Japan Les Paul Appreciation thread
- Thread starter junhao405
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loldude333
New member
Ahhh yes thanks for the clarification. I only wish that Epiphones had the same quality that the old Orvilles had.
loldude333
New member
I've tried a couple of Orvilles, the QC really stunned me. And they actually sounded great too. Epis in general i find them to be rather dry sounding because of the terrible stock pickups. Orvilles don't suffer from the same problem.
hmm, if the pickups is the main problem then swapping them wouldnt be too hard but stuff like the tuning, playability and hardware i find are worse. sometimes replacing/upgrading the bridge could cost more than the guitar itself. thats the problem i find with most epi's, the tuning stability isnt good at all.
on a separate note, i realise that this thread has gone from les paul appreciation to what is a les paul to QC of orvilles and epis haha
on a separate note, i realise that this thread has gone from les paul appreciation to what is a les paul to QC of orvilles and epis haha
loldude333
New member
Correction: Japanese-made LP copies appreciation hahaha. True that about the bridge and stuff but i've never owned one/used one extensively so my opinions are formed based on hearing and handling. Thus, the biggest bugbear for me was the crappy stock pickups.
junhao405
New member
Haha.. is okay to compare gibson with epi with "JAPAN MADE LP COPIES" 
I had try using an Epi 100 and swap out the pickup.. and it sound great with SD pickups but the playability are quite horrible.. action so damm high.. fret buzz all over even after setting up.. I mean.. Japan made lp are such value for money.. I shall do a review one day.. sad to say the cosmetic condition of my greco lp is pretty wrack..
I had try using an Epi 100 and swap out the pickup.. and it sound great with SD pickups but the playability are quite horrible.. action so damm high.. fret buzz all over even after setting up.. I mean.. Japan made lp are such value for money.. I shall do a review one day.. sad to say the cosmetic condition of my greco lp is pretty wrack..haha yes..japanese made les paul copies.
hmm, if your action is high after setting up then the person who sets it up must be doing it wrong. any working guitar with an excellent setup will be playable and sometimes surprisingly good. i've played a $100+ acoustic setup very well by a friend of mine and it plays great, the sound is another thing tho haha.
hmm, if your action is high after setting up then the person who sets it up must be doing it wrong. any working guitar with an excellent setup will be playable and sometimes surprisingly good. i've played a $100+ acoustic setup very well by a friend of mine and it plays great, the sound is another thing tho haha.
superpotato_30
New member
Orville was Gibson's first name in case you guys are wondering..
There are two types of Orvilles.
The MIJ Fujigen factory ones are those with the headstock titled solely 'Orville'. These come with Japanese styled PAF pickups or VH-1s depending on the year/model you got.
The second type is the Orville By Gibson range which is per se more difficult to come by. These were made under Gibson's watch and hence come with original Gibson pickups unlike their Japanese counterparts.
The production of Orvilles was discontinued due to seperatist issues, also many Orville workers were transfered to produce Epiphones instead..
This is all i remember go google the rest if u wanna know.
There are two types of Orvilles.
The MIJ Fujigen factory ones are those with the headstock titled solely 'Orville'. These come with Japanese styled PAF pickups or VH-1s depending on the year/model you got.
The second type is the Orville By Gibson range which is per se more difficult to come by. These were made under Gibson's watch and hence come with original Gibson pickups unlike their Japanese counterparts.
The production of Orvilles was discontinued due to seperatist issues, also many Orville workers were transfered to produce Epiphones instead..
This is all i remember go google the rest if u wanna know.
loldude333
New member
Thanks for the info greg.........innteresting stuff. The story on copyright issues pertaining the production of the earlier Edwards/Burnys/Tokais also makes for a good afternoon read.
stormbringez
New member
there are 2 factories producing the orvilles too!
the K serial and no letter serial number as well..
its was said the fugigen which is the no letter serial number was better but its each to his own ya?
big thanks to superpotato for his help on another thread in educating me on the jap guitar prices in jap!!
cheers
the K serial and no letter serial number as well..
its was said the fugigen which is the no letter serial number was better but its each to his own ya?
big thanks to superpotato for his help on another thread in educating me on the jap guitar prices in jap!!
cheers
Whitestrat
New member
Geez guys... They're just guitars! More pics, less talk please.
junhao405
New member
Greco Les Paul Custom
Greco Les Paul Custom
MIJ 1980
The beautiful headstock of Greco (Very beautiful, 80% similar to GIBSON)
Reminds me of the horrible weight ;(
Tone wise, is the MAXON pickups that have pretty low output on the neck and makes in sound very fantastic in clean when I played with an orange amp (50 watt, forget what model).. and the combine of two pickups give a very beautiful twang sound and last at the bright, great harmonics respond even with jus an TS 9.. fantastic for blues, jazz, hard rock or even metal..
