Orville by Gibson Serial numbers

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orvilleowner

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Howdy, I'm new to this forum.

I have three Orville by Gibson guitars (got my first in 1998).

Recently I have been trying to gather serial numbers from early models (1988 & 1989) to get the scheme down. Also the numbers that were on stickers or "K" numbers don't seem to follow the main pattern.

So if you can post some numbers and info on your ObG's I'd appreciate it!

I have two wine red Les Paul Customs -- serial numbers G012248 (Dec 1990) and G306227 (June 1993) -- and a Firebird with serial number G107604 (July 1991). One of the LPCs has an ebony fingerboard with fret binding, the other has a rosewood fingerboard and no fret binding.
 
villager said:
see my site for info.. www.japanguitars.co.uk

I don't see any ObG serial numbers listed (I wish they were there) or any info on ObG serial numbers.

I have visited your site a number of times. The guitars you have are quite nice.
 
ah ok soz..
first number is year, second 2 month the guitar number..

..88-97 for orvilles ..88-94 for ObG's
korean assembled one are stickered 96 only..

the ObG reissues with fret binding ..some have the letter prefix, some have a 5 digit ser no..wierd..

I know no more about them ..

cheers
markf
 
ObG serial numbers in 1988 and 1989 looked like these: G887138, G887399, G894479, G894879, G895319, G897923, G899544. I'm not sure if the third number is the month (GYYMNNN ?). Maybe it's GYYNNNN, the NNNN-th guitar of the year?

Sometime in 1989, they went to the YMMNNN six-digit pattern: Y was the year (0=1990, 1=1991, ... 8=1998) and MM was the month (01=Jan, 02=Feb, ... 12=Dec) and NNN is the production number for that month (NNN=001 to ?). Examples: G908478, G007456, G012248, G012503, G107604, G112075, G302012, G306227, 604073, J607006, 701216, J701032, J706034, 802364, 805167, 806045, and J806048.

Some odd numbers: G3-5079, 4 7110, G2-6010. Those numbers look cool, like the late 1950's Gibson numberings! My guess is that the "gap" or the "dash" in the serial number is actually a "missing 0," so that maybe these are May '93 #79, July '94 #110, and June '92 #10.

These are all ObG (or O) serial numbers that I have seen -- in person or in digital images.
 
I had a '335 with a serial number starting by G92 so I guess it was made in '92 year....
 
Read Gibson history and the Orville numbering will make sense to you. The OBG RI's are numbered that way-- X XXXX because that's how Gibson has always numbered it's RI's. The 1st digit is the year.
 
whitehall said:
The OBG RI's are numbered that way-- X XXXX because that's how Gibson has always numbered it's RI's. The 1st digit is the year.

Thanks!

I'm trying to hunt down xerox copies of early 90's ObG catalogs to learn more about the models offered over the years. I've seen people call their ObG a "59 RI" or such and such, but I didn't know whether or not ObG officially had such models (people say a lot of inaccurate things on the internet). I guess you are saying that they did.

The only catalog I have is dated 1997 -- it may have been the last one, it only contains "Orville" branded instruments. To me, the most interesting models in that 1997 catalog are the Joe Perry & John Sykes Les Paul models.
 
I have an OBG catalog. It only has 3 models in it. An LP custom, an SG, and a 335. It says Collection-vol. 1 on the bottom.
 
orvilleowner said:
I'm trying to hunt down xerox copies of early 90's ObG catalogs to learn more about the models offered over the years.

orvilleowner as you may know, I've several Vintage ObG catalogs.
I am not able to scan. But if I can make you a favour: Pass me the model No. and I shot you some high res pics from the catalog
 
I have also found ebay to be a valuable resource for OBG's . Although the sellers don't know what they're talking about most of the time , the pictues themselves are a huge asset. Togps could tell you better than I can but it seems that the very top OBG RI's differ in the following ways. They have binding over the fret edges, very aged binding, PAF stickered pups, ebony boards ( on the customs ) and have no letter prefix on the serial no. just 4 XXXX. I assume this run was made in 94 .
 
whitehall: Yes, Ebay is a great resource for checking out ObG models. That's where I've gathered most of the serial numbers I'm collecting. I find that most people don't know the actual exact Orville by Gibson model numbers for the guitars they are selling. Heck, I'm not sure of the model numbers of mine!

togps: Thanks for the kind offer, but I don't know the model numbers that have been used for the various models over the years! :eek: The model numbers are in the catalogues that I haven't seen!

If anyone would like to swap photocopies of complete ObG catalogues by snail mail, please PM me! I currently have the 1997 (32 page) catalogue that I could photocopy for you. I do have a swap in the works with another member of this forum (for a 1992 catalogue IIRC).

Cheers,
orvilleowner
 
wrong whitehall I'm in possession of a obg with the aformentioned characteritics, serial: G4-6554, and it's a 94 ri...
 
obg001.jpg
you were saying ?
 
so what, I'm telling you I've got one thats says otherwise... actually it's not mine, it belongs to a friend, its a 94 ri with binding over the frets, flame top, g4-6554, so that goes agasint your theory I think
 
when you get one of your own post some pictures. In the meantime for everybodys who's finding this interesting go to ebay and see auctio #'s 7365796984 and 7366058733. you will notice that the 1st OBG has a rosewood fretboard and the "G" prefix. Non aged binding and frets over binding. I believe the G stands for Gakki - one of the factories. Now look at the second auction. Ebony board, binding over frets , and aged. And there's that 4-XXXX serial again. The second is also higher priced.
 
oh but I don't need a one of my own... just go to digimart.net there you'll find a guitar store named guitar shelter who is seeling a reissue email them and ask for the serial number, they'll probably even send photos, you'll be surprised... just because you own one with no incial letter, doesn't mean they're all like that...


You claim to know so much about orville and even send pm's braging about how much you do, but yet no replies... yeahh you know what I mean...
 

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