NGD - DiPinto Orbital

[Surfysonic]

Stumbled across this sonic blue DiPinto Orbital (mistakenly thought it was a Safari Galaxie 4, thanks for the correction, Lost In Autumn) while at Atomic Music after my recent great guitar purge. I've never had the opportunity to play a DiPinto Galaxie (MIA Galaxie 4 or MIC Safari 4) in the wild before, so I had to check it out. I was pretty impressed with it from the get-go. I didn't know the exact make or model until I got home to do a little online research to see what I ended up buying.

What I did know when I played it at the shop was that the DiPinto was comfortable, lightweight, set up very well, and the pickups were clear and chimey. I love the variety of tonal options with the 4-button pickup selectors.

It came with these smaller cream Fender volume and tone knobs as shown in the first few photos but I switched them out with larger white ones when I got home. From looking at the DiPinto page's Safari models, the previous owner must have held on to the stock knobs. It also didn't come with a tremolo bar (the shop guy tried a few on it but they didn't stay in securely). I'll try some spare ones I have around the house but if I can't find any, I'll try to reach out to Chris DiPinto about buying one and some stock knobs if they're available for purchase.

UPDATE: Nevermind, looks like witch hat knobs are stock based on an Orbital on Reverb being sold by DiPinto.

Honestly, the guitar is really quite nice and I might consider putting a mastery bridge and tremolo system on it at some point. The block and binding are very well done. Neck is a comfortable C-shape and works for my big ol' mitts. Now I might have to get a US DiPinto guitar down the road!

Any further info about DiPinto guitars or helpful suggestions are greatly appreciated! My only knowledge of them is Los Straitjackets play them and some of my Gretsch friends loved DiPinto guitars, too.

[CorporateDisguise]

Nice! These have always caught my eye, but I’ve never seen one in person try. What are pickups like? Do they quack like a strat when combined, or do they act more like a humbucker?

HNGD!

[Surfysonic]

Thanks! Definitely Stratty when using 1 (bridge) & 2 or 3 & 4 (neck). I didn't try 2 & 3 yet, but have tried all 4 pickups (humbuckery). Position 1 (bridge) & 4 (neck) is my usual go-to for some buttery surf tones.

I found a spare tremolo bar that doesn't stay in securely, but if I don't move around much, it's fine as is.

I'm definitely going to do more research into getting a US Dipinto made down the road - not sure if I want a Galaxie 4 or a Mach IV, a pretty sweet non-offset.

[Lost In Autumn]

Stumbled across this sonic blue DiPinto Safari Galaxie 4 while at Atomic Music after my recent great guitar purge. I've never had the opportunity to play a DiPinto Galaxie (MIA Galaxie 4 or MIC Safari 4) in the wild before, so I had to check it out. I was pretty impressed with it from the get-go. I didn't know the exact make or model until I got home to do a little online research to see what I ended up buying.

What I did know when I played it at the shop was that the DiPinto was comfortable, lightweight, set up very well, and the pickups were clear and chimey. I love the variety of tonal options with the 4-button pickup selectors.

It came with these smaller cream Fender volume and tone knobs as shown in the first few photos but I switched them out with larger white ones when I got home. From looking at the DiPinto page's Safari models, the previous owner must have held on to the stock knobs. It also didn't come with a tremolo bar (the shop guy tried a few on it but they didn't stay in securely). I'll try some spare ones I have around the house but if I can't find any, I'll try to reach out to Chris DiPinto about buying one and some stock knobs if they're available for purchase.

Honestly, the guitar is really quite nice and I might consider putting a mastery bridge and tremolo system on it at some point. The block and binding are very well done. Neck is a comfortable C-shape and works for my big ol' mitts. Now I might have to get a US DiPinto guitar down the road!

Any further info about DiPinto guitars or helpful suggestions are greatly appreciated! My only knowledge of them is Los Straitjackets play them and some of my Gretsch friends loved DiPinto guitars, too.

