Anyone remember OLP?

[eatswodo]

Some years ago, there was a series of guitars marketed under the brand 'OLP', which stood for 'Original Licensed Product'. They were authorized copies of various Ernie Ball guitars and basses. I bought one some 5 or 6 years ago - an MM4, which is a copy of one of the EB Axis models - for the ridiculous sum of $129 brand new. I don't recall what they sold for originally, but it was a bit more than that!

A couple of years later, I sold it on to a friend of my son's as it wasn't getting played much - and I've missed it ever since. It has a lovely neck, good fretwork, and more than acceptable electronics for such an inexpensive instrument.

To cut a long story short, I ran into him and his Dad in Costco yesterday afternoon, and asked him about it. As luck would have it, he was about to list it on Craigslist, to get some money for textbooks. A couple of hours later, it was back home with me again - a new set of strings, and a quick tweak, it's as good as new!

[rickenbrother]

Those OLP guitars and basses were pretty good, especially considering the price.

[jps]

I remember them, great music, too!

Olson Lebowski & Palin, right?

Actually, I do remember them as being pretty nice for the money.

[sloop_john_b]

Yes - so nice that EB pulled the plug.

BTW, that is a Silhouette, not an Axis.

[eatswodo]

Yes - so nice that EB pulled the plug.

BTW, that is a Silhouette, not an Axis.

Thank you - when I typed Axis, I was dimly aware that it was not quite right. You are absolutely correct - it's a Silhouette Special clone:

[marc61]

I quite liked the OLP basses. I think there were some that came with preamps.

Always been meaning to grab one

[johnhall]

Sterling Ball told me that this was his secret weapon for "knock-offs", and that he had made OLP responsible for policing the trademark internationally, as he didn't want to have to deal with it anymore.

I told him I didn't honestly see how that was going to solve any problems and still don't see any evidence that it did.

FYI, OLP was a spinoff/product of Davitt and Hanser, a very old distributor of musical instruments, and variously associated with Kustom and B.C. Rich brands at different times in history.