Epiphone Riviera 1975 - Brown Stain with Split Parallelograms

1975 Epiphone Riviera - Matsumoku, Japan $2,400 with free shipping

A very rare Epiphone outside of Japan and only Riviera I am aware of to have split parallelogram inlays!

Gibson moved Epiphone production to Japan in the early 1970’s after having made Epiphone products in Kalamazoo since acquiring the brand in 1957.  At first, Epiphone was used as a way to try to expand GIbson’s guitar sales in the U.S. where a limited number of exclusive dealers only had access to their products in a market that was rapidly expanding (first for electric guitars with the advent of Rock & Roll and then acoustic instruments as Folk music was becoming more popular). A couple of the Epiphone top models sold for more money than comparable Gibson’s, and then very similar Epiphone products entered this expanded sales channel. The guitars that were competitors to the Gibson products used lower quality materials. By 1969 Gibson recognized a need for a less expensive brand as other manufacturers were undercutting their prices with cheaper guitars, even the lesser priced Epiphones. 

The Riviera was introduced in 1962 in a second wave of models that were based on Gibson’s ES-3XX line (ES-335, ES-345, ES-355). It was equipped with smaller “humbucking” design pickups, developed by Gibson for the Epiphone brand - not the PAF’s that were key to the success of the new Gibson ES thin-line guitars. The fancier Emperor was brought to market in 1958 with an 3XX body and Epiphone New Yorker single coil pick-ups. The Casino (made popular by the Beatles - all three of their guitarist used one) was intro’d in 1961 with chrome Gibson P-90 single coil pickups - and is almost the same as a Gibson ES-330.

This variant of the Riviera is the only one to have the spit parallelograms used widely in Gibson electric and acoustic guitars. It also has a differenct style tunable bridge - perhaps unique to the Japanese market - different from the Gibson invented Tune-O-Matic bridges on most Epiphone electrics. It is also different from most other Rivieras in that it features full-sized humbucking pick-ups - Japanese versions of Gibson’s patented Humbuckers, which tend to have higher output due to their increased size.

This 49 year old guitar is in excellent shape with a very small knick on the top back of the headstock, a 3/4” minimal scratch on the middle of the back and one small knick on the edge of the back, lower bout binding. All original, with Epiphone unique style enclosed tuners and Epiphone case. Appears to have MOP inlays on the fretboard and the headstock logo. Almost no fretwear, straight neck and plays easily with no neck buzz. Scale length is 24.75”, width at nut is 1.70”, has a somewhat shallow “C” neck profile and has the standard Gibson volute on the back of the headstock as was standard for all Gibson guitars of that period. Weight is  7 lbs 13 oz. The Neck meets the body at the 19th fret and has a maple block in the middle of the body just like most other Gibson ES-3XX like guitars. 

I want my buyers to be completely satisfied - I offer a 48 hour approval period from when you receive the instrument - buyer pays return shipping.

Following is a short blurb I found on the web about this family of guitars:

The Matsumoku-built Epiphone Riviera of the late-1970s and early-1980s went through one minor change during its production run, switching from a Frequensator tailpiece to a standard stopbar in 1982. With full-size Maxon humbuckers, these guitars are a great way to get a 335-type instrument and make for a great alternative to Norlin-era Gibson ES-335s. The guitars produced from 1975 - 1979 were Japanese Domestic models while the guitars produced from 1980 - 1984 were distributed worldwide.