View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Derek Mok « Epiphone Riviera »
Published on 01/14/04 at 15:00Played a second-hand copy of this guitar for an hour at Sam Ash in Manhattan, It was selling for $565.
The Riviera is one of my favourite designs in Epiphone's archtop series. The "frequensator" tailpiece and twin mini-humbuckers distinguish the Riviera from the Dot (which has a stop tailpiece and full-sized humbuckers), the Sheraton (with its elaborate headstock), and the Casino, which has P-90 single-coil pickups and less upper-fret access, due to its basis in the Gibson ES-330 design.
This guitar sounded beautiful; the mini-humbuckers immediately make you sound different. There's a lot of growl to the sound, and this guitar drives amp distortion beautifully while responding to your playing touch quite well.
Expensive. The Dot offers similar sound and feel for up to $200 less. String changing will also be a hassle; the frequensator tailpiece is far less convenient than the stopbar.
Good. I didn't feel any aberrations.
The Riviera is a distinctive instrument that will make you stand out onstage. (The Strokes features a Riviera in its lineup.) There are also some wild colour options available out there -- I saw a stunning silver-sparkle copy on eBay that I had been planning to nab, but I was outbid. Also notable is the fact that there is a Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane) signature model of the Riviera available which has a Bigsby vibrato, gold hardware and full-sized humbuckers. It's about $200 more expensive; I haven't played it and can't say whether the extra money is worth it. However, the mini-humbucker is part of the Riviera's signature sound, so I'd try to find one with mini-humbuckers installed.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
The Riviera is one of my favourite designs in Epiphone's archtop series. The "frequensator" tailpiece and twin mini-humbuckers distinguish the Riviera from the Dot (which has a stop tailpiece and full-sized humbuckers), the Sheraton (with its elaborate headstock), and the Casino, which has P-90 single-coil pickups and less upper-fret access, due to its basis in the Gibson ES-330 design.
This guitar sounded beautiful; the mini-humbuckers immediately make you sound different. There's a lot of growl to the sound, and this guitar drives amp distortion beautifully while responding to your playing touch quite well.
Expensive. The Dot offers similar sound and feel for up to $200 less. String changing will also be a hassle; the frequensator tailpiece is far less convenient than the stopbar.
Good. I didn't feel any aberrations.
The Riviera is a distinctive instrument that will make you stand out onstage. (The Strokes features a Riviera in its lineup.) There are also some wild colour options available out there -- I saw a stunning silver-sparkle copy on eBay that I had been planning to nab, but I was outbid. Also notable is the fact that there is a Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane) signature model of the Riviera available which has a Bigsby vibrato, gold hardware and full-sized humbuckers. It's about $200 more expensive; I haven't played it and can't say whether the extra money is worth it. However, the mini-humbucker is part of the Riviera's signature sound, so I'd try to find one with mini-humbuckers installed.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com