Pastor of Muppets
New member
After hearing so many good things about these guitars I'd been hunting round for one for a few months, and a few days ago a 1990 LP Custom Black Beauty arrived on my doorstep, courtesy of Ebay. I was pretty excited getting her out and plugging her in, and after a few hours playing I am quite frankly blown away by this guitar.
Fit and nitro finish is excellent, frets are lovely and wide with a gorgeous fingerboard, and she weighs about one pound more than my Gibson LP Classic. Sustain is out of this world, superior to the Gibby's, but it's when you plug it in that the difference really shows...I don't know whether it's the Gibson buckers, the extra weight, the long tenon neck, the quality and age of the wood or what, but tonally the sound is just vintage Les Paul in a way that my Classic cannot come close to. The punch, clarity and reasonance are outstanding.
My wife, whose only usual comments are 'turn it down', didn't realise I'd got a new axe, and when I was first playing it she shouted through from the kitchen to ask what I'd done to my guitar (meaning the Classic) - I asked her why and she said that it sounded 'really rich and deep, much better than usual'.
There is simply no comparison between these two axes, the Orville blows the Gibson out of the water. I am definitely getting rid of the Ceramic Pups and sticking some SDs into the Classic to see what difference that makes, as that should tell me how much of the Orville's superiority is in the Pups at least.
If you're an LP lover and you see one, go for it - I really cannot speak highly enough about this guitar, and I suspect the Gibby might go on the Bay soon enough as unless new pups make a huge difference, it's not going to get much playing time...
Fit and nitro finish is excellent, frets are lovely and wide with a gorgeous fingerboard, and she weighs about one pound more than my Gibson LP Classic. Sustain is out of this world, superior to the Gibby's, but it's when you plug it in that the difference really shows...I don't know whether it's the Gibson buckers, the extra weight, the long tenon neck, the quality and age of the wood or what, but tonally the sound is just vintage Les Paul in a way that my Classic cannot come close to. The punch, clarity and reasonance are outstanding.
My wife, whose only usual comments are 'turn it down', didn't realise I'd got a new axe, and when I was first playing it she shouted through from the kitchen to ask what I'd done to my guitar (meaning the Classic) - I asked her why and she said that it sounded 'really rich and deep, much better than usual'.
There is simply no comparison between these two axes, the Orville blows the Gibson out of the water. I am definitely getting rid of the Ceramic Pups and sticking some SDs into the Classic to see what difference that makes, as that should tell me how much of the Orville's superiority is in the Pups at least.
If you're an LP lover and you see one, go for it - I really cannot speak highly enough about this guitar, and I suspect the Gibby might go on the Bay soon enough as unless new pups make a huge difference, it's not going to get much playing time...
