Members evh1984 Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 How are these companies able to produce almost exact replicas of iconic Gibson silhouettes, particularly the Les Paul? I'm going to assume these guitars are in no way licensed by Gibson. Please enlighten me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar Heel Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 The fact that these companies aren't incorporated in the US helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jelloman Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 japanese companies that aren't importing under license to the US can build anything they want... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benricci Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Japanese copies, that's all. Some of them are incredible guitars, some not so much. Just for the record, Orville was the brand name for Gibson Japan (they couldn't use Gibson over there because there was already a company operating under that name). I've played a few Orvilles and they are pretty awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar Heel Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Oh, and Orville is Gibson, so that's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yogi_Sizzle Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 How are these companies able to produce almost exact replicas of iconic Gibson silhouettes, particularly the Les Paul? I'm going to assume these guitars are in no way licensed by Gibson. Please enlighten me... Hey that's my local guitar shop, here in Tuscaloosa! Like others have said those guitars are made by companies for the Japanese market only, and Orville was owned by Gibson and eventually became Epiphone Japan and the Epiphone Elites/Elitist. Those guitars can't be sold new outside of Japan, however you can buy them used through ishibashi or every now and then someone will ship you a new one, however I believe that is illegal, but it doesn't happen in large quantities so it is usually ignored. They are really nice guitars, and built with top notch Japanese manufacturing. Some brands like Navigator which is a part of ESP, actually cost more than some of the Gibson USA counterparts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Some companies (like ESP, who owns Burny, IIRC) pay a licensing fee to Gibson, others fly under the radar, and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 :love:Kinda can't decide but that one in the middle...HOTT!:love: EDIT: on second thought, I really dig the flames, too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yogi_Sizzle Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Some companies (like ESP, who owns Burny, IIRC) pay a licensing fee to Gibson, others fly under the radar, and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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