Playability :
SUPER LOW ACTION w NO FRET BUZZ!
but it weight about 5kg, horrible..
Cosmetic :
I love how the headstock look, but sad to say i didn't take good care of the guitar and therefore ding all over but that doesn't affect the playability and give me a better reason to keep this hottie..
Tone ; 8.5/10 (wish to upgrade the pickup even that they are quite heavenly)
Cosmetic : 6/10 (Fail to keep it chio bu style)
Loving it : 80/100 (if someone offers me to sell, i might consider, but is because of the cosmetic issue)
Greco Les Paul Custom
MIJ 1980
The beautiful headstock of Greco (Very beautiful, 80% similar to GIBSON)
Reminds me of the horrible weight ;(
Tone wise, is the MAXON pickups that have pretty low output on the neck and makes in sound very fantastic in clean when I played with an orange amp (50 watt, forget what model).. and the combine of two pickups give a very beautiful twang sound and last at the bright, great harmonics respond even with jus an TS 9.. fantastic for blues, jazz, hard rock or even metal..
Playability :
SUPER LOW ACTION w NO FRET BUZZ!
but it weight about 5kg, horrible..
Cosmetic :
I love how the headstock look, but sad to say i didn't take good care of the guitar and therefore ding all over but that doesn't affect the playability and give me a better reason to keep this hottie..
Tone ; 8.5/10 (wish to upgrade the pickup even that they are quite heavenly)
Cosmetic : 6/10 (Fail to keep it chio bu style)
Loving it : 80/100 (if someone offers me to sell, i might consider, but is because of the cosmetic issue)
superpotato_30
New member
This guitar was sold last year november.. Shit i miss it terribly.
Pics: here mr whitestrat
Let the pics do the talking.
I can't believe i let this guy go at a steal price. I checked the prices Orvilles go for on Ebay after i sold mine and i knew i had ripped myself off by setting such a mediocre asking price..
Anyway yea like said this baby has a really nice mellow tone that derives from its one piece unchambered body. The Japanese PAF's sounded awesome but the neck pickup was the one that really shone. No adjustments were made apart from the orange caps installation. This guy isnt the best i had/have for high gain but really when it comes to cleaner stuff the characteristics of the pickups really show their true colours..beautiful tones came from this baby.. A sweet warm and rich tone yet not muddy unlike most lespauls. The thick 50s baseball neck was a joy to play on. To boot this piece was selected from Japan amongst a whole row of Gibson Standards and Customs interestingly (not by me though. The previous owner).
Pics: here mr whitestrat
Let the pics do the talking.
I can't believe i let this guy go at a steal price. I checked the prices Orvilles go for on Ebay after i sold mine and i knew i had ripped myself off by setting such a mediocre asking price..
Anyway yea like said this baby has a really nice mellow tone that derives from its one piece unchambered body. The Japanese PAF's sounded awesome but the neck pickup was the one that really shone. No adjustments were made apart from the orange caps installation. This guy isnt the best i had/have for high gain but really when it comes to cleaner stuff the characteristics of the pickups really show their true colours..beautiful tones came from this baby.. A sweet warm and rich tone yet not muddy unlike most lespauls. The thick 50s baseball neck was a joy to play on. To boot this piece was selected from Japan amongst a whole row of Gibson Standards and Customs interestingly (not by me though. The previous owner).
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superpotato_30
New member
Thanks heh.
Nope it has nothing to do with the guitars design that makes it suitable for high gain or not. I use my Gibson Lespaul Classic Custom for high gain and it works beautifully. Its just the Orville's pickups were not meant to work so well with high gain.. thats all. I sold it at 1k -1.1k about there.
Nope it has nothing to do with the guitars design that makes it suitable for high gain or not. I use my Gibson Lespaul Classic Custom for high gain and it works beautifully. Its just the Orville's pickups were not meant to work so well with high gain.. thats all. I sold it at 1k -1.1k about there.
Whitestrat
New member
It sucks... I'm getting rid of it.
superpotato_30
New member
Not everything is based on pickup output. one has to examine what you are expecting out of the guitar. Slash is living proof u dont need to have high output pickups to play higher gain stuff. Then again depends on what you define high gain to be.
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