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.
(Note: Some claim the K serial number models were built in Korea but there is no hard evidence to support that theory, and it seems unlikely given that Fujigen even built bolt-on neck Epiphones that sold for as little as 50,000 Yen; less than the Korean made set-neck Les Paul. A Korean-made Orville would overlap with the Epiphone lineup, which would defeat the point of Orville's existence.)
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.
Related:
SG-60 / SG-65[]
- 1990: 60,000 Yen
- 1991-1996: 65,000 Yen
Body:
- Beveled, solid African Mahogany body
- Angled heel
- Polyurethane finish
Neck:
- 1-pc quartersawn African Mahogany
- Set-in construction
- Joins body at 22nd fret
- '61 style heel
- Medium profile (~.830" / .950")
- Rosewood fretboard
- Large Open Book headstock
- Resin impregnated fiberboard veneer
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl Orville logo
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl crown
- 17o pitch
- 22 frets
- 24 3/4" scale
- 1 11/16" nut width
Binding:
- Neck, single-ply
- Frets over binding
Electronics:
- Two Orville humbuckers
- AlNiCo ??? magnets
- ~7.5k Ohms D.C. resistance
- 3-way switch
- 2 Vol, 2 Tone
- 500k pots
Hardware:
- Nickel hardware
- Gotoh SD90 tuning machines
- Kluson style design
- 1:15 ratio
- Green Keystone buttons
- 5-ply "Angel Wing" pickguard
- Bell shaped truss rod cover
- 2-ply b/w
- Black Reflector knobs w/ pointers
- Gotoh ABR-style Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Gotoh stopbar tailpiece
Finishes:
- Heritage Cherry
- Alpine White
- Ebony
SG / SG-61R[]
- 1988: 82,000 Yen
- 1990: 85,000 Yen
- 1992-1994: 93,000 Yen
Body:
- Beveled, solid African Mahogany body
- Angled heel
- Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish
Neck:
- 1-pc quartersawn African Mahogany
- Set-in construction
- Joins body at 22nd fret
- '61 style heel
- Medium profile (~.830" / .950")
- Rosewood fretboard
- Large Open Book headstock
- Resin impregnated fiberboard veneer
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl Orville by Gibson logo
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl crown
- 17o pitch
- 22 frets
- 24 3/4" scale
- 1 11/16" nut width
Binding:
- Neck, single-ply
- Frets over binding
Electronics:
- Two Bill Lawrence "The Original" humbuckers (1988-1990)
- AlNiCo V magnets
- ~8k (neck), 14k (bridge) Ohms D.C. resistance
- Circuit board baseplate
- A.K.A. "R-4 / L-6" or "HB-R / HB-L'
- Two 490R/490T humbuckers (1991-1995)
- AlNiCo II magnets
- ~7.6k (neck) & ~8.1k (bridge) Ohms D.C. resistance
- 3-way switch
- 2 Vol, 2 Tone
- 500k pots
Hardware:
- Nickel hardware
- Gotoh SD90 tuning machines
- Kluson style design
- 1:15 ratio
- Green Keystone buttons
- 5-ply "Angel Wing" pickguard
- Bell shaped truss rod cover
- 2-ply b/w
- Black Reflector knobs w/ pointers
- Gotoh ABR-style Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Gotoh stopbar tailpiece
Finishes:
- Heritage Cherry
- Alpine White
- Ebony
Reissue[]
Starting in 1993, both Les Paul and SG models can be found with fret-edge binding. Having not been listed in catalogs, we cannot know the official name of these models, if they were even given one, so they have come to be referred to as simply the "reissue models". These are the only Orville SGs to have reissue style serial numbers, as well. Production of these ended in early 1995.[1]
Body:
- Beveled, solid African Mahogany body
- Angled heel
- Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish
Neck:
- 1-pc quartersawn African Mahogany
- Set-in construction
- Joins body at 22nd fret
- '61 style heel
- Medium profile (~.830" / .950")
- Rosewood fretboard
- Acrylic trapezoid inlays
- 12" radius
- Large Open Book headstock
- Resin impregnated fiberboard veneer
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl Orville by Gibson logo
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl crown
- 17o pitch
- 22 frets
- 24 3/4" scale
- 1 12/16" nut width
Fret-edge binding
Binding:
- Neck, single-ply
- Fret-edge binding
Electronics:
- Two '57 Classic Humbuckers
- AlNiCo II magnets
- ~7.9k Ohms DCR
- 3-way switch
- 2 Vol, 2 Tone
- 500k pots
Hardware:
- Nickel hardware
- Gotoh SD90 tuning machines
- Kluson style design
- 1:15 ratio
- Green Keystone buttons
- 5-ply "Angel Wing" pickguard
- Bell shaped truss rod cover
- 2-ply b/w
- Black Reflector knobs w/ pointers
- Gotoh ABR-style Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Gotoh stopbar tailpiece
Finishes:
- Heritage Cherry
- Alpine White
- Ebony
SG Koa[]
- 1992-1994
Body:
- Beveled 2-piece figured Koa body
- Angled heel
- Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish
Neck:
- 1-pc quartersawn African Mahogany
- Set-in construction
- Joins body at 22nd fret
- '61 style heel
- Medium profile (~.830" / .950")
- Rosewood fretboard
- Acrylic trapezoid inlays
- 12" radius
- Large Open Book headstock
- Resin impregnated fiberboard veneer
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl Orville by Gibson logo
- Inlaid Mother of Pearl crown
- 17o pitch
- 22 frets
- 24 3/4" scale
- 1 11/16" nut width
Binding:
- Neck, single-ply
- Frets over binding
Electronics:
- Two 490R/490T humbuckers
- AlNiCo II magnets
- ~7.6k (neck) & ~8.1k (bridge) Ohms D.C. resistance
- 3-way switch
- 2 Vol, 2 Tone
- 500k pots
Hardware:
- Nickel hardware
- Gotoh SD90 tuning machines
- 5-ply "Angel Wing" pickguard
- Bell shaped truss rod cover
- 2-ply b/w
- Black Reflector knobs w/ pointers
- Gotoh ABR-style Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Gotoh stopbar tailpiece
Finishes:
- Natural