Orville By Gibson - Serial Numbers

Serial Numbers

There were two Japanese guitar factories involved in all of the Orville by Gibson and Orville production and they were Terada (寺田?) and Fuji-Gen (フジゲン?) . The Gibson Les Paul Book by Tony Bacon and Paul Day (1993) mentions that both the Orville by Gibson and Orville guitars, including the K Orville guitars (1989-1993) were made in Japan. When the Orville by Gibson series began in 1988, Fuji-Gen were concentrating on making Fender Japan bolt-on neck guitars and so the G serial Orville by Gibson and K Orville set-neck guitars were all made by Terada. Fuji-Gen began making Orville by Gibson guitars in late 1992 and also Orville guitars in 1993 after they established Fuji-Gen Hirooka Inc in November 1991. After opening Fuji-Gen Hirooka Inc, Fuji-Gen resumed large scale set-neck guitar production. After Fuji-Gen were contracted by Yamano Gakki in late 1992, Fuji-Gen were assigned to make most of the Orville by Gibson and Orville solid body guitars and Terada shifted to its more traditional role of mostly making Semi Acoustic guitars .The production of the Terada solid body K Orville guitars and most of the Terada solid body G serial Orville by Gibson guitars were ended in 1993 as a result.

Fuji-Gen and Terada used different serial number formats (Orville by Gibson Terada decal box). Terada used a G or J letter at the start of the serial number and Fuji-Gen used a serial number consisting of only numbers and no letters. The Terada G serial number letter basically stood for "Gibson pickups" and the Terada J serial number letter basically stood for "Japanese pickups". When the K Orville guitars were made between 1989 and 1993, Terada were the only guitar factory making all of the Orville by Gibson and Orville guitars. The Orville by Gibson and Orville EB-3 SG Bass guitars which were priced at over 90,000 Yen were given G letter serial numbers by Terada. The lower priced (K) Orville guitars which were priced at 75,000 Yen and below were not given serial numbers by Terada. Serial numbers are not always essential when only one guitar factory is making all of the guitars, as the distributor (Yamano Gakki) knows exactly which guitar factory made the guitar even when the guitar has no identifiable guitar factory serial number. As Terada were the only guitar factory making all of the Orville guitars between 1989 and 1993, they did not need to serialize the (K) Orville guitars which were made more for the first time or intermediate player market.

When the (K) Orville guitars were released for retail sale between 1989 and 1993, Yamano Gakki applied a year dated (K) serial number sticker for warranty serial number tracking. The K serial number prefix letter stands for Kuramae which is where Yamano Gakki's wholesale division is located. The higher priced Orville by Gibson and Orville EB-3 SG Bass guitars were Yamano Gakki's and Terada's main priority in the early years and were made for the intermediate and professional player market and were therefore given serial numbers to be in step with Gibson's usual practice of using serial numbers on Gibson guitars. Different serial number letter prefixes are usually used when more than one guitar factory can be making the same brand and model of guitar at the same time. When Fuji-Gen joined together with Terada in making the Orville by Gibson guitars in late 1992 and the Orville guitars in 1993, serial numbers were used on all of the Orville guitars by both Fuji-Gen and Terada with Terada using a J letter serial number for all of the Orville guitars they made after the K Orville guitars ended in 1993. A 1993 75,000 Yen K Orville Les Paul and a 1996 75,000 Yen J letter serial numbered Orville Les Paul are basically the same guitars made by Terada.

The Orville by Gibson and Orville serial number format had 4 variations in the 10 years that they were produced. The Orville by Gibson guitars used ink stamped serial numbers and the Orville guitars used both ink stamped serial numbers and Yamano Gakki (K) serial number stickers.

Serial Number Format: 1988-1989.

From 1988 to 1989 a YYPPPP serial number format was used for the Orville by Gibson guitars and Orville SG bass EB-3 guitars.

• YY is the production year, 88=1988, 89=1989.
• PPPP is the production number.

For example G887013 is dated 1988 and was made by Terada.

Serial Number Format: 1989-1998.

Starting in 1989 a new serial number format of YMMPPP was used for the Orville by Gibson guitars and Orville SG bass EB-3 guitars.

• Y is the production year, 0=1990, 1=1991 etc.
• MM is the production month.
• PPP is the production number.

For example G206135 is dated June 1992 and was made by Terada, J603523 is dated March 1996 and was made by Terada, 411264 is dated November 1994 and was made by Fuji-Gen. This format was also used for the ink stamped serial number Orville guitars from 1993 to 1998.

Reissue Serial Number Format: Late 1992-1995.

The Orville by Gibson 1957 and 1959 Les Paul reissue models (LPS-57C, LPC-57B, LPS-59R) and the Orville by Gibson 1961 SG reissue model (SG-61R) had two different serial number formats.

The first reissue serial number format was a YMMPPP format.

• Y is the production year, 3=1993, 4=1994 etc.
• MM is the production month.
• PPP is the production number.

The second reissue serial number format was a YPPPP format.

• Y is the production year, 3=1993, 4=1994 etc.
• PPPP is the production number.

For example G3 6942 is dated 1993 and was made by Terada, 4 7345 is dated 1994 and was made by Fuji-Gen, G306385 is dated June 1993 and was made by Terada, 412562 is dated December 1994 and was made by Fuji-Gen.

The YPPPP Orville by Gibson reissue serial number format is the same format as the Gibson reissue serial number format. The reissue year is in the model number (LPS-57C = 1957) and the 1957 and 1959 Les Paul and 1961 SG reissue models were made from late 1992-1995 with some guitars having limited production runs.

K Serial Number Format: 1989-1993.

The Yamano Gakki K Orville serial number format is K 0YPPPP. The shortened K Orville serial number format is YPPPP, with the K letter and the first 0 having no year or date information.

• Y=year with 9=1989, 0=1990, 1=1991 etc.
• PPPP is the production number.

For example a K Orville serial number such as K 015113 = 1 5113 = 1991 and 5113 = the production number.