Japanese PAF's authorized by Gibson for Orville guitars

[SpareRibs]

Hello,
Does any one know if these pickups are as good as the American counterparts. While they are authorized by Gibson I am sure there are a lot of questions about the authentic qualities of the materials, gauss readings, number of turns, ect.

[Rick Turner]

A gentle bit of proof reading... It's "Orville", not "Oriville". Named for the founder of Gibson Guitars, Orville Gibson, who was not a part of the corporation when that was started.

And the pickups? Fairly ordinary humbuckers. No magic sauce.

These were all about making a guitar just for the Japanese market at a price point that would be attractive to Japanese customers who couldn't afford a Nashville Les Paul. Les himself kind of fought the whole idea of doing an Epiphone LP knock-off for quite a while, but then the powers that be convinced him of the Orville idea. Of course later down the line came the Epiphones. Money talks...

[David Schwab]

The guitars were Epiphones distributed by Yamano Gakki. They just gave the solid bodies the Orville name. Some where made in the Fuji-Gen factory that also made Ibanez (F serial number) and some in the Terada factory (G or K).

From what I can find out, the original pickups were made by Gotoh or other makers depending on the factory the guitar was made in. Some use ceramic magnets, but are otherwise wound pretty much like a PAF. Probably nothing special, just as with modern Epis.

[Rick Turner]

Yep, Yamano...I still have my Yamano/Gibson jacket from a visit in 1989. Visited the Terada plant...they did some pretty nice work. The funny thing about a lot of those Japanese knock-offs whether it was Terada, Fuji, Matsumoto, Chushin or any other "Gakki", is that if you sneaked in and slipped the Japanese guitars "in the white" onto the factory lines at Gibson or Fender before they hit the spray booth, nobody would know the difference unless they hit a problem with metric vs. imperial measurements. And then they'd just pull out a bigger hammer... Finish and hardware made the difference in the end...colors were a bit too "Sony Trinitron" and often the hardware was just not quite refined enough...edges too sharp, etc.

[David Schwab]

Rick, you worked for Gibson at one point, right?

I have a 1987 Ibanez SoundGear 5 string bass that was made at the Fuji-Gen factory. It's a great bass. Was my first 5 string, and still one of my main gigging basses.

[Rick Turner]

I had an independent design contract with Gibson from mid 1988 to mid 1993; I ran the West Coast artist relations office from mid '88 until mid '90, and I was the president of Gibson Labs West from '89 into mid '90. It was way too corporate for my taste and the well known CEO micro-managed things into oblivion. When doing the Gibson Labs thing, I was also the designated technical liaison to Les Paul, and I did some international travel to Korea and Japan (with Tim Shaw) and to the Frankfurt Music Messe. I learned a lot...especially regarding how not to treat employees... Best parts...learning how to design piezo pickups, meeting Les and having him actually admit that I'd designed something he'd not thought of (Z axis, frequency doubling pickup), and getting to know some of the other great people who are no longer with the company...Jim Triggs, Greg Rich, JT Ribiloff, etc., and spending some time again with Bill Lawrence.

[David Schwab]

Rick, you really need to write your memoirs! You've been the part of and witness to a lot of musical instrument history!

[WolfeMacleod]

.....l to Korea and Japan (with Tim Shaw) and to the Frankfurt Music Messe. e.

Rick, I imagine you're still in touch with Tim, but if not, I can tell him hello for you.

[Rick Turner]

Wolfe, please do. I don't seem to have a current email address for him.

[WolfeMacleod]

Wolfe, please do. I don't seem to have a current email address for him.

Yep, he said he hadn't spoke to you in quite a while. He asked for a link to here, so he may be coming for a looksee soon. Would be great to have him here. Seems like a helluva guy.