Sweet! That's a DiPinto Orbital, they originally sold for $399. The factory that normally makes guitars for DiPinto couldn't fulfill an order (they were overbooked), so they recommended a factory down the road. The body is a little different than the Safari and USA Galaxies & Chris decided to sell these as his Squier equivalent. On the Safari line, the guitars get almost completely remanufactured: Chris cuts a new pickguard, modifies the pickups so they're RWRP, replaces the electronics and switches and levels and dresses the frets before they're shipped out to customers; some even get custom paint- the mods and services push the prices into the $899-1500 range. The Orbitals got a basic setup, which kept the prices low. The necks on these guitars were pretty sweet. At the present moment, I don't believe that there will be another run of these; iirc, there were only 38 made. Our own Copacetic recently glammed one up with a killer paint job and sold it on Reverb.

(I work at DiPinto, BTW; AMA)

[Surfysonic]

Sweet! That's a DiPinto Orbital, they originally sold for $399. The factory that normally makes guitars for DiPinto couldn't fulfill an order (they were overbooked), so they recommended a factory down the road. The body is a little different than the Safari and USA Galaxies & Chris decided to sell these as his Squier equivalent. On the Safari line, the guitars get almost completely remanufactured: Chris cuts a new pickguard, modifies the pickups so they're RWRP, replaces the electronics and switches and levels and dresses the frets before they're shipped out to customers; some even get custom paint- the mods and services push the prices into the $899-1500 range. The Orbitals got a basic setup, which kept the prices low. The necks on these guitars were pretty sweet. At the present moment, I don't believe that there will be another run of these; iirc, there were only 38 made. Our own Copacetic recently glammed one up with a killer paint job and sold it on Reverb.

(I work at DiPinto, BTW; AMA)

Cool! Thanks for the clarification, Lost in Autumn, much appreciated! I remembered a fellow OSG'er was affiliated with DiPinto and was hoping for some correct info.

[Bango_Rilla]

Bango has/had pretty much every flavor of Galaxie with the exception of a true US made version.

Detailed this out on the Gretschpages, but that info may never been seen again. The TL/DR version:

If Bango was going to recommend a Galaxie, would highly suggest getting a Safari above all else. The Orbitals are cool for what they are, the one that Bango had (lime green) had some paint issues (clearcoating right over flake on a painted neck..... weird....so you could feel the small flakes through the finish). IMO Orbitals are like Galaxie-"lite". The lime green went to Copacetic Customs and that obviously turned out fantastic - so that fixed the main problem with that one (Copacetic took it in trade to paint one of Bango's other Galaxies)

Bango digs the weird oversize tilt headstock on the Korean models, which you don't get with the Safari, but the Safari plays EXCELLENT, and is a really solid guitar. With the used guitar market blowing up, it's usually easier to find mid-priced Safaris, the older Korean models seem to command slightly higher prices (justified or not, I don't know, I know what I like).

Copacetic Customs https://spade6hulsey51.wixsite.com/copaceticcustoms has one of Bango's Galaxies, Rowyco Kustoms http://www.rowycokustoms.com/RK_intro.html has another and it's a race to see who gets done first.

Safari on the left, Korean on the right -

[Bango_Rilla]

Forgot about a pic I took before the Orbital got shipped out (Oops)

[Surfysonic]

Cheers, Bango! Yeah, I love the tilted back headstock on the Orbital. I got lucky, I guess as my Orbital is a keeper. Definitely will be on the hunt for a Safari at some point for comparison.

Nice family shot!

[Lost In Autumn]

Cheers, Bango! Yeah, I love the tilted back headstock on the Orbital. I got lucky, I guess as my Orbital is a keeper. Definitely will be on the hunt for a Safari at some point for comparison.

Nice family shot!

you're a short drive away from the store...

[niksureal]

I got an Orbital a while back. It's not as nice as the Safari Galaxie I have but still really dig it. Wish mine had those blocks.

[Larsongs]

I’ve thought they look cool for quite awhile.. No idea how they sound though… They look like they share the exact same Trem as the Green Jag in side by side Picture… Interesting!

[Fiddy]

I got an Orbital a while back. It's not as nice as the Safari Galaxie I have but still really dig it. Wish mine had those blocks.

No way. This one is way cooler.