Hello, fellow guitar geeks and music folk!
I recently snagged a 1966 Epiphone Riviera in pretty sorry shape. It's been completely stripped of all finish, and has no hardware, pickups, anything, except a serial number on the back of headstock, and Epiphone identification sticker on the inside of the body.
I'm going to (attempt to) chronicle the journey of breathing some life back into this guitar, partly to get other people's opinion and thoughts, and partly to help me remember the process after it's over.
One thing that initially intrigues me about this guitar is how few were actually produced. Less than 320 per year (on average) over the course of their production. That's about one per day rolling out of the Gibson/Epiphone Kalamazoo factory! This chart on shipping totals shows that 7.5 times as many Gibson ES-335's sold, as compared to the (more expensive at the time!) E360TD Riviera.
| Sales for the period 1962-1969 |
| manufacturer | model | shipping total | price (1/10/66) |
|
| Epiphone | E360TD (Riviera) | 2556 | $395, $435 with tremotone vibrato |
| Gibson | ES-335TD | 19222 | $365, $380 cherry |
Another thing that intrigues me is the similarity to Gibson's Es-335. Workmanship and design are identical to an ES-335 that would have been made at the time. Both are semi-hollow body with a maple block running down the center, and share the same shape. The main differences lie in the tailpiece, the pickups, and obviously the Epiphone headstock. A little more detail below...
- The non-vibrato tailpiece on the Riviera is always a frequensator trapeze style, where the strings are connected via the tailpiece to the end pin area of the guitar. This tailpiece design is unique, and it lengthens the lower pitched stings, and shortens the higher pitched strings, in effort to balance their volume.
- The pickups are mini-humbuckers, whereas the 335 uses PAF full sized humbuckers
The list of things that I'll need to complete the guitar is a bit daunting. Tuners, pickups, pots, pickguard, tailpiece, bridge, paint/finish... and the list continues.
I also have a number of options as far as the direction that I take the guitar. I could make the guitar just like an original Riviera, or like a 335, or even a casino, in regards to appearance and pickups.
Here's a mint example in Cherry...
Mint Example in Royal Tan (the other available color)
Here's the 1966 Catalog, with an example of the Royal Tan Finish (top left)...
Sweet!
You can see the original cherry finish in the mini-humbucker route...
I also ordered a peice to repair my '53 Gibson Es-125. The tailpiece had broken after 50 years of stress. Now she's back up and running, albeit a little shinier.
