could be anywhere from late 70s to mid 80s. I think they were mostly made for the Australia and NZ market, but a few other countries got some too. Apparently some Australian guitar shop owner realised the Japanese guitars were of a very high standard so he went to Japan with some vintage Fenders and got the factories to produce well made clones. Unfortunately a few years later approx mid to late 80s they moved construction to Korea and quality standards dropped a lot, they started to use much lower quality materials.. like plywood bodies etc. I have a few old guitars like that, they're probably not worth much, I just find them kinda interesting. I'll definitely have a look at that Ishibashi place.

Thanks! Glad you enjoy my videos :)

Veneer tops ? I want a real top not a veneer , I'll stick with my real deal Gibson Standards .

Thanks for the info Marcel, I didn't know the exact model of this one :)

Yes it's a veneer over a solid maple top on this model. The LPS-80F is one of the cheap models. If you want real flames, look for a Orville by Gibson LPS-59R. ;) I hope my english is good enough to understand. :D

Thanks! This cheaper model is so good that it makes me curious about the top-shelf ones :) Hope I can get my hands on it someday and test it.

@@DressedInBlack It's a good guitar. I had a Epiphone LPS-80. That's the same guitar without the veneer. Now I have a Orville by Gibson LPC-57b and a Epiphone LPS from the Laquer Series. I love the two guitars very much. :)

That’s true!

I have a terada 92 custom and a Fujigen 96 standard and they are both amazing, so good.

The Japanese guitars are probably more collectable.

It weighs around 4kg, so it’s rather lighter than a typical Les Paul

@@DressedInBlack Oh that's good! 😃

Yes! Thank you :)

Supposedly more slim taper 59/60 than a chunkier 58.

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