K Serial Orville origins

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bruno ..go away and do some research ..maybe you'll learn something...

I actually have researched this subject for the past 7 years, have visited japan numerous times, had articles published in magazines, and owned hundreds of high end japanese guitars...so if you dont want to "trust" my opinions fine ..

I do not claim to know everything about this subject..but I know a hell of a lot more than you do...so why dont you take your constant ****-stirring elsewhere...

I frankly dont like the tone of a lot of your posts...they seem to be to be more geared towards getting peoples backs up than from a genuine desire to contribute anything worthwhile...
 
Well that seems to be fine with me too, I am not too fond of the tone of your posts either... but as far as I know this is a comunity which I joined mainly for the tokai guitars.

So youre going to have to learn to live with my tone, as I am learning to deal with yours.

And we both now, this is not the subject youre pissed about...
 
joukov said:
Too many ifs, buts, (un)likelys, surelys, maybes and whys for me at the moment. To me K-series is made in Korea until someone shows some real hard evidence. :D

I hope you are not becoming obsessed with this, japanstrat.
Well, that was considered as a given truth first. But for the moment, except for the quality and the letter K , we have absolutely nothing that could lead us to the Korean makers. The Japanstrat idea is only hypothesis of course but it's argued enough to make sens. For tha Korea theory, It was just there first but without more proof than japanstrat's theory.

The only part that bugs me is, if we have several factories, Kanda Shokai should be the one working with Fujigen gakki as they were heavily linked to that factory from the start. And we know that Fujigen could make some fantastic replicas... why a drop in the quality on the K models?
 
all this thread has done is confuse me even more about the brand. fortunately I very rarely see used orvills here and now if i do I won`t buy it for the same reasons I don`t buy brand name goods for my wife...I just don`t know enough about em to tell the real ones from the fakes...so I avoid em altogether...and luckily...my wife is not into name brand goods. She likes platinum though... :eek:
 
There seems to be basic Orville by Gibsons and also higher feature Orville by Gibsons.

Here is a basic Orville by Gibson Sunburst

http://www.digimart.net/gk_detail.do?instrument_id=DS00120381

and here is the equivalent K serial sunburst

http://page15.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t18161154

The SG's don't vary much between all the Orville variations, except for the pickups.


I'll admit the Orvilles are confusing but I'm just trying to work them out by watching for patterns in their serial numbers and the catalogue info and using any other info I can get, like emails from people who bought them and the Japanese companies.

When I first heard about the K serial Orvilles being Korean I thought ok they are Korean but the more I know about them makes me have a lot of doubts.
 
Ha Ha!

Well unless I find something astounding I won't make anymore posts.

Well I'll try not to.
 
If you google "orville by gibson" on wikipedia, you'll find a good , basic history explaining "K" and"G" series LPs and others. Its worth a look for some clarity.
Ibnose
 
Well I didn't write most of it but I have added bits to it.
I've got a few more bits to add to it from speaking to Jim Donahue the former Ibanez R&D guy who used to visit the japanese factories around the time of the Orvilles.
 
Thanks for all of your research on the K Orvilles.
Except for the uncertainty about the manufacturers, I gotta believe it.

For the simple reason that we don't see 1989 through 1992 inked serial number Orvilles (except for those few expensive SG basses probably FGG made). The plausible decifering of the year in the K serial numbers backs up the theory that the early 1989-1992 Orvilles had K stickered serial numbers.

Once the INTERNET has accepted something as FACT (in this case that K stickered Orvilles were made in Korea in 1996), it's awfully hard to debunk.

I said it here before I believe, that when I started doing some research on Orville by Gibsons back in 1998, I read on one web site (now long gone or impossible to find: a needle in a haystack) that early guitars had serial numbers on stickers, but then eventually got inked on. In 1998, when you searched on "Orville by Gibson," you got very few hits and most of them were on Japanese sites -- personal websites of guys who owned ObGs. And there was no mention of Korea.

Again, thanks.
 
Thanks.
I'd like to thank you as well for all the serials and other info you had collected before I was aware the K Orvilles existed.
It's only because I bought an Orville SG with no serial number on it that I got into it in the first place.
Next time I'm buying an ink stamped Orville Heh! Heh!.
No just kidding, I would buy any K Orville that I could.
They are usually a lot cheaper and my SG sounds great.
I think the SG-60 from the 1989 Orville catalogue is proof that the K Orvilles are from that time no matter what I say about serial numbers.
The SG-60 is in the 1989 catalogue but not in the 1993 catalogue and is the lowest priced Orville SG (60000 yen) out of the 1989 1993 1997 catalogues so it has to be a K Orville.
 

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