Orville by Gibson SG - year 1988

Super light weight SG with some rock n roll scars. Minor chips and scratches can be seen, but nothing major. First year 1988 OBG!! Front pickup is a Tim Shaw T Top and the rear is a Bill Lawrence, typical pickups from that era. Knob on front missing the top cap. Amazingly fun guitar to play. Sounds epic!! Comes with gig bag.

The Orville (by Gibson) SG '62 Reissue was introduced in 1988, being a direct copy of the Gibson SG-62 that debuted 2 years earlier. Because the SG-62 had an incorrect body and pickguard shape, that is reflected in the Orville as well. These guitars were produced for the Japanese market only, through distributor Yamano. They were all made in Japan, by manufacturers Terada and Fujigen. For information on serial numbers, see GuitarsJapan.com and LiquiSearch.com.

In 1990, this model was split into two different versions, the more expensive one, simply called the "SG", which featured Gibson pickups, and the inexpensive one, called the "SG-60" (re-named "SG-65" in 1991 to reflect a price increase), which featured Japanese pickups and removed the "by Gibson" tagline. Starting in 1992, a limited run with a Koa body was produced. In 1993, they started building a reissue model with fret-edge binding which was never listed in catalogs, and therefore the official name of this model is unknown. In 1994, the SG was re-named "SG-61R". In 1996, the SG-61R was discontinued and the SG-65's design was updated to reflect the corrections made with the Gibson SG '61 Reissue.

The Orville brand was discontinued in 1998, but most models were simply re-branded as Epiphones for the Japanese market. While the Orville SG-65 would go on to become the Epiphone SG-70, the SG-61R would have no direct replacement. The closest to a resurrection of the SG-61R would be the Elitist '61 SG Reissue, having American-made pickups, but a polyurethane finish, or the Epiphone '61-SG LQ, having a lacquer finish but Japanese pickups.

Interestingly, starting in the '90s, some of these actually had heels with a hangover (like many original '60s SGs), which was not present on the Gibson SG-62 or '61 Reissue. That feature would only appear beginning in 2000 on the Custom Shop Historic SG reissues.